You see, being "mom" of two Chinese Sharpies, in addition to two "Heinz-57" Rottweiller/Shepherd mixes, I've discovered true and priceless value of a dog's companionship and love.

During moments of sorrow, happiness and even depression, I've found that when we're at our worst, our four-legged "children" are there not only to enhance our lives but to extend our longevity as well.

From recorded days of ancient history, dogs have been man's best friend. Always assisting -- love unwavering. Mutually, we care for them for their material needs, but return benefits last a lifetime. Thus is reason dogs are utilized for so many venues - from assisting blind, disabled and now therapeutic hospital visitations that promote help in healing

If you have one of these fury sidekicks, realize they are just like children. Their spirits are broken easily. Love them for who they are, what they are and just maybe, you will be rewarded with greatest gift in return...an extended lease on life.

LadyCamelot (c) 2003

Remember these two rules:

• Report only extra activities to your calorie counter. If your walk to your office every day, do not log "walking to office for 30 minutes" as an extra activity. Consider only unusual activities that contribute to extra expended calories!
• Always subtract calories you would have burned instead of exercising. A general rule is to subtract from 1.2 to 1.5 from MET values. In some cases, you need to subtract a greater MET. If you substitute 30 minutes of bodybuilding (MET = 6) for 30 minutes of slow jump rope (MET = 8) then additional MET would be 8 - 6 = 2.

How to find MET values of activities based on standard tables?

In order to make above calculations, you need to know MET values of activities. Standard tables give: name of activity, duration and calories. Standard tables assume an average calorie expenditure of one calorie per minute. To find MET you just need to divide calories by duration.

Example: "Bicycling, stationary, general", "20 minutes", "140 calories" MET of "Bicycling, stationary, general" = 140 / 20 = 7

I know these calculations are somewhat tedious and in many cases standard calorie calculations are close to correct. However, in some cases they can significantly over or under-calculate calorie expenditure of activities and compromise your weight loss plan with daily miscalculations.

Mistake #3: Training with light weights and lots of reps

I have seen countless number of ladies come to gym, get lightest possible dumbbells, crank out some hundreds of reps and go home. Most often, these women do not get results they want. The problem with this type of training is that it does not burn many "extra" calories unless you spend a considerable amount of time in gym. Hefting Ken and Barbie weights in gym has a MET value of 3, which means that it burns 3 times more calories than resting in bed. Almost anything you do during day has a MET value of 1.2 to 2. Browsing internet on your computer has a MET value of 1.5. Realize that almost anything you do during day (average MET = 1.5) has about 50% overlap in calorie expenditure with training with very light weights (MET = 3). If you pump super light dumbbells in gym, only about half of calories burned are "additional".

Of course, you can burn a considerable amount of extra calories training with light weights but you have to really extend duration of this type of training. Curling 5 pound dumbbells for 4 sets of 20 reps and chit-chatting for 20 minutes in gym is not going to burn many extra calories.

Remember rule: less intensive activity (smaller MET), greater calorie expenditure overlap with casual activities; less intensive activity, more time you have to spend doing it to expend a good deal of extra calories. Always subtract a MET of 1 to 1.5 to arrive at additional expended calories.

Mistake #4: Using "average person" calorie estimations

You can find all kinds of tables showing calorie cost of different physical activities on internet. These tables don't show your calorie expenditure. They actually tell you calorie expenditure of an "average person". These tables assume you are an average person that burns one calorie per minute at rest. Yes, we covered this in first part of article and it needs repeating. Most men burn more than one calorie per minute and most smaller women burn less than one calorie per minute at rest. In reality, these standard tables overestimate calorie expenditure of smaller people and underestimate calorie expenditure of bigger than average people. Combine this with common mistake of counting all burned calories as "additional calories" and you have a wide range of possible miscalculations.

Mistake #5: Going on very low calorie diets (VLCD)

Research has shown little to no difference in weight loss rate of 1200 calorie diets and 800 calorie diets. The 1200 calorie threshold is point where further calorie restriction does not yield faster results. Diets in range of 800 to 1200 calories a day suppress resting metabolic rate from very first day and after some weeks on these diets, metabolic rate has dropped by up to 20%. This metabolic drop is just a consequence of calorie restriction factor; other factors such as level of leanness may further depress calorie expenditure.

A big percentage of quick initial weight loss on a VLCD is water. VLCDs create an illusion of fast fat loss, while in reality most of weight loss is water. It is hard to continue a very low calorie diet for a prolonged time because harsh calorie restriction makes you hungrier than ever. People on VLCDs often lack energy and move very little. When you stop diet, you are prone to instant overeating. Eating a very low calorie diet is ticket to yo-yo dieting.

Instead of using very low calorie diets, I recommend diets with a mild calorie restriction and an emphasis on exercise. Overweight people who know what they are doing can employ VLCDs for a limited time. It is important to get enough vitamins and minerals from supplements, because such low calorie diets are woefully inadequate in nutrients. Water intake should be high.

Bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes must stay away from very low calorie diets because large calorie restriction causes a greater proportion of weight loss to be muscle loss.

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