THE M&Ms of Fitness
I am not talking about the candy, I am talking about the 3 M’s of fitness that everyone needs to know in order to be successful. They are extremely important to understand fully because without a good knowledge of any one of the “M’s” you risk failure. The M and M’s are Movement, Math and Mouth. Let’s start with movement.
Movement is exactly that, moving your body. It seems simple, but it isn’t really. This is tied to the other two M’s but more to the Math M than most realize. There is a misconception out there that you can decrease your caloric intake (Mouth) and exercise for 30 minutes a day and lose weight. That is not an entirely true statement. You need to not only exercise 30 minutes a day but you also should be active most of the rest of the day to maximize your caloric burn. 30 minutes of exercise may only burn a couple hundred calories at best. If your sedentary the rest of the day, that isn’t much help at changing your weight or health. Stay active, walk, get out and move- do something that makes you move in addition to your exercise plan. Intensity in exercise is also a huge thing. Working out with great intensity will burn more calories and more fat than just going through the motions. The harder you are breathing and the more you are sweating, the better results you’ll get. So during your workout give it your best and do it with intensity.
Mouth. What goes in does count. You know, the old saying “A minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips” is more true than you may realize. Again, the M for math is linked to the mouth M. You can eat a ton of calories in one meal. A common meal at a restaurant will give you 12 to 1500 calories. This is huge and we will go into this more in the math section. Let’s look at what you should be eating in general. Number one, you should have protein at every meal. Number 2, you should have 4 to 5 servings of vegetables a day. Number 3, you should have 3 to 4 servings of fruit per day. Number 4, most of your carbohydrates should come from vegetables and fruit. Number 5, your breads should be whole grain. Number 6, Alcohol should be limited or eliminated due to the sugars present. Number 7, stay away from sugar and soda. Number 8, you should eat whole food prepared by you, not from a box or a pre-prepared meal, etc.
Basically you also should be eating 5 to 6 times a day, 3 meals and 2 to 3 healthy snacks. The common maximum caloric intake for weight loss is between 1200 and 1500 calories depending on your gender, starting weight and activity level.
What you take into your body is so essential to your energy, mental health and overall wellness. When you eat clean, you become clean. After a few weeks of eating clean, if you eat something that is bad for you, your body will tell you.
Math. Both mouth and movement are tied to math, because understanding the math gives better understanding to the movement and mouth aspects of our 
lives.
Let’s start with the basics of what you need to know.
- 3500 calories per pound of fat lost
- Know your resting metabolic rate (RMR). This is defined as the amount of energy expended while at rest. Search this out there are plenty of calculators out there to tell you what this is. It is based on Age, height, weight, gender and a couple of other variables. You should also understand that it is an estimate.
- Amount of calories burned during exercise. There are plenty of devices out there that will estimate this number for you. You can also use charts that average the amount expended during any particular activity. However, your number measured by a device is best.
- Caloric content of the food you eat. Maybe the most important number(s) to know
- Serving size of the food we eat. Helps measure the caloric intake accurately.
Example: A person has a RMR of 1900 calories. This person exercises for 45 minutes and burns 300 calories. The daily caloric measured intake is at 1500 calories. This means the person is on track to lose 1.4 pounds per week minimum. Based on the following calculation. 1900-1500+300=700 calories a day. 700x7days a week=4900.
4900/3500 (base amount per pound to lose) =1.4 pounds. This example assumes a couple of things. 1.) The person is not active during the rest of the day above their RMR and everything eaten is measured exactly.
As you can see by the above example if the person stays fairly active during the day and increases their total caloric burn to 2500 or more while keeping the diet at 1500 they would have faster success.
Where most people go wrong is the diet and sustained activity. With the diet they don’t measure and understand what they are eating. With regards to the activity they are not active enough. Exercise is great, but we also need to be active throughout the day.
So there you have it. The M&Ms of fitness. This basic overview should put you on the right track and as always you can call or write with any questions. Remember to move, eat healthy, and know your numbers.
