Bodybugg: Estimating your daily calorie burn

I won a Bodybugg calorie management device through a work fitness competition a few weeks ago and have been excited to try it out. I probably never would have bought something like this since a heart rate monitor just seems to make so much more sense for me but hey, it was free!

The device is worn around your left arm throughout the day and it uses sensors to measure 4 points: your motion, heat flux or the amount of heat your body gives off, galvanic skin response or your skin's conductivity and your skin temperature. The product is used in conjunction with a web-based application that allows you to enter in information about your body's parameters, your goals, activity levels and lifestyle. In addition, the web account allows you to enter in your meals for the day to track the calories consumed, gives you meal and nutritional suggestions based on the parameters you entered and offers resources to help you achieve your goals.

Villa Azur, Miami Beach

Unfortunately for Villa Azur, I think the fine dining snob in me was stirred up by my experience at Pied a Terre the other week (which was absolutely phenomenal!). Living in Miami there is no shortage of high-end restaurants but what you end up becoming accustomed to is the horrible service that goes along with your $40 entree. Pied a Terre reminded me of what it's like to actually have decent service, actually probably some of the best I've had.

This last weekend we decided to try Villa Azur, one of the restaurants on our notorious "list." The restaurant is located in the Palm Court building, where the Miami Beach Parking Authority formerly held their offices. Built in 1926 and renovated in the 80's, the last time I was in this building I must say it was a dump. With Villa Azur, they did a complete remodel of the interior which is very impressive - light and airy yet warm and comforting, the type of atmosphere I could come back to over and over again.

Entryway: Before and After*

Boozy Watermelon Lemonade

A refreshing cocktail perfect for summer & adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Watermelon Lemonade recipe. This cocktail has made it to the beach, a pool party, family gathering and as of Sunday, a Marlins game. Let me forewarn you though, the booze in this will sneak up on you as evidenced by the fact that I lost my apartment keys, had the MLB logo spray painted across my stomach (so classy), conned my way into the Clevelander to avoid a $10 cover and proceeded to eat half of a full-sized bag of potato chips. My roommate's experiences weren't nearly as fortunate.

The Ingredient List: Soy Lecithin

You hear from plenty of nutritionists and nutrition enthusiasts to read the ingredient labels on food and "don't buy anything with ingredients you can't pronounce or know what they are." Sounds easy. But the fact is that just about any food that goes through a decent amount of processing is going to contain ingredients we aren't quite familiar with. (On a side note, just about every food is "processed," what really matters is the degree of processing to get that final product. For example, frozen vegetables are processed in the sense that they are washed, cut and frozen. Bread is processed by combining ingredients, allowing the dough to rise and baking. Cheetos obviously go through a more complicated process to get their final form.)

To get to my point, while deciding between two snack bars today I was looking at the list of ingredients on each package and noticed that soy lecithin was an ingredient they both had in common. I am always up for learning something new, so here it is quick and dirty:

Dictionary definition of lecithin: "A substance widely distributed in animal tissues, egg yolk, and some higher plants, consisting of phospholipids linked to choline." (Note on choline: it's B vitamin that has been linked to brain development, reducing risk of heart disease and numerous other health benefits.)

Body Composition and Calorie Burn

Interesting estimates on the effects of body comp on metabolism...

Estimates for my height and age - 5'3" & 25 years old

The Body Mass Index (BMI) obviously has it's flaws and does not account for muscle mass and other body composition factors.

The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) assumes you did nothing but rest all day, it is purely supposed to represent the calories required to maintain your body functions (i.e. breathing). (Here the Mifflin-St. Jeor equations for BMR were used)

At 110 pounds:
BMI: 19.5 (Healthy)
BMR: 1,213 calories/day

At 120 pounds:
BMI: 21.3 (Healthy)
BMR: 1,258 calories/day

At 170 pounds:
BMI: 30.1 (Obese)
BMR: 1,485 calories/day

At 250 pounds:
BMI: 44.3 (Obese)
BMR: 1,848 calories/day (Picture this: laying in bed all day and eating about 14 pounds or 28 heads of broccoli to maintain your weight)

[Indian] Homemade Paneer

Whenever I ordered a paneer dish at an Indian restaurant (that tofu-like cheese curd) I always imagined it was made by some mysterious complicated process. That was until I asked my Indian coworker who exclaimed that it was in fact one of the easiest things to make. She explained it to me like this: boil milk, add lemon juice, allow to curdle and press in a cheese cloth. Now doesn't that sound easy?

Ingredients:

• Half gallon milk (whole or 2% reduced fat will give the best flavor)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Dried spices of your choice (you can get creative here, I used parsley)
• Cheesecloth & strainer