Top 7 Bands of June 2008

I have been posting about exercise a lot lately, so I thought I would change the pace a little and talk about music. I change favorite bands every few months, so I thought it would be fun to talk about the music that I’m into right now. Ten years ago, this list would have been a lot different. I don’t have any bands on this list that would have been in my top 25 (ok, maybe Radiohead). So here is the run down of my Top Seven bands right now and why I like them:

1. Wilco – They have been at the top of the list for a few months now. I first found out about Wilco in 2004 when they came out with an album called A Ghost Is Born. I didn’t really like this album, so I assumed I didn’t like Wilco, but after listening to 2007’s Sky Blue Sky, I listened to some older stuff like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and I was in love! I saw them live in Colorado and will see them again on August 18^th at Red Butte Gardens in SLC.
   

2. The Shins – I found out about the Shins from the movie Garden State as I am sure a lot of people did. They have excellent lyrics and really cool layers of guitar. Here are some lyrics from the song Pink Bullets:
   

“Cool of a temperate breeze from dark skies to wet grass
we fell in a field it seems now a thousand summers passed
when our kite lines first crossed
we tied them into knots
and to finally fly apart we had to cut them off”

3. The Postal Service – This is a band that started with two dudes sending CD Roms back and forth in the mail aka the band name, The Postal Service. One of the dudes, Ben Gibbard is also the lead singer in another band that I love called Death Cab For Cutie. This band rocks some sweet techno beats with old-school video games sounding electronics and then cover it with really cool lyrics that just nake you sing along.
   

4. The Killers – “Somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year. It's not confidential, I've got potential.” –Enough said.
   

5. Radiohead – I never get sick of Radiohead. Their new album In Rainbows is the Radiohead I love – mellow and rockin’.
   

6. Lucinda Williams – Another oldie but goodie. I have really been digging her live stuff lately. She has this amazing old country voice – kind of like if Allison Kraus got drunk and rode a few roller coasters.
   

7. Feist – I first heard Feist on a iPod commercial. I had to know who it was after seeing the commercial a dozen times. She writes very catchy and danceable music.
   

Honorable Mention – M. Ward – This guy is a really good singer/songwriter. The only reason he didn’t make the top 7 is because I am still listening to his albums and falling in love with them. He will most likely make the top 7 in a month or so.

2555 Calories Per Day

I looked at an email today that had a formula for a BMR (base metabolic rate). The newsletter said, “Your BMR is the number of calories your body burns in a day when operating at absolute minimum capacity. Basically, imagine sitting on the couch all day. Your BMR, then, is the number of calories your body burns just to maintain your heartbeat, digestion, respiration, tissue repair and other organ functions. That's it.”

I don’t know how accurate this kind of stuff is, but I have been curious lately about how many calories is too much or too little for me in a day. I don’t think I am dedicated enough to carry around a calorie counting book with me everywhere, but I definitely need to work on portion control. Here is the formula for BMR:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

My BMR is 2060. So basically to maintain my current weight (which I do not want to do) I could sit on the couch all day and eat 2060 calories.

So then you figure our how many calories you are burning each day by using the Harris Benedict Equation:

Harris Benedict Formula

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

I figure that right now I am about a 3-4. I exercise moderate/hard 5 days a week. So I take my BMR (2060) and multiply it by 1.55. So now my daily calorie intake to maintain my current weight is 3193. So I found some more information on how to figure out how many calories are too little/too much to lose weight:

“If you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie levels are quite low.

An alternative way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference to your body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20% below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may increase this depending on your weight loss goals.”

If I reduce my caloric intake by 20%, this means I can eat 2555 calories a day to lose weight. If I go with reducing the number by 1000, I can have 2193 calories per day and still lose weight. Seems a little complicated to count calories, but at least now if I go to Wendy’s for lunch and have their southwest taco salad with the works, I know that I’ve eaten 650 of my daily calories.

May 2008 Recap

Things I am proud of:

I went to the gym every Monday – Friday in May except for one

I have been eating less and thinking about what I am eating more

I got desperate and ate a Totino’s pizza one night but then threw up (I am proud of that because my body rejected it)

I get out of bed easily in the morning

I haven’t had a regular soda other than on a free day and I have been drinking very little diet soda

Working out is the best part of my day

I have more energy

I have lost about 7 pounds

I have better posture

Things I need to work on this month:

I need to drink a lot more water

Some free days have turned into more of a free weekend – I need to have more willpower

I need to eat more breakfast and less dinner

I need to work out one more day a week - either Saturday or Sunday

I should start walking and running rather than just doing the stationary bike

I need to eat less candy – eat it only on the free day

I need to be eating more protein like protein shakes and cottage cheese

I need to eat better carbs like brown rice and more whole wheat

I need to eat more breakfast and less dinner

I should start walking and running rather than just doing the stationary bike

In general I need to work on eating better, not just eating less