Weight Loss

Since my hip and knee operations, I have backed off exercising as much as I used to and have for the most part been able to keep my weight down. However I have to get back to exercise to make sure that I keep the weight I lost prior to my operations off.  Here are some thoughts on weight and weight loss . 

The whole equation of weight depends on 3 main factors. Those factors are amount of daily activity, gender, and height/current weight.

Your body is a self regulating machine. Internally your body knows exactly how much it takes 
to maintain your weight. And this boils down to a simple equation. This equation is called Basal Metabolic Rate, and by knowing it you will know the next steps you need to do if you want to lose (or gain for that matter) weight.

The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy you need while resting in a temperate environment during the post-absorptive state, or when your digestive system is inactive. In such a state, your energy will be used only to maintain your vital organs, which include the heart, lungs, kidneys, the nervous system, intestines, liver, lungs, sex organs, muscles, and skin. The BMR decreases with age and increases with muscle mass.

The BMR is measured under very restrictive circumstances while awake. An accurate BMR measurement requires that a person's sympathetic nervous system is inactive, which means the person must be completely rested. Basal metabolism is usually the largest component of a person's total caloric needs. The daily calorie needs is the BMR value multiplied by a factor with a value between 1.2 and 1.9, depending on the activity level.

How to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate Use the calculations below or go to one of these sites

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ 
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html 

In most situations, the BMR is estimated with equations summarized from statistical data. The most commonly used one is the Mifflin - St Jeor equation:

BMR = 10 * weight(kg) + 6.25 * height(cm) - 5 * age(y) + 5         (man)
BMR = 10 * weight(kg) + 6.25 * height(cm) - 5 * age(y) - 161     (woman)

You can refine this further by factoring the levels of your physical activity into the equation:

Seldom Active- if you do very little or no exercise at all 
Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.2

Occasionally Active - light exercise between once and three times per week
Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.375

Moderately Active - if you do moderate exercise three to five days per week
Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.55

Frequently Active - if you do intensive/heavy exercise six to seven times per week
Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.725

Exceptionally Active - if you do very heavy/intensive exercise twice a day (extra heavy workouts)
Your daily calorie requirements are BMR x 1.9

Take time off and enjoy life

I hope that you are planning a summer vacation, but it might surprise you to learn that the U.S. is the only country in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with no legally required vacation days or holidays. Many countries give their citizens much more time off than the U.S., and the European Union requires at least four weeks of paid vacation a year.

So Who Gets the Most Time Off?

Austrians seem to get the most generous offer with 22 paid vacation days and 13 separate individual holiday days. France also provides a substantial time off package, with 30 paid vacation days a year. Spain and Portugal offer 34 and 35 paid vacation days and holidays, respectively. Belgium and Germany offer 20-paid vacation days and 10 individual holiday days annually.

Historically, so many Europeans choose to take their time off in August, that many businesses in those cities simply close down for the month. French and Italians like to travel to major cities and beaches all around Europe during their month off in August.

Americans Do Not Utilize Time Off

It’s no surprise that Americans do not want to take time away fromwork. Many workers leave their paid time off (PTO) unused, despite near-universal recognition of the importance and benefits of using PTO, from reducing stress to improving productivity when we return to work. 

However, when the U.S. Travel Association asked GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications to examine the attitudes and beliefs underlying America’s hard-charging work culture, GfK discovered that the benefits of PTO were no match for the fears that are keeping them at work.

In a survey of more than 1,300 employees and senior business leaders across the United States, it was revealed that workers construct many of their own biggest barriers to taking time off. Returning to a mountain of work and the feeling that nobody else could do their job were cited as the top reasons for not using PTO. The effects of a tough economy still linger with one-third of respondents, who said they could not afford to use their time off, and roughly, a fifth of workers expressed concern that they would be seen as replaceable if they used their PTO.

Although there is no obligation for time off in the United States, the private sector usually offers workers 10 vacation days and 6 individual holiday days. That is bad enough, but to make matters worse, most Americans do not even utilize the full amount of paid time off they receive. Research firm Harris Interactive asserts that Americans only use about 51 percent of their eligible vacation time.

Adam Sacks, president of the Tourism Economics division of Oxford Economics, argues that unused vacation time makes the economy less efficient. “Leaving earned days on the table,” he argues, “harms, not helps, employers by creating a less productive and less loyal employee.”

It seems that the American work ethic and job worries provide an unhealthy pressure, making them less likely to take time away from work. When Americans do take time off, many of them still answer emails and complete other work-related tasks. This all-work mentality has serious implications for companies, employees, and the overall economy.

When it comes to taking PTO, Americans themselves can be the biggest barriers.  Some reasons cited are:

• Returning To A “Mountain Of Work”: Fully 40 percent of American workers cite the heavy workload awaiting their return as the top challenge in taking PTO.
• The Work Martyr Complex: More than one-third of employees (35%) won’t use their time off because they believe “nobody else can do the work while I’m away.”
• Face Time, All the Time: Roughly three-in-ten (28%) respondents do not use all their time off because they want to show complete dedication to the company and their job.
• Lingering Effects Of A Tough Economy: One in three respondents (33%) say they simply “cannot afford” to take PTO. More than one-fifth of respondents (22%) said they didn’t want others to see them as “replaceable.”

America’s Hard-Charging Work Culture

A report in Forbes concluded that if employees took an additional day off each year, the U.S. economy would benefit with an extra $73 billion in output and advantages to both employees and businesses.

Benefits of Holidays

There are many obvious benefits to vacations. Individuals often mention feeling more relaxed, productive, and happy. There is also research that shows that annual holidays significantly decrease the risk of heart attacks in both men and women. Vacationers also report lower blood pressure, improved mental health, less stress, and enhanced energy.

Americans don’t want to ask for the time, and employers are reluctant to offer it, but why? Allowing workers to take time off can put stress on the rest of the team, but so can all work and no play!

• It doesn’t help anyone to have employees burning the midnight oil without a break. Organizations wind up with employee burnout. 37 percent of all working dads said they would consider the option of taking a new job with less pay if it offered a better work-life balance.
• It’s just plain healthy to take vacations. Employees are allowed to unplug, unwind and de-stress. In a study of 13,000 middle-aged men at risk for heart disease, those who skipped vacations for five (5) consecutive years were found to be 30 percent more likely to suffer heart attacks than those who took at least one week off each year.
• Vacations will facilitate higher energy levels, creativity, and a fresh perspective. Taking time off can be very positive for the employee, their co-workers and the clients that they interact with.
• All of the benefits of taking time off can improve the bottom line for the company. Employees come back energized and engaged, improving pro

Companies with individuals who take time off also experience lower burnout rates and higher retention. Nevertheless, according to National Geographic, do not look for quick solutions immediately after a vacation. The study shows that the recuperative benefits of a vacation start kicking in after two weeks.

So…stop reading this and take some time off!

Pushed to the left

Emily Dee who writes a wonderful blog called Pushed to the Left and Loving it wrote a piece called If We Give Stephen Harper Another Mandate it Means That we Are Giving Him Permission.

 We have an election coming up in Canada and her words need to be read again, in light of the last four years of the harper government in Canada.

Will Canadians again respond with their votes, their only weapon against corruption and tyranny, and punish Stephen Harper and his team?  Because if we don't, it will mean that we are giving Harper and his Conservatives permission to continue to behave in the same manner.

We will be giving them permission to abuse our tax dollars for self promotion. ($247 million on the Canadian Economic Action Plan alone)

We will be giving them permission to treat our Parliament with disrespect.

We will be giving them permission to simply close down the House every time Stephen Harper is being challenged, and risks losing his job. The last prorogation cost taxpayers $50 million. 

We will be giving them permission to alter documents after they've been duly signed. (Instead of taking responsibility, Harper is on the campaign trail suggesting that we don't care and that few Canadians have ever even heard of Bev Oda)

We will be giving them permission to withhold important information required by our elected MPs, to make decisions on our behalf.

We will be giving permission to buy off ethics commissioners to avoid them speaking of 200 ethics complaints against this government, many involving fraud. $500,000 of our money is the price of silence.

We will be giving them permission to dismiss the fact that two of their senators could go to jail for fraud, suggesting that it is a mere accounting error. An accounting error that involved fabricating receipts to collect taxpayer money that they weren't entitled to.

We will be giving them permission to expand prisons, take justice issues away from the justice department, and even lock up our children for minor marijuana offenses. 

We will giving them permission to continue their assault on women's rights.

We will be giving them permission to continue their assault on gay rights.

We will giving them permission to continue their assault on basic human rights, as we witnessed at the G-20 in Toronto.

We will be giving them permission to continue their hostile takeovers of arms length agencies, and vilify any who oppose their agenda, from diplomats to academics.

We will be giving them permission to lie, cheat and steal.

If we give Stephen Harper another mandate, it means that he can continue his destruction of Canada with our blessing.

Is this really the message we want to send?

We have an opportunity to make history by taking back our country, and saying loud and clear that Canadians will continue to punish those who attempt to play fast and loose with our money and our rules.

Supporting Our Luminaries

Read the entire post here 

The following was written by  Greta on the Occupy Canada website in August, It is time to share it again

There has been much discussion over the years regarding those in Anonymous who step forward (or are thrust forward) and those who encourage, promote, and assist them.  Most of us in the collective seem to feel that words like "leader" and "follower" are anathema to all for which Anonymous, the idea, stands.  I am here to propose that, since humans need to label things, and since we need terminology for that labeling, instead of using "leader" and "follower" we use "luminary" and "supporter".  I have explored the definitions, connotations and origins of these words, which I  will present below.  Disclaimer:  Any context in which I speak of Anonymous as "we", I am expressing MY OPINION of what the idea and ideals of Anonymous mean and/or hold true.

I shall start with the word leader.  The Oxford Dictionary definitions are: 

     1. The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country

          1a. An organization or company that is the most advanced or successful in a particular area

          1b. British A member of the government officially responsible for initiating business in Parliament

     2. The principal player in a music group

     3. British A leading article or editorial in a newspaper

     4. A short strip of non-functioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool

     5. A shoot of a plant at the apex of a stem or main branch

     6. Printing A series of dots or dashes across the page to guide the eye, especially in tabulated material

The etymology is derived from the word lead: "to guide," Old English lædan "cause to go with one, lead, guide, conduct, carry; sprout forth; bring forth, pass (one's life)," causative of liðan "to travel," from Proto-Germanic *laidjan (cognates: Old Saxon lithan, Old Norse liða "to go," Old High German ga-lidan "to travel," Gothic ga-leiþan "to go"), from PIE *leit- "to go forth."  The first ten synonyms of leader are: chief, commander, director, head, manager, officer, ruler, boss, captain, and chieftain.

Now for the follower definitions:

     1. An adherent or devotee of a particular person, cause, or activity

          1a. Someone who is tracking a particular person, group, organization, etc. on a social media website or application

     2. A person who moves or travels behind someone or something

Its etymology is derived from follow: Old English folgian, fylgan "follow, accompany; follow after, pursue," also "obey, apply oneself to a practice or calling," from Proto-Germanic *fulg- (cognates: Old Saxon folgon, Old Frisian folgia, Middle Dutch volghen, Dutch volgen, Old High German folgen, German folgen, Old Norse fylgja "to follow"). Probably originally a compound, *full-gan with a sense of "full-going;" the sense then shifting to "serve, go with as an attendant".  Fan, enthusiast, admirer, devotee, lover, supporter, adherent, disciple, apostle, and supporter are the first ten synonyms listed for follower.

To me, when we say no leaders, we mean no commanders or directors for certain. We are not here to be a new variety of sheep, with someone telling us what to do and when to do it, which ties into the word follower. The first synonym is fan which is the root of fanatic. As far as I know, we are a collective, not a mob. We hold personal responsibility an important part of human evolution. We CHOOSE whether or not we wish to join an op, protest, work within the system or without. The organizers of these actions do not tell us what to do, they advise us of what they are going to do.

Whereas the definitions for luminary are:

     1. A person who inspires or influences others, especially one prominent in a particular sphere

     2. An artificial light

          2a. literary A natural light-giving body, especially the sun or moon

The etymology of luminary is direct: late Middle English: from Old French luminarie or late Latin luminarium, from Latin lumen, lumin- ‘light.’ The first ten synonyms are: celebrity, dignitary, notable, personage, superstar, eminence, leader, lion, name, and notability.

To be used together with supporter, which Oxford defines thusly:

      1. A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy)

          1a. A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team

     2. Heraldry A representation of an animal or other figure, typically one of a pair, holding up or standing beside an escutcheon

Supporter is derived from support and the etymology of it is: meaning "that which supports, one who provides assistance, protection, backing, etc." is early 15c. Sense of "bearing of expense" is mid-15c. Physical sense of "that which supports" is from 1560s. Meaning "services which enable something to fulfil its function and remain in operation". Synonyms for supporter were: ally, defender, follower, patron, proponent, support, abettor, adherent, bearer, and booster.

So a luminary provides light, inspires and influences. This is what we do, ALL of us. Plus, it adds a dimension of meaning with the fact that many of our luminaries have had to step out of the dark of Anonymity into the light of notoriety and publicity. "Services which enable something to fulfil its function and remain in operation". This describes how we assist and encourage each other towards common goals.

Therefore, I will conclude with a proposal to all who paticipate in, write about, or discuss Anonymous to start using luminary and supporter in the place of leader and follower in all future communications.

Peace,

Greta

More job hunting tips for Boomers

An important factor in job seeking is locating employers who are interested in hiring you and your skills, abilities, and enthusiasm. As a seasoned veteran of the work force, you probably know how to locate job vacancies. 

Yes, there is an employer who is looking for your particular abilities and interests. As a reminder a job vacancy will occur because:
1. An employee is fired.
2. An employee may die.
3. An employee may retire, resign, start a new business, or take a job elsewhere.
4. An employee may be away from work because of accident, illness or a vacation period; this may create a temporary vacancy.
5. An employee may be promoted to a higher position. This may mean there will be a job vacancy.
6. An increase in demand for the companies’ products or services may mean that the staff will have to be increased temporarily or permanently.
7. A new organization starts up and additional staff is required.
8. A change in work procedures or equipment used may create openings for individuals who have special combinations of skill and training.

It is important to use every possible means to locate desirable job vacancies. Here are some methods to discover vacancies:

1. Tips from friends and acquaintance concerning present or future job vacancies on staffs of organizations. These friends and acquaintances may sometimes help by putting in a good word for you. It is hard sometimes to let your friends know you are looking for a job especially if they know you retired. Tell them you are bored and looking for some adventure or you may tell them that you are planning a trip and you need some extra cash, also tell them the kind of job you are trying to find.

2. Contacts with former employers for whom you have worked may lead to an opportunity. You may only want part-time but these can often lead, into full-time employment. This happened to me and it took me a year before I could quit. 

3. "Cold canvas" calls. First, compile a list of local organizations where you want to work. Call a certain number each day, selling your services. The focus in cold calling is not the response but the number of calls completed. When I was in sales cold calls were the hardest part of the job. So I worked up a goal of getting X number of cold calls done each day. By setting the goal of reaching a number, you will feel good about achieving the goal.

4. Tips and help from relatives. They may know of job vacancies suitable for you or suggest employers to contact.

5. Employment agencies. You should use private, government and unions.

6. "Cold canvass" by emailing. The idea is the same as in 3 above, but the letter makes the contact not the person. Such emails are usually ineffective unless addressed to specific individuals.

7. Reports in newspapers and trade magazines concerning new businesses and expansion of existing ones. These firms will require workers.

9. Use Web sites such as  AARP , Employment for Seniors Canada, LinkedIn ,Craig s list or Seniors for Jobs  to help your search.