What was I Thinking?

I had not planned to write today, but I was thinking about something that didn't make sense to me and felt like putting it in words.

Earlier today I found some information from a web site that estimated the number of calories a person needs in a day. (I can't remember what the web site was.) The site had a calculator that used height, weight and probably some other information to get the results. The recommendation for me was somewhere around 1800 calories. I stopped and looked at it again. Yep, 1800 calories! Over the weekend I had a health screening that said I burned about 1300 calories at rest. The person giving the test even recommended I consume 100 fewer calories a day to lose weight.

A 500 calorie difference seems like a lot! While talking to my daughter about it, she pointed out that the recommendation for an average adult is 2,000 calories a day. I also remember reading that an adult should not consume fewer than 1,200 calories a day.

Since I do not remember what was used to measure the web results there are many reasons why the numbers could different. Maybe the web site took into account my daily activity levels and the other didn't, maybe they are not both "at rest," maybe they are both flawed... who knows.

OK, here's my point. Before I re-found the info from the web site, I just blindly accepted the 1,300 calorie number. Why did I let some guy I don't know, whose back ground I don't know, talk me into believing health information that clearly doesn't make sense?

The embarrassing part is, I know better. The good news is, my daughter had the common sense to see it. I'm glad I have smart kids!