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Ray Norris is a professor at the School of Science at Western Sydney University. This story originally featured on The Conversation.
In September 2023, my colleague Anna Kapinska gave a presentation showing interesting objects she’d found while browsing our new radio astronomical data. She had started noticing very weird shapes she couldn’t fit easily to any known type of object.
Among them, labelled by Anna as WTF?, was a picture of a ghostly circle of radio emission, hanging out in space like a cosmic smoke-ring. None of us had ever seen anything like it before, and we had no idea what it was. A few days later, our colleague Emil Lenc found a second one, even more spooky than Anna’s.
Anna and Emil had been examining the new images from our pilot observations for the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) project, made with CSIRO’s revolutionary new Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope.
EMU plans to boldly probe parts of the Universe where no telescope has gone before. It can do so because ASKAP can survey large swathes of the sky very quickly, probing to a depth previously only reached in tiny areas of sky, and being especially sensitive to faint, diffuse objects like these.
I predicted a couple of years ago this exploration of the unknown would probably make unexpected discoveries, which I called WTFs. But none of us expected to discover something so unexpected, so quickly. Because of the enormous data volumes, I expected the discoveries would be made using machine learning. But these discoveries were made with good old-fashioned eyeballing.
Hunting ORCsOur team searched the rest of the data by eye, and we found a few more of the mysterious round blobs. We dubbed them ORCs, which stands for “odd radio circles”. But the big question, of course, is: “What are they?”
The ghostly ORC1 (blue/green fuzz), on a backdrop of the galaxies at optical wavelengths. There’s an orange galaxy at the centre of the ORC, but we don’t know whether it’s part of the ORC, or just a chance coincidence. Bärbel Koribalski
At first we suspected an imaging artifact, perhaps generated by a software error. But we soon confirmed they are real, using other radio telescopes. We still have no idea how big or far away they are. They could be objects in our galaxy, perhaps a few light-years across, or they could be far away in the Universe and maybe millions of light years across.
When we look in images taken with optical telescopes at the position of ORCs, we see nothing. The rings of radio emission are probably caused by clouds of electrons, but why don’t we see anything in visible wavelengths of light? We don’t know, but finding a puzzle like this is the dream of every astronomer.
We know what they’re notWe have ruled out several possibilities for what ORCs might be.
Could they be supernova remnants, the clouds of debris left behind when a star in our galaxy explodes? No. They are far from most of the stars in the Milky Way and there are too many of them.
Could they be the rings of radio emission sometimes seen in galaxies undergoing intense bursts of star formation? Again, no. We don’t see any underlying galaxy that would be hosting the star formation.
Could they be the giant lobes of radio emission we see in radio galaxies, caused by jets of electrons squirting out from the environs of a supermassive black hole? Not likely, because the ORCs are very distinctly circular, unlike the tangled clouds we see in radio galaxies.
Could they be Einstein rings, in which radio waves from a distant galaxy are being bent into a circle by the gravitational field of a cluster of galaxies? Still no. ORCs are too symmetrical, and we don’t see a cluster at their center.
A genuine mysteryIn our paper about ORCs, which is forthcoming in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, we run through all the possibilities and conclude these enigmatic blobs don’t look like anything we already know about.
So we need to explore things that might exist but haven’t yet been observed, such as a vast shockwave from some explosion in a distant galaxy. Such explosions may have something to do with fast radio bursts, or the neutron star and black hole collisions that generate gravitational waves.
Or perhaps they are something else entirely. Two Russian scientists have even suggested ORCs might be the “throats” of wormholes in spacetime.
From the handful we’ve found so far, we estimate there are about 1,000 ORCs in the sky. My colleague Bärbel Koribalski notes the search is now on, with telescopes around the world, to find more ORCs and understand their cause.
It’s a tricky job, because ORCS are very faint and difficult to find. Our team is brainstorming all these ideas and more, hoping for the eureka moment when one of us, or perhaps someone else, suddenly has the flash of inspiration that solves the puzzle.
It’s an exciting time for us. Most astronomical research is aimed at refining our knowledge of the Universe, or testing theories. Very rarely do we get the challenge of stumbling across a new type of object which nobody has seen before, and trying to figure out what it is.
Is it a completely new phenomenon, or something we already know about but viewed in a weird way? And if it really is completely new, how does that change our understanding of the universe? Watch this space.
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Product Delivery In The Sky: How Drones Could Be Gaming Changer?
Delivery drones are changing the face of product delivery.
The exploitation of drones is already started taking flights in commercial space as retailers and e-commerce businesses are capitalizing on these
Drones Will Change the Product Delivery GameFor the last couple of years, there has been a lot of shake-ups in supply drones. Approval from aviation authorities, insurance and costs, urban delivery, weather and theft, and others are some biggest hindrances for delivery drones. Despite these,
How Drone Delivery Will Decide the Future of Robots?It is well understood that harnessing the power of technology will bring transformational changes to all aspects of life and business, whether it is positive or negative. The same goes for the usage of drones in commercial space. Most people, in some cases, may deny the use of drones or not comfortable with it. This is majorly because many drones in use today by the military are controlled by
Race to Lead the Drone Delivery BusinessCompanies in diverse industries are taking greater leaps and bounds to take off their drone delivery business. According to the ResearchandMarkets report, the global market of drones is predicted to reach from US$14 billion in 2023 to over US$43 billion in 2024, at a CAGR of 20.5%. The report further divulged that drone delivery will be the fastest-growing application within the market. Statista predicts the global market of drone delivery service will reach
Domino’sGlobally established prominence for delicious Pizza, Domino’s in 2023 delivered the world’s first-ever pizza using a drone. More recently, it was reported that the
Amazon Prime AirIn August 2023, FAA approved Amazon’s air deliver drone, Prime Air, marking the company’s milestone to expand unmanned package delivery. With its new drone delivery system, Amazon plans to use drones for delivering packages to their customers in half an hour or less. The approval has come after a long time as Amazon announced its Prime Air plans way back in 2013. But hardware limitations, not to mention health and safety regulation and others posed big challenges for the company.
FedExThe multinational service delivery company is also showing its interest in using drones for package delivery. To the extent, FedEx and Wing Aviation in October 2023 completed the first scheduled commercial residential drone delivery in the US. The delivery represented the first scheduled e-commerce delivery via a drone delivery trial in the country.
The exploitation of drones is already started taking flights in commercial space as retailers and e-commerce businesses are capitalizing on these unmanned aircraft vehicles for product deliveries. Drones are not new as they have been around for years and used for military purposes. However, with increasing consumer expectations, drones are now making its appearance in the commercial world. Already, retail giant Walmart, e-commerce maven Amazon, search engine Google, and courier service provider DHL, among others are betting hard on drone technology to package handling and delivery . Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permits companies to apply for certificates that allow them to fly commercial drones for research and development, including for agricultural and real estate purposes, companies are increasingly shifting their focus on drones. Amazon that is working on Prime Air®, a future delivery system, is designed to safely deliver packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using drone chúng tôi the last couple of years, there has been a lot of shake-ups in supply drones. Approval from aviation authorities, insurance and costs, urban delivery, weather and theft, and others are some biggest hindrances for delivery drones. Despite these, drones can be a game-changer and transform the way customers get their deliveries. Let’s say, you want to eat pizza or drink coffee, what all you need for this is to just place an order using your smartphone and you will get your order within a matter of minutes. But it is proven that the future of product delivery will be driven by drones. They will bring all necessities to your doorstep. However, this ease of product delivery and speed could certainly introduce problems for brick-and-mortar chúng tôi is well understood that harnessing the power of technology will bring transformational changes to all aspects of life and business, whether it is positive or negative. The same goes for the usage of drones in commercial space. Most people, in some cases, may deny the use of drones or not comfortable with it. This is majorly because many drones in use today by the military are controlled by human pilots who sit far miles away and handle these. But what if things will go wrong. Along with these uncertain concerns, delivering goods, even in most far-flung areas, can instantly be accessible and connected using drone delivery. Drones can become effective alternatives of automobiles, trucks and trains to traverse treacherous terrain.Companies in diverse industries are taking greater leaps and bounds to take off their drone delivery business. According to the ResearchandMarkets report, the global market of drones is predicted to reach from US$14 billion in 2023 to over US$43 billion in 2024, at a CAGR of 20.5%. The report further divulged that drone delivery will be the fastest-growing application within the market. Statista predicts the global market of drone delivery service will reach US$1.68 billion in 2030. Here is a look at companies leading the way in the drone delivery market.Globally established prominence for delicious Pizza, Domino’s in 2023 delivered the world’s first-ever pizza using a drone. More recently, it was reported that the Pizza delivery chain carried out a successful test flight of a pizza by drone to get the cheese-topped, dough-based sustenance to customers on a beach in Zandvoort on the coast north-west of chúng tôi August 2023, FAA approved Amazon’s air deliver drone, Prime Air, marking the company’s milestone to expand unmanned package delivery. With its new drone delivery system, Amazon plans to use drones for delivering packages to their customers in half an hour or less. The approval has come after a long time as Amazon announced its Prime Air plans way back in 2013. But hardware limitations, not to mention health and safety regulation and others posed big challenges for the chúng tôi multinational service delivery company is also showing its interest in using drones for package delivery. To the extent, FedEx and Wing Aviation in October 2023 completed the first scheduled commercial residential drone delivery in the US. The delivery represented the first scheduled e-commerce delivery via a drone delivery trial in the country.
Crucial Data Analytics Lessons That Came With The Pandemic
Data analytics came as a boon to businesses when they were sitting hand-on-head during the beginning of the pandemic. Data analytics helped organizations sieve through tons of data to get insightful information that helped them understand the changed consumer wants. But the on-going COVID-19 pandemic taught some data lesions that are practical and provocative, ranging from the importance of trust, collaboration, and addressing the limitations and misinformation.
The Teachings Of The PandemicData Points Represent People The logic is simple, data is generated by people. So, the lesson here is to think about what good practitioners can do through data and the unintended consequences of the published data at a policy level decision. Data that is used to inform broad public decisions like health and safety measures should be treated with caution than normal public datasets Wrong representation of data can minimize the intensity of the information and influence their decisions around important regulations. A common example for this is what is happening around the vaccine numbers. By sharing misinformation about the vaccine numbers, people responsible are creating a problem by encouraging people to take up vaccines while having supply issues. Data can show the true picture of the intensity of a tragedy COVID-19 showed the true power of data visualization, not on screen but via symbolic representations like candles lit for every life lost or flags meant for social distancing. While data on screen was there, nothing came close to the visual representation and that is the takeaway. Though a data analyst has the numbers, the understanding of those numbers will only come via proper representation. Bias and inequalities in data shouldn’t be tucked away In the US, COVID-19 data is represented at national, state, and district levels, but it took a lot of months for states to release data race-wise. States were insisted to do so because indigineous, Black, and Hispianic communities constitute the essential workers group who were under the risk. The data then showed inequalities in the impact faced by privileged people who had the liberty to work from home and those who had to be on the line daily. Only when analysts don’t hide these inequalities in data, people work on understanding the cause and come with a remedy. Don’t Rely On Just One Data Source Lots of reports saw light during the initial days of COVID-19 regarding positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. And towards the end of 2023, different reports came out talking about the mortality and recovery rate which, when compared, showed a complete picture of the impact. This implies that one shouldn’t trust data from one instance. Keeping in mind data’s dynamic behaviour, results should only be judged after a thorough collection. Data transparency matters. While the world is grappling with challenges about the case counts and bias, a lot of mistrust is being created. To make the right data more accessible, the above mentioned issues should be fixed.
Data analytics came as a boon to businesses when they were sitting hand-on-head during the beginning of the pandemic. Data analytics helped organizations sieve through tons of data to get insightful information that helped them understand the changed consumer wants. But the on-going COVID-19 pandemic taught some data lesions that are practical and provocative, ranging from the importance of trust, collaboration, and addressing the limitations and chúng tôi logic is simple, data is generated by people. So, the lesson here is to think about what good practitioners can do through data and the unintended consequences of the published data at a policy level decision.Wrong representation of data can minimize the intensity of the information and influence their decisions around important regulations. A common example for this is what is happening around the vaccine numbers. By sharing misinformation about the vaccine numbers, people responsible are creating a problem by encouraging people to take up vaccines while having supply issues.COVID-19 showed the true power of data visualization, not on screen but via symbolic representations like candles lit for every life lost or flags meant for social distancing. While data on screen was there, nothing came close to the visual representation and that is the takeaway. Though a data analyst has the numbers, the understanding of those numbers will only come via proper chúng tôi the US, COVID-19 data is represented at national, state, and district levels, but it took a lot of months for states to release data race-wise. States were insisted to do so because indigineous, Black, and Hispianic communities constitute the essential workers group who were under the risk. The data then showed inequalities in the impact faced by privileged people who had the liberty to work from home and those who had to be on the line daily. Only when analysts don’t hide these inequalities in data, people work on understanding the cause and come with a chúng tôi of reports saw light during the initial days of COVID-19 regarding positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. And towards the end of 2023, different reports came out talking about the mortality and recovery rate which, when compared, showed a complete picture of the impact. This implies that one shouldn’t trust data from one instance. Keeping in mind data’s dynamic behaviour, results should only be judged after a thorough collection. Data transparency matters. While the world is grappling with challenges about the case counts and bias, a lot of mistrust is being created. To make the right data more accessible, the above mentioned issues should be fixed.
Seo Shortcuts Take You Nowhere Fast
In our modern world, every second counts. How long does it take to get around the Starbucks drive-through? How fast can you text? How quickly does a webpage load? Google flat out tells you it took 0.25 seconds for them to pull 50,700,000 results that match your search query. Was that fast enough for you or could it be even quicker? Everyone is looking for ways to be more efficient because it means you can get more done in less time. Work smarter, not harder, right?
But what happens when we get so focused on speed that we start to blur the line between streamlining our approach and taking shortcuts to get things done?
I once had a client who got greedy with his content marketing and e-mail marketing campaigns. He had spent just under two years building up a decent sized list of loyal readers from his blog, who he then would send bi-weekly newsletters to. He decided that his list wasn’t growing fast enough and ended up purchasing a list of 100,000 e-mails from some company to augment his own list. Surely, with 100k new potential customers to connect with, he’d soon have more business on his hands than he could handle!
But you know what actually happened? Constant Contact disabled his account. They had received so many spam notifications regarding his newsletters, they had no choice but to shut him down. Just like that, his e-mail marketing campaign went up in smoke. He also lost all of his archived newsletters, which meant valuable links and aged content just disappeared overnight. He effectively hobbled a huge portion of his SEO, not to mention the damage it did to his online reputation – all because he tried to rush it!
When focusing so intently on time and ROI, it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees. All my client cared about was growing his subscriber list. Buying e-mails was the cheapest and quickest way to do so. However in his impatience, he didn’t stop to think about whether the people on this list would even want his newsletters or how unsuspecting receivers would react when his newsletter hit their inboxes.
As marketers, it’s easy to be tempted to take shortcuts when you’re under deadline. You have clients and management breathing down your neck to produce and somehow you have to make it happen. Unfortunately, SEO is not something you can rush. It’s so incredibly long term and dependent on numerous factors (many of which are outside of your control), that there’s no way to accurately predict when you’ll start seeing the results your clients/bosses are clamoring for.
But that’s not their problem, right? It’s your job to make SEO “happen,” so get to it!
Black Hat Temptation
That’s when the allure of black hat SEO is at its strongest. The beauty of black hat SEO is that is produces quick, measurable results that make you look good to your clients/boss. You can pull up the 2,500 links you created last month and everyone is happy. But where are those links really coming from? Probably a 100 different spam blogs, a dozen spun articles, a handful of link exchanges and so forth. None of those links provide any real, valuable link juice for your site and when those spam blogs get flagged and de-indexed by the search engines, your link portfolio goes with it.
Article spinning is another SEO shortcut that could land you in hot water down the line. Taking one article and submitting it to 50 different submission sites may be fast, but what good is it really doing for you? First off, the Google Panda update effectively declared war on article submission sites that indiscriminately publish low-quality and spammy content. Secondly, if you’re investing any time in a content marketing campaign and not producing valuable content designed to educate your target audience, why bother in the first place? It takes just as much time to write a spammy blog post as it does to write a useful one. If you’re going to write anything, make it work for you and get some get some life out of it! That’s being time efficient and effective.
I can understand the need to “produce” on a deadline. I can’t expect to walk into a client meeting with nothing to show them and think everyone is going to be okay with that. But I know that (and I spend a long time explaining this to my clients) SEO is NOT something you can rush or make happen. Pigeonholing your focus and expectations means you’re missing the broad picture of what SEO can and will do for your site. Taking shortcuts may get you there faster, but that doesn’t mean it did it better.
Time Is Running Out On These 2023 Best Buy Black Friday
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Best Buy has some of the best electronics deals around this year, including a ton of TVs, headphones, and accessories. These are our favorites.
Once the turkey wears off, you might need a little help getting to sleep again. Bose built its Sleepbuds specifically to cancel out environmental sounds and pump in white noise when you hit the sack.
This is one of Best Buy’s top TV deals for this year. With 4K resolution and a LED display, you get high-quality viewing every time. Gain access to Fire TV and control it using Alexa. Plus, you can enable parental controls and mount it to your wall.
That price tag may still be high, but this is a huge discount on Samsung’s new Neo QLED TVs. Samsung just unveiled this tech at CES earlier this year and it produces picture quality that gives OLED a run for its money.
This Crock Pot multi-cooker helps maximize your kitchen abilities, operating as a pressure cooker, yogurt maker, sauté pan, and more. It offers a quick clean function to remove any remnants of your last meal, and it also provides 15 pre-set cook functions, from Simmer to Dessert.
Best Buy Black Friday TV dealsLG 65-inch Class C1 Series OLED 4K TV – $1,799.99 (Was $2,099.99)
Samsung 55-inch The Frame TV – $999.99 (Was $1,499.99)
Samsung 75-inch Q80A QLED 4K TV – $1,699.99 (Was $2,699.99)
LG 70-inch NanoCell 75 series 4K TV – $749.99 (Was $1,199.99)
Sony 55-inch Bravia XR A80J Series OLED 4K – $1,399.99 (Was $1,799.99)
Sony 65-inch Bravia XR X90J LED TV – $1,199.99 (Was $1,499.99)
Insignia 58-inch F30 Series 4K Smart Fire TV – $349.99 (Was $579.99)
Hisense 70-inch A6G 4K Smart Android TV – $549.99 (Was $849.99)
Samsung 70-inch 4K crystal UHD Smart TV -$599.99 (Was $749.99)
Best Buy Black Friday kitchen dealsYummly Smart Meat Thermometer $89 (Was $129)
Ninja Mega Kitchen System 72-ounce Blender – $99.99 (Was $199.99)
Ninja Foodi 6-in-1 8-qt. 2-Basket Air Fryer – $129.99 (Was $179.99)
Insignia 8-quart digital multi-cooker – $39.99 (Was $119.99)
Bella Pro Series 6-quart Digital Air Fryer – $44.99 (Was $99.99)
KitchenAid Pro 5 Plus 5-quart Stand Mixer – $219.99 (Was $499.99)
GE Profile Opal 24-pound portable ice maker – $579.99 (Was $629.99)
Best Buy Black Friday headphone dealsApple AirPods 2nd generation – $119.99 (Was $159.99)
Apple Air Pods Pro – $189.99 (Was $249.99)
Apple AirPods Max – $479.00 (Was $549.00)
Jabra Elite 85T True Wireless Noise Cancelling Earbuds – $149.99 (Was $229.99)
Beats Studio Buds wireless earbuds – $99.99 (Was $149.99)
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 wireless earbuds – $119.99 (Was $149.99)
Best Buy Black Friday home audio dealsSamsung HW-A650 soundbar – $209.99 (Was $399.99)
Sony WF-1000XM4 True Wireless Noise Canceling In-Ear Headphones – $248.00 (Was $279.99)
Beats by Dre Beats Studio3 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones – $169.99 (Was $349.99)
Best Buy Black Friday electronics dealsCricut Maker – $229.00 (Was $369.00)
WD easystore 14 TB external hard drive – $199.99 (Was $419.99)
Asus ROG Strix GA15 G15DK Gaming Desktop – $1249.99 (Was $1499.99)
Best Buy Black Friday Amazon dealsAmazon Fire HD 8 Tablet – $44.99 (Was $89.99)
Best Buy Fitness Black Friday dealsBowflex VeloCore Bike exercise bike – $1,499.99 (Was $2,399.99)
Hyperice Hypervolt 2 Pro Percussion Massager – $329.99 (Was $399.99)
Best Best Buy Black Friday smartwatch dealsFitbit Versa 2 smartwatch – $119.95 (Was $179.95)
Fitbit Charge 5 fitness tracker – $129.95 (Was $179.95)
Garmin Venu SQ GPS Smartwatch – $129.99 (Was $199.99)
Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Aluminum Smartwatch 40mm BT – $199.99 (Was $249.99)
Moochies Smartwatch Phone for Kids 4G – $199.99 (Was $129.99)
Best Best Buy Black Friday smart home dealsNetgear Nighthawk AX5200 Wifi 6 router – $149.99 (Was $299.99)
Nest Mini (2nd generation) with Google Assistant – $24.99 (Was $49.99)
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – $19.99 (Was $39.99)
AeroGarden Harvest Elite Slim Indoor Garden – $99.99 (Was $179.99)
Best Best Buy Black Friday laptop dealsMacBook Air 13-inch M1 – $849.99 (Was $999.99)
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4-inch Touchscreen Laptop – $549.99 (Was $699.99)
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14-inch 2-in-1 4K laptop – $1,349.99 (Was $1,749.99)
Dell Alienware m15 R5 15.6″ Gaming Laptop – $1,699.99 (Was $2,099.99)
HP Omen 16.1″ QHD Gaming Laptop – $1,699 (Was $1,799.99)
Best Best Buy Black Friday monitor dealsDell 24-inch LED Curved gaming monitor – $179.99 (Was $249.99)
Acer Nitro XV271 27-inch HD 280 Hz monitor – $299.99 (Was $399.99)
Samsung Odyssey Gaming CRG5 24-inch curved monitor – $149.99 (Was $279.99)
LG UltraGear 32-inch LED QHD Gaming Monitor – $299.99 (Was $399.99)
FAQs Q: When is Black Friday 2023?Black Friday 2023 is on November 26th. That said, the actual date isn’t nearly as important as it used to be. Black Friday is now more of a month-long deal and sale party, so keep an eye out for discounts coming from every direction from the moment Halloween ends until the bitter end of Cyber Monday.
Q: What is Black Friday?Black Friday’s historical meaning traces back roughly half a century when it referred to a day full of heavy traffic and also the day in which businesses in the US started turning a profit for the year. It refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving. Most of that is irrelevant now, though, and Black Friday has become shorthand for the shopping frenzy that happens between the end of October and the beginning of December.
Read Next: Amazon 2023 Black Friday Deals
Winning The Losing Game: Calories In Vs. Calories Out
Winning the Losing Game: Calories In vs. Calories Out
A diet rich in vegetables and protein helped BU Today reporter Vicky Waltz lose five pounds in five weeks. Photo by Paul Heerlein
Last February, BU Today reporter Vicky Waltz set out to drop a few pounds and get in shape. After hiring a personal trainer through BU’s Fitness and Recreation Center, Waltz sweated through a semester of rigorous cardiovascular, core, and weight-training exercises.
This week we revisit four of Waltz’s eight articles. Monday she kicked off with an introduction to her fitness quest. Today she focuses on healthy dieting, Wednesday she discusses the importance of having a strong core, and Thursday she writes about weight training.
Calories In vs. Calories Out
By Vicky Waltz
When I hired a personal trainer to help me shed 17 pounds, I knew I would be told to make some serious lifestyle changes. And while I was fully prepared — perhaps even eager — to jump-start my regular cardio routines with intervals of resistance training, crunches, lunges, and squats, I was not looking forward to dieting.
I’ve been told that some people find dieting easier than exercising. I am not one of them. I would rather run two miles than deny myself a slice of pizza or a glass of wine. I also know that losing weight requires consuming fewer calories, so after the New Year, I vowed not to eat any desserts for three months. I made it 44 days.
Last week, I left the FitRec Center after a grueling workout session with trainer Stephanie McNamara (SED’07) and saw a Ben and Jerry’s delivery truck parked across the street. The door was open, the driver was nowhere in sight, and as I quickly made my way down Commonwealth Avenue, I found myself reciting, mantra-like, “Don’t steal the ice cream truck, don’t steal the ice cream truck.” I did not steal the truck, but for the next few days all I could think about was chocolate. On the weekend, I baked cookies for a fundraising event, a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip and a pan of chocolate-toffee bars. Bringing the leftovers home was a big mistake — I ate five the first day and nine the second. I’ve tried not to beat myself up over this, but ever since, I’ve been focusing on those cookie calories every time I work out.
I didn’t always have this problem. In Ohio, where I grew up, children younger than four or weighing less than 40 pounds are required by law to ride in a car seat. At six, I weighed only 38 pounds, and consequently spent my entire kindergarten year listening to my friends chant, “Vicky’s a baby, Vicky’s a baby!” every time my mother strapped me into my car seat. When I finally gained enough to donate the car seat to Goodwill, my family and I celebrated with ice cream sundaes.
I no longer have problems putting on weight. I outgrew my picky childhood and discovered how great food tastes, and now the only things I refuse to eat are brussels sprouts and Oreos. For the most part, my diet is healthy. I dine out only once or twice a week — and never at a fast food restaurant. I avoid anything with trans fats, I don’t drink soda, and I try to limit sweets and fried foods. The only time I eat meat is when I visit my great-aunt in Pennsylvania, because she fixes roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy the way my grandma used to. The rest of the time, my diet consists mainly of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, cheese, and fat-free milk.
Doing the math
Why did I gain 17 pounds in 18 months? Probably, I have learned, because I am no longer 21, and my metabolism has slowed. Also, I eat more than I really need. To learn more about sensible eating habits, I enrolled in Healthy Dieting, a course offered through the BU Nutrition and Fitness Center. Taught by registered dietitian Stacey Stimets, the class aims to establish realistic goals for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
On the first day, Stimets had us calculate our body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on a person’s height and weight. It’s not a good screening tool for pregnant women or lean individuals with significant muscle mass, but I am neither pregnant, lean, nor muscular, so my results promised to be a reliable guide. At five-four and 155 pounds, my BMI is 26.6, which means I am slightly overweight. Ultimately, my BMI should be 24 or less. We also calculated our daily energy requirements, which determine how many calories we need each day to maintain our current weight. My results indicate that I eat approximately 2,210 calories a day.
Hmm, 2,210 calories — that seems awfully high. No wonder I’ve put on weight. In order to lose a pound a week, Stimets says, I must reduce my intake by 500 calories a day, or 3,500 calories a week. I do a quick calculation in my head: if I burn 650 calories at the gym five days a week and reduce my calorie intake by just 35 calories a day, I should lose about a pound a week. That sounds reasonable.
I also learned of a recent study conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge indicating that eating less and exercising more are equally good at helping take off the pounds. Whether lost by dieting or running, a calorie appears to be a calorie. But just because I’m hitting the gym five times a week doesn’t mean I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want.
By the third week, my body had adjusted to the increased physical activity — I no longer needed to eat every few hours and I lost three pounds. And in spite of a back injury that forced me to cut back on my exercise routine for nearly two weeks, I lost another two pounds, bringing the total over five weeks to five pounds. I was pleased.
The mind game
Still, at times I become discouraged, particularly when I eat too much. Bread and butter — high in sugar and saturated fat — is a weakness, as are dried mango and wasabi almonds. I’m trying to put the recent cookie binge out of my mind, because I’m sick of obsessing over it. I wish that I didn’t take an all-or-nothing approach to “forbidden foods,” but until I can trust myself not to gorge on sugary treats, it’s best to stay away from them.
Coincidentally, just last month psychiatric researchers at Harvard Medical School declared that binge eating is the country’s most common eating disorder. A survey found that 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men suffer from binging — bouts of uncontrolled eating, well past the point of being full — at least twice a week.
Suggestions ranged from storing food in difficult-to-reach places, such as high cupboards, to buying individually packaged dessert items. I think the most feasible solution for me, though, is to eat something from my least favorite food group — fruit — before indulging in anything else. That way, I won’t be as likely to eat as much of the less-healthy item.
Although I’m still learning about nutrition and healthy eating, I do feel more knowledgeable than when I started the class. I’m certainly more aware of my calorie requirements, and best of all, I’m discovering new foods. Okra has become one of my favorite vegetables, and a friend gave me an excellent recipe for African groundnut stew. I know there will be times I’ll eat too much of the wrong thing, but I also know that if I beat myself up over it, it will only undermine my self-confidence.
This article originally appeared on BU Today on March 5, 2007.
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