[Kaspara]

Hi everyone!

I'm relatively young, just an upperclassmen in high school, but I feel like there's no time like the present to change my eating/exercising habits, especially because if I can learn to be healthy now, it will be a heck of a lot easier when I'm older to maintain. Now, I eat much more veggies and fruits and have changed from basically having meat be the main portion on my plates to just a small side. I also have dropped from 133 to 123 pounds over the course of around 6 months, which is relatively big for me seeing as I'm only 5'3.

Lately, I've been starting off my school days by going to the gym at 5:20 in the morning and going on the elliptical for 35 minutes followed by 10-20 minutes of walking (3.5-4mph) on a treadmill at a 9% incline and abs/stretching. By the time I finish, I usually hop into the sauna for a quick 5 minutes of relaxation and then take a shower/get ready for school and am walking to my high school by 7:35-7:40 (only a 5 minute walk from my gym). My question is, on sparkpeople I plug in my exercise and get a total of 268 calories burned for the elliptical and around 123 for the treadmill. However, the calorie trackers on the machine, which I put in my weight and age for, give me 368 for the elliptical and 140 for the treadmill. When I'm on the elliptical, I have it on level 7 for incline and resistance, would that account for the difference?

Which would you guys recommend for me to officially count for my exercise? Also, by going so early in the morning, I usually don't have time to eat my usual breakfast of oatmeal. What should I eat after the gym but before school? I have access to a grocery store, subway, bakery, etc, which are in the same complex as my gym.

Thanks a bunch for your advice!

[Krazy]

140 calories for the treadmill seems about right. For the elliptical it would depend on how hard you’re working. 368 calories in 35 minutes at your weight is pretty high. I sometimes use the elliptical at the gym and I usually burn about 350 calories in 30 minutes, but I'm also getting my heart rate up to about 180-200 bpm. Unless you are really exercising hard, I would go with the 268 calories.

For food you could eat a banana or some other type of fruit, or a fruit/yogurt smoothie. They usually sell them in the yogurt section.

[KellyMarie90]

Kudos to you for starting the road to a healthy lifestyle while still in high school! I'm still pretty young (only 20) so I'm in relatively the same boat

I'm going to preface this by saying this is only my opinion and my experience. I'm a health sciences major at college so a lot of the things I've learned in classes have shaped my opinions.
To answer your question, I would continue to take note of your speed/intensity and length of workout and enter it in later to calculate your calories burned because the counts of machines can get wacky lol
May I suggest though that (if you don't already do this) in addition to watching your calories burned that you keep an eye on your heart rate during your workout? You may have noticed on 99% if not all cardio machines theres a colorful little chart/graph that talks about "Fat Burning Zone, Target Heart Rate(Or Cardio) Zone, etc" I would suggest finding your maximum heart rate (simplest (but slightly less accurate way) is just 220-your age) and then you can find the percentage at which you wanna work. Ex. My max heart rate is 200 (220-20) and if I wanna workout at 85% of my maximum I just multiply 200 by .85= 170 bpm. For best results you should spend the majority of your workout in the cardio zone which is a range depending on your max heart rate.
I think its great to keep track of your calories burned but honestly you're going to burn calories during a workout no matter what but working out based on your heart rate will help you workout to your full potential and burn more calories in the long run.
If you want a more detailed explanation feel free to PM me and we can chat. I love the whole aspect of health and fitness and I can talk about it for hours haha

Also, I love oatmeal (I love putting different things in plain oatmeal) as well but had trouble finding ways to eat it on the go. I found that if I made a big batch in a crockpot or in the oven (google it! so yummy and so healthy) I canjust take a portion with me in a storage container and then heat it up later. A lot of gym have microwaves you can use if you ask or your school may have one as well

[Kaspara]

krazy: Thanks for your reply, my heart rate is usually between 175-185 for the majority of my workout, should I still go with the sparkpeople's calculation?

kellymarie90: Thanks so much for your reply! I have been staying within the upper portion of the cardio section, and I'll be sure to keep in mind what you're saying with watching my heart rate closer. If I'm in need of any fitness advice, I'll PM you! Thanks for offering!

(BTW: I LOVE oatmeal! I asked at my gym, but to no avail, seems like they don't keep a microwave... :/. Oh well, I'll check at school)

[Krazy]

No, I wouldn’t go with Sparkpeople’s calculation. I think you should at least be burning 300 calories per 30 minutes, if you’re keeping your heart rate between 175-185bpm. That’s just my opinion though; I’m no fitness guru or anything, lol.

[indiblue]

Congrats on finding a great routine and having such self discipline, Kaspara!

Regarding morning foods, how about making a batch of low-fat muffins over the weekend and grabbing one to go throughout the week? I can't put a link here, but try looking up recipes on AllRecipes or similar websites. There are some great muffin recipes that use lots of fruits, oats, wheat germ, and still taste amazing. I make a batch of Morning Glory muffin on Sundays with apples, bananas, pumpkin, and carrots and then grab one on the way to my morning yoga. Only 195 calories and 2 grams of fat. It's super fast and healthy.