And I thought this would be a good place to try to get them answered!

Okay, first of all, how can I calculate calories burned without a heart rate monitor for strength training and toning? I know I have to be burning something with as sweaty as I get.

Can someone recommend a good heart rate monitor? I don't want to spend more than $30 or $40 if possible.

What's this eating back the calories your burn while exercising? I really don't understand the whole nutrition thing (I can add calories, but I just don't get it). Is there any reading I can do that would explain this stuff to me in laymen's terms?


I really am going to be able to do this, right? I've lost 10 pounds so far, but I just find myself getting frustrated. Thanks!

You most certainly can do this!
To be honest, the best resource you'll find is this site IMO. Do a quick search about eating back calories and you'll find numerous threads with explanations.
The members here are fantastic, and I've learned so much from them already.

GOod luck to you and congrats on starting this journey!!

I recently purchased this:

http://www.amazon.com/Isokinetics-St...9599290&sr=8-1

It's about 30$ and it works great for me! I bought the hot pink one but it comes in various colors (including black)

If you want to calculate calories burned without extra gadgets, I would recommend creating a FitDay account (http://www.fitday.com) It's free; just input your weight, height, age, etc. and you can search under the fitness tab for whatever exercise you performed. It'll ask for the time you spent working out, and it'll calculate calories burned for you. Just know that everyone is different, and the number they give you is an estimate.

Welcome
-Stephy

Creeech pretty much pointed you in the right direction. Instead of Fitday, however, I use livestrong. You can use whatever you want, though, even pen and paper.

I agree 100% with Coondocks! Great place, wonderful people, and fantastic advice, not to mention super support and a good kick in the *** when you need it !:P


And CONGRATS on the first 10lb! You should be proud.

I firmly believe that you'll never, ever get an accurate number of calories BURNED, regardless of what activity it is. There are so many factors involved. Those calculators always overestimate.

Which is why I never, not once have tracked my calories burned.

Besides, even if I were to, it wouldn't change one iota the calories I CONSUME.

I eat what I eat, adhering to a calorie allotment and that never changes. It doesn't change if I move more, move less, don't move at all. I keep the two completely separate. So my calories burned are totally inconsequential to me. Any calories I burn are a complete and total bonus in the calorie deficit department. So I most definitely do NOT eat back my calories as I think that's totally counterproductive.

IMO, the only ones who should be adding in calories due to activity are runners.

10 lbs lost? Sounds to me like you most definitely are doing lots of things right. You don't have to have everything all figured out from the beginning. This is a wonderful adventure and journey. You will learn and grow as you go along. There is so much to discover! Enjoy the heck out of it. I sure have.

I look forward to hearing of your continued progress.

The calorie counting program I use has a huge library of exercises also, so I do track the calories burned each day through exercise, I don't however add those calories back into what I can eat day. I like to track just to keep track of what I'm doing, but the I count the calories burned as just a bonus for the day. It also doesn't measure strength training activities, so those I have no way of knowing.

The big thing about calorie counting is that you can be as inaccurate as you want as long as you are consistent. I mean, I think I lose well on 1500-1600 and slowly on 1800-2000, both with an hour of exercise a day. Now, maybe I am counting calories wrong and I am really eating a lot more or a lot less every day. But it doesn't matter because what I do know is that whatever amount I am calling "1500-1600" or "1800-2000" is a number I lose on. So even if I am sleep-binging, I am still doing it "right", because it's working.

So do ANYTHING for 3 weeks and keep careful records. At the end of three weeks,:

-If you are losing an average of 1% of your body weight a week and feel mostly satisfied, then you are good.

-If you aren't losing, eat less/exercise more.

-If you losing on the high end of 1%, and, especially, if you are cranky or hungry or lightheaded or absent minded, eat more, but not a lot more, and make them healthy calories.

-If you aren't losing, but you are cranky/hungry/tired/absent minded, change WHAT you eat--change carbs, eat more veggies, eat more protein, eat more healthy fats, eat smaller, more frequent meals--experiment.

-If you can't stay on your plan, if you keep falling off the wagon, again, change WHAT you eat--and if that doesn't work, try going up a couple hundred calories a day.


Seriously, if you repeat that checklist every few weeks and stay on plan 95% of the time, you'll be a new person in six months and old friends won't recognize you in a year.

ETA: If you spend money on anything, buy a kitchen scale. Best $20 I've ever spent. More accurate, faster, and less mess than measuring.

I agree with this entire post, but this part in particular. I too keep calories completely separate from my workouts. I don't even look at the calories I'm burning. I spin for an hour, I run 4 miles, I lift for an hour...I have no idea what I burn.

The only time I eat more due to exercise is when I feel ill, and that only happens when I'm being crazy. If I take a 26 mile bike ride, I need more food. Once I found myself on a five mile hike and was light headed and ill from too little food. So I ended up increasing my calories once I got home and that was scary because I was on foot five miles away from home! I had to keep going. But those are rare instances and I've learned to recognize what my body is telling me about how much food I need.

I don't keep count of what I burn, but I have upped my daily calories in response to exercising more. I exercise the exact same routine each week, so if I say "I am going to go another 15 minutes on the bike" that is every day now and forever. If after a week of that, I am consistently more hungry/cranky/dizzy, I'll up my calories 50-100/day. If after another few weeks I seem to adjust, I might lower them.

I think that everything in Shmead's post is spot on. It's about finding what works for you... and it takes a little experimentation! I think the process listed in Shmead's post is well laid out. And I totally agree about the kitchen scale! Get a digital scale that measures in grams and oz that can be zeroed out. It's a million times more accurate and easier than measuring spoons and cups! Best purchase I made for the new lifestyle!

Schmead is right on - consistency is what is important, the number is only a relative value system (which is why points for Weightwatchers work as well, they are much smaller numbers tha calories, but still represent units of food energy. Adjust them up and down until the loss is where you want it. It doesn't matter if 30 points equals 2000 calories or not, it's the relative movement up and down that is important).

As for estimating exercise I have a great list somewhere, let me find it. You put in your weight and age and it gives you caloric burn estimates for a huge number of activities. I always underestimate my effort so I am not crediting myself with more calories than I probably burned (many of the estimators are on the high side of burn). But again, as long as you are consistent it's fairly irrelevant.

ETA: http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/calculat.htm

I agree with the keeping the exercise as a bonus ~ eat what calories you're supposed to eat, and then the exercise is a little added jolt to your system. Unless you're running like mad or marathon training or something, otherwise eat what you eat, and do the exercise as something separate ~ trying to guess what calories to eat back would be a nightmare, and you might undo all the hard work!

I use Sparkpeople to track calories in and out, but the only time I increase my food intake to account for it is if I'm hiking or biking a long distance. My daily walking and yoga and stuff just get tracked, but I don't need to up my intake to refuel.