Yeah, I don't care so much about the calories burned as how long I exercise/how far I get. But my bike does keep track of not only how hard the resistance is, how many RPM's I'm doing at that resistance, what my heart beat is, and it asks me to enter my weight before every workout too, so I figure it's got to be more accurate than SP.
I like this, and it's timely too given the fact that I just started my own weight loss plan last week. I've dropped four pounds already and having a bit of friendly competition/vicious attack mob against fat will be very helpful. Any kind of support is always nice.
I'm 23, 5'11 and 238 (started at 242) with the ultimate goal being around 180 with adjustments for muscle gain. I have a pair of calipers to keep track of changes on that front. I'm a full-time college student, but so far I've managed to do at least 20 minutes of exercise every day either in the form of weight training or jogging. I'm trying to beat my diet in to submission, but I haven't gotten a good handle on eating 5-6 small meals. Prior to all of this I generally only ate one big meal a day, so while I may not be doing everything 100% right yet, it's still an improvement.
Google isn't letting me at the spreadsheet, but I'm trying to navigate SparkPeople so that I can use the tools there. The menu tools in particular are nice since eating the same thing every day can be boring as hell.
7/15 is my 6 week mark so that's a perfect weigh-in date for me. This is a neat idea and I hope that everyone meets the goals that they set for themselves.
He's probably worried that showing up once will cause him to go every time, thereby turning the whole thing into a commute.
I have just learned that I've been doing a "Stillman diet." Who knew?
That's true. But I pointed out if he joins my gym, there's one two miles from his place that our memberships would work at, so we could switch off who drives to who. But in order for me to get my referral, I kind of need him to come out here. He's being a putz.
In other news. I haven't been to the gym today because it is storming like whoa and I've only got a few months left on my car's lease. The last thing I need is hail damage on the home stretch. I'll just have to hit the gym extra hard tomorrow.
I'm sorry, a life without carbs is a life not worth living. I think my ideal meal is a baguette and a hunk of butter.
This...might not be the healthiest option.
Reall, though, I eat bread just about every day and I still haven't had a problem losing weight as long as I've kept it to a minimum. I like bread. I like pasta. I like potatoes, etc. I'm still going to eat those things. I just don't eat them in massive quantities.
ChillyWilly on
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
I find I actually fluctuate almost 4 pounds throughout a 24 hour period - depending on how much water i've been drinking, when i last went to the bathroom, when i ate, etc. Even if i measure at the same time, having the same meals, i still am all over the place. That's why i check the scale a couple times a day to see when I go up and down (clothes are often 2 pounds too!). Sounds obsessive, but it helps me not despair when I've gone up 4 pounds in a day....
One of my friends works for a company that designs manufactures those things. He told me that the calorie counters literally exist to make people feel good about themselves, because if people couldn't see their progress as a continuously incrementing number right in front of them, many of them wouldn't get on a treadmill or a stationary bike.
So my goal of burning 1200 calories in one hour on the elliptical is pretty much bullshit?
One of my friends works for a company that designs manufactures those things. He told me that the calorie counters literally exist to make people feel good about themselves, because if people couldn't see their progress as a continuously incrementing number right in front of them, many of them wouldn't get on a treadmill or a stationary bike.
So my goal of burning 1200 calories in one hour on the elliptical is pretty much bullshit?
Yes and no. It's still a good goal to shoot for because it will make you push yourself to improve your performance, but you won't be burning 1200 calories in reality.
Perpetual on
0
Options
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
When you first start changing your lifestyle to a healthier diet and exercise, your body stops retaining as much water. A hefty chunk of that initial block of weight lost is water weight. That's why you can lose 8 pounds in your first week or two and then fall into the recommended two pounds a week.
I weight myself every Monday before my workout. That way I get a proper progression of weight at the same time in the same circumstances every week to track my progress.
One of my friends works for a company that designs manufactures those things. He told me that the calorie counters literally exist to make people feel good about themselves, because if people couldn't see their progress as a continuously incrementing number right in front of them, many of them wouldn't get on a treadmill or a stationary bike.
So my goal of burning 1200 calories in one hour on the elliptical is pretty much bullshit?
Yes and no. It's still a good goal to shoot for because it will make you push yourself to improve your performance, but you won't be burning 1200 calories in reality.
It's worth keeping an eye on, at least as a basis for comparison over the weeks and months. I recognize that I'm not necessarily burning 1250 calories in an hour on the elliptical, but at the same time I know that I've made a vast improvement over when I struggled to hit 800-900 "calories" burned in the same timeframe. I don't even assume I'm working 50% or more, but improvement is showing in said caloric counter, distance covered (used to struggle with hitting 8-9k, am now approaching 10.8-11k) and how my heart rate responds to the effort I'm putting out.
Of note, some devices do recognize weight as well; the one I use asks for my weight at the start of each session, and I've noticed that as I've put in lower and lower weights, it's a bit harder to hit the same heights of calories burned, so at least it's consistant. Whether it's accurate or not, I can't say, but as you noted, it does give me a target to aim for.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
One of my friends works for a company that designs manufactures those things. He told me that the calorie counters literally exist to make people feel good about themselves, because if people couldn't see their progress as a continuously incrementing number right in front of them, many of them wouldn't get on a treadmill or a stationary bike.
So my goal of burning 1200 calories in one hour on the elliptical is pretty much bullshit?
Yes and no. It's still a good goal to shoot for because it will make you push yourself to improve your performance, but you won't be burning 1200 calories in reality.
It's worth keeping an eye on, at least as a basis for comparison over the weeks and months. I recognize that I'm not necessarily burning 1250 calories in an hour on the elliptical, but at the same time I know that I've made a vast improvement over when I struggled to hit 800-900 "calories" burned in the same timeframe. I don't even assume I'm working 50% or more, but improvement is showing in said caloric counter, distance covered (used to struggle with hitting 8-9k, am now approaching 10.8-11k) and how my heart rate responds to the effort I'm putting out.
Of note, some devices do recognize weight as well; the one I use asks for my weight at the start of each session, and I've noticed that as I've put in lower and lower weights, it's a bit harder to hit the same heights of calories burned, so at least it's consistant. Whether it's accurate or not, I can't say, but as you noted, it does give me a target to aim for.
Yeah, I think Perpetual is mainly saying that looking at the calorie counter so you can use the number it shows you to calculate your daily calorie deficit is pure nonsense. The number may still be still useful for keeping track of overall performance and endurance - still though, you're much better off keeping track of distance vs. time for that.
Yeah, I think Perpetual is mainly saying that looking at the calorie counter so you can use the number it shows you to calculate your daily calorie deficit is pure nonsense. The number may still be still useful for keeping track of overall performance and endurance - still though, you're much better off keeping track of distance vs. time for that.
Depends on what you do. I use the Random function, so sometimes I'm up to 70 rpm+, sometimes I'm down at 55, because at the top difficulty it throws at me, it feels like I'm jogging in quicksand.
Not to belabour or argue the point, I do agree that it's an imperfect measure, however there are a number of variables that can even make the "good" measures less than accurate. Going 10.7 the day after I went 10.9 doesn't necessarily mean I didn't work as hard; depending on the difficulty the RNG threw at me, I might've worked even harder.
Hence why I keep an eye on calories burned, distance covered and how my heart rate reacts to the stresses put upon it; it gives me a vague baseline for how I'm doing overall, even if one statistic or another might be skewed for some reason on any given day.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
I think I could have "won" this challenge. 88 pounds in nine months. Photos will be uploaded next week. :P
That reminds me, I was thinking of doing a "It can be done!" section in the OP (apart from the photo section to show work in progress). I know there's a few who lost over 50 pounds already here in the thread.
If people are cool with that send me a pm with links to the pics.
I think I could have "won" this challenge. 88 pounds in nine months.
In a way, you did.
This thread is obviously focusing on those of us who are still a work in progress, but the only person any of us can really compete with are ourselves.
So kudos for kicking your own ass and making that kind of dramatic improvement!
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
So kudos for kicking your own ass and making that kind of dramatic improvement!
Yeah. I have been stuck at 270 pounds for three months now, but I don't really have reason to complain, because I'm in good health. I can easily do hour long exercise routine with 65 pound handweights, do hundred traditional ab crunches, and even run for a mile. Nonetheless, it would neat to shed few pounds more.
elkatas on
Hypnotically inclined.
0
Options
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
edited June 2010
IS this still on going?
I'm even on spark people.
Long and short of it- 6'5 and 285 and want to go to 245-sub 250. It can happen with me as when I got divorced and went to the gym I hit that low. HOWEVER, for three years things have crept back up.
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Well, I've lost 6 pounds in the last two weeks. Nice to see the setbacks I've been having aren't screwing me up too badly.
Nice work, man! It always feels super good to see the results, and 5 pounds makes a pretty big difference
I decided that swimming wasn't gonna be enough so I added 20-30 minutes on the elliptical machine to it. Today was the first day, and I'm gonna try to climb more as well.
so i rolled my ankle a couple months ago and am just easing into running again. I had been doing the elliptical during that time so my endurance has built up. but I'm finding that I can barely even jog like 300 meters without getting horrible shin splints.
It's frustrating because I have the endurance to keep going and going but I gotta stop due to the pain. I've been doing stretches for splints specifically. It looks like it will just take some getting used to. Anyone have experience with this? how long might it take to get to the point where i can jog somewhat consistently?
I did 38 minutes on the treadmill at a slightly higher speed!
I really want to see results... so much so that I think I'm starting to imagine physical changes where there are none.
I've also run out of things to watch... my next netflix thing won't arrive for another two days, and I have been reduced to watching Gundam Wing as I run.
Tonight, I will go to bed earlier! ...I slept very badly last night.
I did 38 minutes on the treadmill at a slightly higher speed!
I really want to see results... so much so that I think I'm starting to imagine physical changes where there are none.
I've also run out of things to watch... my next netflix thing won't arrive for another two days, and I have been reduced to watching Gundam Wing as I run.
Tonight, I will go to bed earlier! ...I slept very badly last night.
Don't feel too bad - even if it's not an accurate measure of the calories you've burned, it is still useful as a score counter!
Don't be discouraged featherblade. Take it one day at a time. Change won't come overnight, no matter how bad we want it. Use the mirror and the way your clothes fit as a sign of change rather than the scale since everyone's body weight fluctuates daily.
It took me a couple of years, from 210lbs around 2005 to 190lbs in 2006. Getting to where I'm at now at 175-180lbs took me another few years. I finally got my healthy eating habits into high gear last year and have never looked back.
The main thing is to keep going at it, no matter what life throws at you.
So right before I was going to do a proper weigh in, I discovered that my scale was broken. Battery was dead, and it's one of those sorts of scales that doesn't allow you to swap the very esoteric battery in use.
So I need a new scale.
I do have a good sense of where I am in terms of weight though, as I've been off and on exercise regimens for some time now. I'm one of those guys who needs to see some tangible, fucking quantifiable progress to continue on with things. And I know I've gained weight since my last sojourn down this path and it would be useful to see where I am.
So, I turn to you, thread - where can I buy a cheap bathroom scale (preferably under $40) online, in Canada?
So right before I was going to do a proper weigh in, I discovered that my scale was broken. Battery was dead, and it's one of those sorts of scales that doesn't allow you to swap the very esoteric battery in use.
So I need a new scale.
I do have a good sense of where I am in terms of weight though, as I've been off and on exercise regimens for some time now. I'm one of those guys who needs to see some tangible, fucking quantifiable progress to continue on with things. And I know I've gained weight since my last sojourn down this path and it would be useful to see where I am.
So, I turn to you, thread - where can I buy a cheap bathroom scale (preferably under $40) online, in Canada?
What's the Canadian equivalent of Wal-Mart?
And Featherblade, I used to run while watching stuff, and making the switch to music actually motivated me even more. Just get pumped by the right track and it makes me run harder.
So right before I was going to do a proper weigh in, I discovered that my scale was broken. Battery was dead, and it's one of those sorts of scales that doesn't allow you to swap the very esoteric battery in use.
So I need a new scale.
I do have a good sense of where I am in terms of weight though, as I've been off and on exercise regimens for some time now. I'm one of those guys who needs to see some tangible, fucking quantifiable progress to continue on with things. And I know I've gained weight since my last sojourn down this path and it would be useful to see where I am.
So, I turn to you, thread - where can I buy a cheap bathroom scale (preferably under $40) online, in Canada?
the most precise consumer scale i've ever seen is on sale at (amerrrikkan) amazon for under $30 USD
EatSmart™ Precision Digital Bathroom Scale w/ Extra Large Backlit 3.5" Display and "Step-On" Technology
so i rolled my ankle a couple months ago and am just easing into running again. I had been doing the elliptical during that time so my endurance has built up. but I'm finding that I can barely even jog like 300 meters without getting horrible shin splints.
It's frustrating because I have the endurance to keep going and going but I gotta stop due to the pain. I've been doing stretches for splints specifically. It looks like it will just take some getting used to. Anyone have experience with this? how long might it take to get to the point where i can jog somewhat consistently?
other news: down to 150!
i would also like some input re:shin splints. i usually run on a treadmill, but since i've been on vacation this past week i've been running outside (asphalt and on the beach, where the sand is packed really well). when i run outside my shins hurt like HELL after about 15 minutes, whereas on the treadmill i can typically go for longer. it's gotten better though, i did the couch to 5k program (didn't finish it) and that definitely helped with my endurance a whole lot.
So, I know I missed the official weigh in things, but I dropped from 239.5 to 234.6 in my first 10 days. This is without exercising, because I'm still recovering from pulling a right ribcage muscle. I'm hoping to ramp things up even more when I start riding every day. I set a goal for myself in December and I'm already basically 8% of the way there. This is exciting!
Don't focus so much on daily fluctuations in weight.
In fact, forget about weight completely. It is a completely meaningless measure of anything. It doesn't say anything about your health. It doesn't say anything about your strength. It doesn't say anything about your endurance. All it does is encourage the development of a fixation on a simple number that consists of a lot of different variables, all of which are more important on their own than the total.
I train lots of people for weight loss at my gym. At the beginning they are all telling me stuff like, "Oh Perpetual, I got great news... I lost 10 lbs over the past two weeks!" and they get disappointed when I tell them what I told you above. But then an interesting thing happens: once they stop obsessing about weight, they can more effectively focus on what really matters: losing fat tissue and gaining muscle tissue. Doing that often times does not decrease your weight (since muscle weighs more than fat, by volume), but it definitely makes you look slimmer, stronger, and more fit.
The bottom line is, forget about weight. And if you absolutely must know it, then weigh yourself once a month at the gym. Throw away your scale at home. It's a worthless piece of garbage unless it can tell you your HDL/LDL, blood trigs, blood sugar levels, blood insulin levels, etc. which are the REAL measures of health.
I am not a formally educated health specialist, but I politely disagree (in general where weight isn't important). This thread seems to be mostly people looking to lose significant mass, not just agonizing over five or fifteen pounds. Some of us are in the 250-350 range. While loss of mass is certainly not the only metric to be used to determine fitness, health and what we should be aiming for, there is no way that at 6'4" I should've been approaching 280 pounds half a year ago, and steadily approaching 250 as I am now (along with improvements in muscle tone, endurance and strength) is a significant step towards healthier living.
I wholeheartedly agree that we should not fixate on that one number as the sole indicator of progress (especially on a daily basis), but without more advanced measuring systems available (and depending on a given gym (if it's even being used) that may or may not be the case) it's not a horrific metric either as long as one looks at trends over the long term. Hell, earlier this week I was back up a couple pounds, and didn't sweat it. This morning, lo and behold, I'm back down a pound from the previous week, and fluctuations aside, I intend to keep trending downwards.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
so i rolled my ankle a couple months ago and am just easing into running again. I had been doing the elliptical during that time so my endurance has built up. but I'm finding that I can barely even jog like 300 meters without getting horrible shin splints.
It's frustrating because I have the endurance to keep going and going but I gotta stop due to the pain. I've been doing stretches for splints specifically. It looks like it will just take some getting used to. Anyone have experience with this? how long might it take to get to the point where i can jog somewhat consistently?
other news: down to 150!
i would also like some input re:shin splints. i usually run on a treadmill, but since i've been on vacation this past week i've been running outside (asphalt and on the beach, where the sand is packed really well). when i run outside my shins hurt like HELL after about 15 minutes, whereas on the treadmill i can typically go for longer. it's gotten better though, i did the couch to 5k program (didn't finish it) and that definitely helped with my endurance a whole lot.
Not really a runner here, but one way to help shin splints is to work out the tibialis anterior, which helps supports the shin bones. Any exercise that works those muscles will help. A really simple one is to walk around on your heels, keeping your toes raised in the air.
Armored Gorilla on
"I'm a mad god. The Mad God, actually. It's a family title. Gets passed down from me to myself every few thousand years."
I am not a formally educated health specialist, but I politely disagree (in general where weight isn't important). This thread seems to be mostly people looking to lose significant mass, not just agonizing over five or fifteen pounds. Some of us are in the 250-350 range. While loss of mass is certainly not the only metric to be used to determine fitness, health and what we should be aiming for, there is no way that at 6'4" I should've been approaching 280 pounds half a year ago, and steadily approaching 250 as I am now (along with improvements in muscle tone, endurance and strength) is a significant step towards healthier living.
I wholeheartedly agree that we should not fixate on that one number as the sole indicator of progress (especially on a daily basis), but without more advanced measuring systems available (and depending on a given gym (if it's even being used) that may or may not be the case) it's not a horrific metric either as long as one looks at trends over the long term. Hell, earlier this week I was back up a couple pounds, and didn't sweat it. This morning, lo and behold, I'm back down a pound from the previous week, and fluctuations aside, I intend to keep trending downwards.
I can't speak for him, but what I've learned from extensively studying dieting and exercising over the past year or so is that when obese people want to become healthier, they focus on losing weight at the expense of pretty much everything else. Sure, losing mass is important, but you have to make sure you're losing fat mass and not muscle mass.
The reason is that muscle tissue is great for you. It consumes energy even when idle. What happens when you lose a lot of weight fast though is that you also lose muscle mass with it, which makes it progressively harder to lose weight. This is why people typically hit "plateaus" when they are losing weight.
Just something to keep in mind. Your primary goal should be fat loss and your secondary goal should be retaining or gaining muscle, rather than having a primary goal of weight loss.
No arguments there. If I'd lost ~25 pounds but was struggling to even make the distance I was back in January it'd be one thing, but weight lost plus adding 2-3km in the same timeframe makes me a pretty happy camper.
So we're in agreement; us larger folks want/need to shed the fat, but maintaining and building muscle and focusing on other health aspects totally has a place as well.
Hell, I'd be happy to go up 5 pounds if it was because I'd lost a bunch of fat but picked up a whole pile of muscle, but outside of steroid use I doubt that's going to happen quite like that.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
I'm going to reiterate exactly where I am, since I was expecting a congratulations on my post rather than some bitchy little comment.
I used to weigh 230 pounds, which was actually not that much fat, though there was a little more than there should be. Radiation treatment caused me to lose appetite, lose energy and spend a lot of time just sleeping. During that time I lost 30 pounds, a lot of which was muscle. As I recovered, my energy levels were low and I wasn't exercising as much as I should have been. My appetite, which I'd lost, was also returning and I was happy to start eating and not have things taste like ash again. In the end, I gained 40 pounds from the 200 mark I'd been at, but most of it was fat, putting me at 240 pounds.
My health is my primary goal, but I know how to exercise and eat fairly well as is. My micro-goal at the moment is to just drop the fat weight. Exercise will play a huge role in that, but right now I get injured more easily than I should because I lost a lot of core muscle. I'm currently unable to do much exercise at all, even aerobic, for about two more weeks as I let my rib muscles recover from a bad pull. Therefore, all I'm doing for this month is calorie counting and trying to drop a few pounds.
So, I lost 4 pounds. Yay! I am well aware that some of it is fluctuation. At that large a measurement, though, it is a sign that I am dropping some weight. I am not concerned with losing/building muscle right now, because muscle growth will pretty much come automatically with my normal exercise regimen.
Seriously, I just keep looking at this thread and seeing that other people are doing things and makin' changes and stuff and bluh. I'm busy trying to move in a month, integrating myself into a new job, gettin' sick, and I just don't have the time or energy to actually DO anything.
I think I'm going to be the only PA'er to move up the scale when 7/15 comes by.
(BTW, I'm only SORT OF upset about this. Long-term, I'm into it, and still planning on gettin' all healthy and shit. I'm just upset I don't have the time/energy to do it NOW.)
after a few months of a solid routine you will have so much more energy. I can go off of 6 hours of sleep now which used to be impossible.
yeah its reasonable to say that you dont have the time, some people just dont. just remember that youre the only person losing by not being genuine about it.
Seriously, I just keep looking at this thread and seeing that other people are doing things and makin' changes and stuff and bluh. I'm busy trying to move in a month, integrating myself into a new job, gettin' sick, and I just don't have the time or energy to actually DO anything.
I think I'm going to be the only PA'er to move up the scale when 7/15 comes by.
(BTW, I'm only SORT OF upset about this. Long-term, I'm into it, and still planning on gettin' all healthy and shit. I'm just upset I don't have the time/energy to do it NOW.)
I get home close to 10pm on many evenings, can't exercise at work (very sweaty guy, no shower here).
These conditions won't continue forever. Moving in less than a month, in with my girlfriend who is an excellent cook with an keen idea towards healthful foods (and making enough to pack for lunch the next day). Looking into the easiest/quickest way to get treatment for hyperhidrosis to cure the super-sweaty thing, making it easier to rollerblade/work out without absolutely soiling whatever shirt I am wearing. (I have a wonderfully generous health plan.) These two things alone will make a huge difference, it's just a little frustrating that they're coming up as opposed to already happened, is all.
Posts
1. Amount of work done: stairs climbed, distance ran or biked
2. The time it took to get it done
You want to work on improving the ratio of 1:2. Next time you do cardio, try to run a longer distance in the same time frame, etc.
I'm 23, 5'11 and 238 (started at 242) with the ultimate goal being around 180 with adjustments for muscle gain. I have a pair of calipers to keep track of changes on that front. I'm a full-time college student, but so far I've managed to do at least 20 minutes of exercise every day either in the form of weight training or jogging. I'm trying to beat my diet in to submission, but I haven't gotten a good handle on eating 5-6 small meals. Prior to all of this I generally only ate one big meal a day, so while I may not be doing everything 100% right yet, it's still an improvement.
Google isn't letting me at the spreadsheet, but I'm trying to navigate SparkPeople so that I can use the tools there. The menu tools in particular are nice since eating the same thing every day can be boring as hell.
7/15 is my 6 week mark so that's a perfect weigh-in date for me. This is a neat idea and I hope that everyone meets the goals that they set for themselves.
In other news. I haven't been to the gym today because it is storming like whoa and I've only got a few months left on my car's lease. The last thing I need is hail damage on the home stretch. I'll just have to hit the gym extra hard tomorrow.
This...might not be the healthiest option.
Reall, though, I eat bread just about every day and I still haven't had a problem losing weight as long as I've kept it to a minimum. I like bread. I like pasta. I like potatoes, etc. I'm still going to eat those things. I just don't eat them in massive quantities.
but don't be jealous, it works the other way as well.
So my goal of burning 1200 calories in one hour on the elliptical is pretty much bullshit?
Yes and no. It's still a good goal to shoot for because it will make you push yourself to improve your performance, but you won't be burning 1200 calories in reality.
I weight myself every Monday before my workout. That way I get a proper progression of weight at the same time in the same circumstances every week to track my progress.
Currently painting: Slowly [flickr]
It's worth keeping an eye on, at least as a basis for comparison over the weeks and months. I recognize that I'm not necessarily burning 1250 calories in an hour on the elliptical, but at the same time I know that I've made a vast improvement over when I struggled to hit 800-900 "calories" burned in the same timeframe. I don't even assume I'm working 50% or more, but improvement is showing in said caloric counter, distance covered (used to struggle with hitting 8-9k, am now approaching 10.8-11k) and how my heart rate responds to the effort I'm putting out.
Of note, some devices do recognize weight as well; the one I use asks for my weight at the start of each session, and I've noticed that as I've put in lower and lower weights, it's a bit harder to hit the same heights of calories burned, so at least it's consistant. Whether it's accurate or not, I can't say, but as you noted, it does give me a target to aim for.
Yeah, I think Perpetual is mainly saying that looking at the calorie counter so you can use the number it shows you to calculate your daily calorie deficit is pure nonsense. The number may still be still useful for keeping track of overall performance and endurance - still though, you're much better off keeping track of distance vs. time for that.
Depends on what you do. I use the Random function, so sometimes I'm up to 70 rpm+, sometimes I'm down at 55, because at the top difficulty it throws at me, it feels like I'm jogging in quicksand.
Not to belabour or argue the point, I do agree that it's an imperfect measure, however there are a number of variables that can even make the "good" measures less than accurate. Going 10.7 the day after I went 10.9 doesn't necessarily mean I didn't work as hard; depending on the difficulty the RNG threw at me, I might've worked even harder.
Hence why I keep an eye on calories burned, distance covered and how my heart rate reacts to the stresses put upon it; it gives me a vague baseline for how I'm doing overall, even if one statistic or another might be skewed for some reason on any given day.
That reminds me, I was thinking of doing a "It can be done!" section in the OP (apart from the photo section to show work in progress). I know there's a few who lost over 50 pounds already here in the thread.
If people are cool with that send me a pm with links to the pics.
In a way, you did.
This thread is obviously focusing on those of us who are still a work in progress, but the only person any of us can really compete with are ourselves.
So kudos for kicking your own ass and making that kind of dramatic improvement!
Yeah. I have been stuck at 270 pounds for three months now, but I don't really have reason to complain, because I'm in good health. I can easily do hour long exercise routine with 65 pound handweights, do hundred traditional ab crunches, and even run for a mile. Nonetheless, it would neat to shed few pounds more.
I'm even on spark people.
Long and short of it- 6'5 and 285 and want to go to 245-sub 250. It can happen with me as when I got divorced and went to the gym I hit that low. HOWEVER, for three years things have crept back up.
Nice work, man! It always feels super good to see the results, and 5 pounds makes a pretty big difference
I decided that swimming wasn't gonna be enough so I added 20-30 minutes on the elliptical machine to it. Today was the first day, and I'm gonna try to climb more as well.
I will be a human Adonis
It's frustrating because I have the endurance to keep going and going but I gotta stop due to the pain. I've been doing stretches for splints specifically. It looks like it will just take some getting used to. Anyone have experience with this? how long might it take to get to the point where i can jog somewhat consistently?
other news: down to 150!
I really want to see results... so much so that I think I'm starting to imagine physical changes where there are none.
I've also run out of things to watch... my next netflix thing won't arrive for another two days, and I have been reduced to watching Gundam Wing as I run.
Tonight, I will go to bed earlier! ...I slept very badly last night.
Don't feel too bad - even if it's not an accurate measure of the calories you've burned, it is still useful as a score counter!
Don't be discouraged featherblade. Take it one day at a time. Change won't come overnight, no matter how bad we want it. Use the mirror and the way your clothes fit as a sign of change rather than the scale since everyone's body weight fluctuates daily.
It took me a couple of years, from 210lbs around 2005 to 190lbs in 2006. Getting to where I'm at now at 175-180lbs took me another few years. I finally got my healthy eating habits into high gear last year and have never looked back.
The main thing is to keep going at it, no matter what life throws at you.
So I need a new scale.
I do have a good sense of where I am in terms of weight though, as I've been off and on exercise regimens for some time now. I'm one of those guys who needs to see some tangible, fucking quantifiable progress to continue on with things. And I know I've gained weight since my last sojourn down this path and it would be useful to see where I am.
So, I turn to you, thread - where can I buy a cheap bathroom scale (preferably under $40) online, in Canada?
What's the Canadian equivalent of Wal-Mart?
And Featherblade, I used to run while watching stuff, and making the switch to music actually motivated me even more. Just get pumped by the right track and it makes me run harder.
the most precise consumer scale i've ever seen is on sale at (amerrrikkan) amazon for under $30 USD
EatSmart™ Precision Digital Bathroom Scale w/ Extra Large Backlit 3.5" Display and "Step-On" Technology
try to find that?
i would also like some input re:shin splints. i usually run on a treadmill, but since i've been on vacation this past week i've been running outside (asphalt and on the beach, where the sand is packed really well). when i run outside my shins hurt like HELL after about 15 minutes, whereas on the treadmill i can typically go for longer. it's gotten better though, i did the couch to 5k program (didn't finish it) and that definitely helped with my endurance a whole lot.
I wholeheartedly agree that we should not fixate on that one number as the sole indicator of progress (especially on a daily basis), but without more advanced measuring systems available (and depending on a given gym (if it's even being used) that may or may not be the case) it's not a horrific metric either as long as one looks at trends over the long term. Hell, earlier this week I was back up a couple pounds, and didn't sweat it. This morning, lo and behold, I'm back down a pound from the previous week, and fluctuations aside, I intend to keep trending downwards.
Not really a runner here, but one way to help shin splints is to work out the tibialis anterior, which helps supports the shin bones. Any exercise that works those muscles will help. A really simple one is to walk around on your heels, keeping your toes raised in the air.
I can't speak for him, but what I've learned from extensively studying dieting and exercising over the past year or so is that when obese people want to become healthier, they focus on losing weight at the expense of pretty much everything else. Sure, losing mass is important, but you have to make sure you're losing fat mass and not muscle mass.
The reason is that muscle tissue is great for you. It consumes energy even when idle. What happens when you lose a lot of weight fast though is that you also lose muscle mass with it, which makes it progressively harder to lose weight. This is why people typically hit "plateaus" when they are losing weight.
Just something to keep in mind. Your primary goal should be fat loss and your secondary goal should be retaining or gaining muscle, rather than having a primary goal of weight loss.
So we're in agreement; us larger folks want/need to shed the fat, but maintaining and building muscle and focusing on other health aspects totally has a place as well.
Hell, I'd be happy to go up 5 pounds if it was because I'd lost a bunch of fat but picked up a whole pile of muscle, but outside of steroid use I doubt that's going to happen quite like that.
I used to weigh 230 pounds, which was actually not that much fat, though there was a little more than there should be. Radiation treatment caused me to lose appetite, lose energy and spend a lot of time just sleeping. During that time I lost 30 pounds, a lot of which was muscle. As I recovered, my energy levels were low and I wasn't exercising as much as I should have been. My appetite, which I'd lost, was also returning and I was happy to start eating and not have things taste like ash again. In the end, I gained 40 pounds from the 200 mark I'd been at, but most of it was fat, putting me at 240 pounds.
My health is my primary goal, but I know how to exercise and eat fairly well as is. My micro-goal at the moment is to just drop the fat weight. Exercise will play a huge role in that, but right now I get injured more easily than I should because I lost a lot of core muscle. I'm currently unable to do much exercise at all, even aerobic, for about two more weeks as I let my rib muscles recover from a bad pull. Therefore, all I'm doing for this month is calorie counting and trying to drop a few pounds.
So, I lost 4 pounds. Yay! I am well aware that some of it is fluctuation. At that large a measurement, though, it is a sign that I am dropping some weight. I am not concerned with losing/building muscle right now, because muscle growth will pretty much come automatically with my normal exercise regimen.
Seriously, I just keep looking at this thread and seeing that other people are doing things and makin' changes and stuff and bluh. I'm busy trying to move in a month, integrating myself into a new job, gettin' sick, and I just don't have the time or energy to actually DO anything.
I think I'm going to be the only PA'er to move up the scale when 7/15 comes by.
(BTW, I'm only SORT OF upset about this. Long-term, I'm into it, and still planning on gettin' all healthy and shit. I'm just upset I don't have the time/energy to do it NOW.)
yeah its reasonable to say that you dont have the time, some people just dont. just remember that youre the only person losing by not being genuine about it.
How much do you weigh right now?
How long have you been at that weight?
Forever.
I get home close to 10pm on many evenings, can't exercise at work (very sweaty guy, no shower here).
These conditions won't continue forever. Moving in less than a month, in with my girlfriend who is an excellent cook with an keen idea towards healthful foods (and making enough to pack for lunch the next day). Looking into the easiest/quickest way to get treatment for hyperhidrosis to cure the super-sweaty thing, making it easier to rollerblade/work out without absolutely soiling whatever shirt I am wearing. (I have a wonderfully generous health plan.) These two things alone will make a huge difference, it's just a little frustrating that they're coming up as opposed to already happened, is all.