You Probably AREN'T Burrning a Pound Per Week In the Gym!!!

I'm an Engineer and can do all of the math, calculations, etc. and none of this ever made sense to me since the numbers never pass even third grade math.  My husband is 6.0-ft tall and 175-lbs and whether he eats 2000 or 4000 calories a day he stays the same weight.  The only time I saw him change is when he quit smoking last March when he gained 20-pounds.  Since they, he has lost 15 of it without doing much.  My husband is German.  Me on the other hand, I LOOK at food and I gain.  I spent YEARS on Weigh****chers were I tracked every calorie, workout, etc. and measured everything and the 3500/lb rule never applied to me.  I joke with his family it's because my ancestors came over on the Mayflower and they needed 6-8kCal per day to sustain their lifestyle so I was just built like that. 

It's not funny but I think it's kind of true.  I think some of us are more "efficient" than others.  I remember telling my Dr., Dr. Patel, that I didn't want to be efficient for this thing! LOL...

Anyway, I'm done being frustrated and glad I got this surgery.  I don't even care if I lose weight (a little lie) but at least I won't gain any more weight!  I'm sick of being hostage to food and being hungry all of the time.

So the formulas don't work.  You have to shock the system. 

Well there are certainly other factors and for most of us obese people we have damaged our metabolism to the point where we can never get it back to normal and certainly genetics plays a role. I think my point was if you use the normal set of tools out there, that we do not fit the average profile they use for those formulas. The tools estimate my resting metabolic rate even at the inactive setting (which these days I am not) at around 2250 and my body composition scale is saying I am 1940. So even right there has me losing by about a pound more a week than I actually am.

I think the math works, but the estimations and the calculations that our tools use does not work for us. We need to measure to be accurate.

I have done the math over and over trying to get a different answer...but alas, it is true.

I have finally come to grips that I workout not to lose weight (focus on intake for that), but to save my muscle (losing without working out guarantees loss of muscle mass) and also to tone this flab-fest. 

Anne

OH...I forgot to add, high intensity workouts are also awesome at cranking up my endorphins, and therefore my mood.  Yes, working out like a mad woman makes me happy.

Anne

I use my bodymedia fit armband to tell me how many calories I burn, which syncs with MFP and adjusts so my calorie burn on MFP (including RMR) is accurate.  I find it a useful (and generally accurate) tool.

BUT I will say that although burning calories is awesome, it's not the primary reason I work out.  I am stronger, leaner, less stressed, and generally FEEL better when I work out.  The calories are a bonus. :)