Calories and exercise
Remember that calories burned is a misleading idea.
Your body has a resting rate of burn - every moment you live and breathe you are burning calories to keep your heart beating your blood pumping, your body temperature stable, etc. That RMR (resting metabolic rate) is a little different for everyone. When you look up how many calories you burn by doing an exercise, it's an approximation of the total amount of cals that you will burn in the time you are exercising. That means it includes the calories that your body would burn if it were lying still or watching TV - and that amount is not insignificant.
As a 258 pound, 38 year old woman at 5'7" who classifies as "Moderately Active" (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 times a week), my RMR is about 122 calories just for sitting on my ass. If I went for a very brisk 3.5 mile per hour walk for 60 minutes, I'd burn something like 220 calories.
Most people think that because they "worked off" 220 calories, they can eat back 220 calories, but the actual advantage of the exercise was only a 100 calorie yield.
On top of that, these are all theoretical numbers. People burn at different weights due to a lot of factors, weight, metabolism, fluid intake, basal body temperature, sleep cycle. So while I just jumped over to an online calculator to check my RMR, it's based on trended data of a normalized sample. Those people didn't have WLS, don't have metabolic syndrome, aren't hypothyroidic, didn't lose 157 pounds in the last year, aren't necessarily eating a prolonged 800-1000 cal diet, and so what it predicts for "normal" people doesn't necessessarily accurately reflect our RMR reality. So maybe because of all of those factors what I am burning is actually 150 instead of 127. Maybe if I'd actually been doing the walking I would only burn 190... you start to see the problem.
What I do is ignore the calories out, but immediately after very strenuous exercise (like aquafit or a 10K bike ride, not walks or light yoga) I will drink an extra protein shake immediately following my workout. It helps that workout build muscle, it keeps my energy moving, it keeps me hydrated (I mix my Nectar in 32 oz glasses with crystal light), but it only adds about 90 calories to my daily intake. At 8 months out, I'm still dropping an average of 3 pounds a week and increasing my strength, so it's working for me.
Best!
~Mo
Your body has a resting rate of burn - every moment you live and breathe you are burning calories to keep your heart beating your blood pumping, your body temperature stable, etc. That RMR (resting metabolic rate) is a little different for everyone. When you look up how many calories you burn by doing an exercise, it's an approximation of the total amount of cals that you will burn in the time you are exercising. That means it includes the calories that your body would burn if it were lying still or watching TV - and that amount is not insignificant.
As a 258 pound, 38 year old woman at 5'7" who classifies as "Moderately Active" (moderate exercise or sports 3-5 times a week), my RMR is about 122 calories just for sitting on my ass. If I went for a very brisk 3.5 mile per hour walk for 60 minutes, I'd burn something like 220 calories.
Most people think that because they "worked off" 220 calories, they can eat back 220 calories, but the actual advantage of the exercise was only a 100 calorie yield.
On top of that, these are all theoretical numbers. People burn at different weights due to a lot of factors, weight, metabolism, fluid intake, basal body temperature, sleep cycle. So while I just jumped over to an online calculator to check my RMR, it's based on trended data of a normalized sample. Those people didn't have WLS, don't have metabolic syndrome, aren't hypothyroidic, didn't lose 157 pounds in the last year, aren't necessarily eating a prolonged 800-1000 cal diet, and so what it predicts for "normal" people doesn't necessessarily accurately reflect our RMR reality. So maybe because of all of those factors what I am burning is actually 150 instead of 127. Maybe if I'd actually been doing the walking I would only burn 190... you start to see the problem.
What I do is ignore the calories out, but immediately after very strenuous exercise (like aquafit or a 10K bike ride, not walks or light yoga) I will drink an extra protein shake immediately following my workout. It helps that workout build muscle, it keeps my energy moving, it keeps me hydrated (I mix my Nectar in 32 oz glasses with crystal light), but it only adds about 90 calories to my daily intake. At 8 months out, I'm still dropping an average of 3 pounds a week and increasing my strength, so it's working for me.
Best!
~Mo
You work out and you indeed need to increase your calories. Just be careful that you don't overeat your workout!
Good for you working out. Way to go!
Next week I'm starting Zumba and Butts and Guts class.
This week I walked 4 miles 3 times.
You keep working out!! Your body will thank you. Hugs Debbiejean
Good for you working out. Way to go!
Next week I'm starting Zumba and Butts and Guts class.
This week I walked 4 miles 3 times.
You keep working out!! Your body will thank you. Hugs Debbiejean
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