Not burning calories even though working out at 80% of max heart rate!!! HELP!!!

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Replies

  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    davert123 wrote: »
    just a word of warning OP. Scales measure total body weight and not just fat. If you drop 14 lb in a month then I'm guessing this will be 4 lb water, 5 lb fat and 5 lb lean body weight (muscle etc) . If you drop too fast you lose muscle which makes you weaker and less fit :-( do a search for MFP Sexypants in google and you will bump into a brilliant thread by sidesteel and sara which explains a lot of stuff :-)
    Thanks! I'll have a look at the page you mentioned.
    My HRM is a Polar FT4 btw and the PT I've been using worked out that my maximum heart rate at 100% would be 180.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    OP, have you considered maybe trying therapy? You seem to have unrealistic expectations related to weight loss and an obsession with the idea that you have PCOS and need to commit to radical things to overcome it. You lost 14 pounds in one month, though. That's a lot, even for someone who is 60lbs overweight. That's about a quarter of what you have to lose, which is kind of insane.

    You're making yourself crazy. :( Did you really spend so much money on a weight loss program?

    I completely agree with this advice.

    It's not an idea that I have PCOS, I do have it. I've seen the scan with the cysts on the ovaries and I've had the blood work done with my testosterone levels being too high and I have all the symptoms of it so please don't say it's all in my head. I don't need therapy. I hadn't looked at the fact that 14 pounds was a quarter of my goal so that does help a little putting it into perspective for me and I know I am being hard on myself but I need to keep pushing myself. But to be told it's all in my head and no way will I gain weight on 1200 calories a day is insulting when it has happened to me.

    Neither of us said that the PCOS was a mental issue. In fact, I specifically wrote up above that having PCOS does mean having a lower BMR. However, your BMR is not so low that a 1000 calorie diet is required and a 1200 calorie diet will cause you to gain fat. Might you have retained water for reasons other than eating 1200 calories (i.e., sodium intake, carb intake, hormonal fluctuations due to your menstrual cycle, etc.)? Absolutely. That is not only common but to be expected. And it's not insulting. It's just reality and biology and physics.
  • LeslieB042812
    LeslieB042812 Posts: 1,799 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    OP, have you considered maybe trying therapy? You seem to have unrealistic expectations related to weight loss and an obsession with the idea that you have PCOS and need to commit to radical things to overcome it. You lost 14 pounds in one month, though. That's a lot, even for someone who is 60lbs overweight. That's about a quarter of what you have to lose, which is kind of insane.

    You're making yourself crazy. :( Did you really spend so much money on a weight loss program?

    I completely agree with this advice.

    It's not an idea that I have PCOS, I do have it. I've seen the scan with the cysts on the ovaries and I've had the blood work done with my testosterone levels being too high and I have all the symptoms of it so please don't say it's all in my head. I don't need therapy. I hadn't looked at the fact that 14 pounds was a quarter of my goal so that does help a little putting it into perspective for me and I know I am being hard on myself but I need to keep pushing myself. But to be told it's all in my head and no way will I gain weight on 1200 calories a day is insulting when it has happened to me.

    I don't think anyone is saying you don't have PCOS, rather it seems that you're focusing too heavily on that one aspect of your health--which doesn't seem very healthy or helpful...... I don't think the therapy suggestion was intended to imply that you're crazy or imagining things (or that it's all in your head). Therapy can help get all of life's pieces into perspective and balance and it seems like things have gotten a bit out of balance for you right now (as happens to all of us at one point or another!).
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    I'm not good on miles etc!
    I run at 10 kph (6.2mph) for 30 seconds, then I straddle for 30 seconds, then back on again for 30 seconds.. I do this for 30 minutes but sometimes I burn out at 25 minutes.
    Maybe you're right about HIIT needing to be faster than my body can handle!!!

    Well, that's part of it, then. If that's what you're doing, then you're only running about 1.55 miles (assuming you make it the whole 30 minutes). Depending on weight and speed and incline, running a mile typically burns 75-110 calories, which means that you would be burning approximately 135 calories per 1/2 hour (assuming the average of those two numbers)--less than your estimate of 300/hour!

    Yep, that's what I thought. You're barely covering any miles and therefore wasting a lot of effort. Stop the intervals for now, and focus on covering more miles. Your intervals are reducing you to a 3.1 MPH speed, which is 1.55 in 30 minutes. This is the reason you're not burning a lot. Work on steady running for a while. If you can handle a steady 5 MPH, you'll cover 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. That will add almost 100 more calories!! Then you can work on improving your speed. More miles = more calories.
  • JPA75
    JPA75 Posts: 1 Member
    Fellow PCOS sufferer here! Frustrating, isn't it, when your body just doesn't respond the way it's supposed to?

    I'm very similar to you in age, height, and goal weight to lose. I'm down nearly 30 lbs over the last six months, which probably seems slow for your schedule, but I spent a couple of months at a plateau that I couldn't break until I start using MFP to log my food, and really keep track of my carbs and protein. If I can offer my experience (YMMV, of course) you might be putting in TOO much time in the gym. If you are making yourself anxious and exhausted over weight loss, losing sleep and upping your stress hormones (cortisol), you might be undermining some of your efforts (also making yourself unhappy, and life is WAY too short for needless unhappiness).

    Additionally, you might want to refocus your efforts on more intense strength training. You might have progressed beyond what the Curves routine can offer you, and would benefit more from a comperable amount of time with free weights or machines. I work with machines, without a trainer, one to three times per week. I love it! I can see so much progress in terms of strength, body shape, and endurance, that it got me through the months when my eating plateaued. And the more lean muscle I have, the more calories I burn even when I'm sleeping, which I get a real lift reminding myself. I only do cardio two or three times a week, a combination of walking (boring) and aqua aerobics (so much fun!). Finding an hour long cardio class that I looked forward to, made all the difference for me.

    Sorry for the long post, but I know the misunderstood plague that is PCOS, and hope some amateur insights from a comrade in arms might give you a few useful new ideas. As others have said, 14 lbs in one month is a great result for your amazing effort! Congratulations on all your hard work so far, and good luck in the future!
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member

    jemhh wrote: »
    There is no way on earth that you are going to gain weight on 1200 calories per day unless you are very small. What are your height, weight, age, and activity level?
    I HAVE gained weight on 1200... It HAS happened to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    How much did you gain over what time frame?
    I did it for 2 weeks with exercising 5 days a week and I gained 6 pounds. Dropped it down to 1000 and lost 4 pounds over 2 weeks with the same level of exercise.

    2 weeks isn't long enough to judge any diet or exercise changes. I gained 4lbs when I started working out and it took about 4 weeks to lose any of it. Since February I have lost "just" 16lbs, I am a slow burner but it's still a steady 0.5 - 1lb per week loss, reasonable and sustainable. Your expectations are unrealistic and you're giving up before you start or going too hard too fast and again giving up. You must also track your measurements, I have lost a ridiculous number of inches, about two dress sizes so the scale doesn't tell you everything.

    As for the HIIT training, you're only really running for at best 15 minutes, so 300 calories burned from that is pretty damn good! (And probably a gross overestimation in all honesty).

    As for Curves, from what I know it's fairly low impact and weights machines, which again isn't going to give you a massive burn.

    You need to up your calories a bit for at least a month and/or workout more effectively and eat those realistic calorie burns back.

    Up to this point you seem to have had a lot of bad or ignored advice coupled with an over-reliance of blame on a medical condition which others can and do successfully lose weight with without starving themselves the way you are. You may not like what people here are saying but it's all true, good advice.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    I guess I am not seeing a need for thyroid tests or blood panels. OP lost 14 pounds in a month. That is nothing to sneeze at. I don't see any indication of a medical problem causing her weight loss to be more difficult than anybody else's.

    People really make things more difficult than they are. You don't have to futz around with your heart rate or wearing an HRM 12 hours a day. Weigh/measure/accurately estimate your food. Log it accurately. Add in exercise if you'd like. Create a caloric deficit. Lose weight.

    ditto to all of that.

    and 14 pounds in a month is freaking AMAZING

    youre doing everything right, stop giving people your money trying to make it faster than it will be.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    to be honest try weight training on days you dont do cardio, I would alternate every other day. maybe you are doing to much exercise? I know when I was working out twice a day,I got to the point that I stopped losing anything. once I toned it down to once a day for 30-60 min,I started losing again.low calories doesnt mean below 1200 or at least it shouldnt. my daughter sees an endo for a few different issues and they told her 1200 calories although now some days she eats more,she is losing weight,but shes losing inches quicker than the weight, I know everyone is different and different things work for them.I would take a rest day or two as well. any dr that tells you to eat only 500 calories to me is a nutjob. your body cannot survive long on that,you will waste away.

    Thank you! I spoke to a doctor the other day who was visiting a friend and she suggested I was possibly exercising too much but didn't want to give much advice as I'm not her patient. Who would have though too much exercise would have that effect!
  • justanotherloser007
    justanotherloser007 Posts: 578 Member
    I hear you OP. I feel your exasperation.

    Things I would consider if I were you: 1) Be patient so you don't give up or burn out. 2) Don't EVER go less than 1200 calories. At your weight, IF you are consistently weighing, measuring your food this is a place of loss. Even with medical issues. You don't want to add a serious malnutrition problem ON TOP of any medical issues. That will not do your body any favors. 3) In PCOS, your "cycle" is seriously compromised. This means: you have no idea when your body has decided to retain water weight - and that means you will be 5lbs off at any time without warning. Not to mention the dreaded carb cravings that go along with it. Also, when water retention happens, I know I don't sweat at all. 4) You have time to do this. I know you took time off to lose 60 lbs. But that is a good amount of weight to lose in a year - not a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months. Think long term, you can still want it, but you should consider doing this without adding damage to an already compromised system.
  • ScreeField
    ScreeField Posts: 180 Member
    edited June 2015
    It was suggested I have my thyroid tested but when I came back to the UK the private doctor I saw refused to take it seriously and made some comment along the lines of "oh everyone seems to blame the thyroid"

    This surprises me (not in a good way unfortunately). Can you work with a different doctor? There's a possibility that thyroid issues and PCOS are related. And, any hormone-related issue can really mess things up, thyroid or otherwise. Perhaps you could find a physician with more expertise--maybe an endocrinologist?
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    I'm not good on miles etc!
    I run at 10 kph (6.2mph) for 30 seconds, then I straddle for 30 seconds, then back on again for 30 seconds.. I do this for 30 minutes but sometimes I burn out at 25 minutes.
    Maybe you're right about HIIT needing to be faster than my body can handle!!!

    Well, that's part of it, then. If that's what you're doing, then you're only running about 1.55 miles (assuming you make it the whole 30 minutes). Depending on weight and speed and incline, running a mile typically burns 75-110 calories, which means that you would be burning approximately 135 calories per 1/2 hour (assuming the average of those two numbers)--less than your estimate of 300/hour!

    Yep, that's what I thought. You're barely covering any miles and therefore wasting a lot of effort. Stop the intervals for now, and focus on covering more miles. Your intervals are reducing you to a 3.1 MPH speed, which is 1.55 in 30 minutes. This is the reason you're not burning a lot. Work on steady running for a while. If you can handle a steady 5 MPH, you'll cover 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. That will add almost 100 more calories!! Then you can work on improving your speed. More miles = more calories.
    I hadn't looked at it like that!! I was just seeing that it meant my HR was alternating between about 60% - 90% of max HR for a prolonged period of time so that in turn would have to be more beneficial to me. I didn't think about the straddling part would bring down the all over speed. Someone else just mentioned that HIIT was supposed to help with the Insulin Resistance that comes with PCOS so I probably need to do some HIIT but also as you suggested and cover more distance.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    999tigger wrote: »
    HIIT is more difficult to measure because of the stop start nature and the guess work that goes along with the afterburn epoc effect, which can be very individual. HRM are for steady state which is what rabbit first said this morning. Perhaps the 300 you are looking at just reflects the calories you have burned during the time exercising and no epoc. In that sense it would increase over time as epoc takes effect, but difficult to say by how much.

    Not disputing your maxhr, no idea about your pt, there are many formulas for calculating it and 220-hr is the least accurate, but often used.

    I have just looked up PCOS and HIIT and see it is recommended. I think its more for the claimed benefits on insulin resistance as opposed to extra calorie burn.
    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v32/n4/full/0803781a.html
    http://www.clinicalendocrinologynews.com/index.php?id=12128&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=310705&cHash=0a02844dd1f632526de8624b080ef696


    Id add the following:
    1. Dont worry too much about calorie burn, even at an hour a day continuous exercise of 500 a day thats 3000 or under under 1lb a week. You have to do a lot of exercise.
    2. People have pointed you towards logging and accurtaely controlling your food intake becayse its more influential and easier to manage. You should get accurate in that area first.
    3. Start managing your expectations, as it will just be slower with pcos, but not impossible. Friend some other pcos members as they will be able to adbise on how they coped. Jemh is always sensible, but am sure there are some active groups.
    4. Be patient, but determined. You cna do it and the pcos is just soemthing you have to imo.
    Good luck and try not to beat yourself up or stress.
    Thank you for that. You're right about the HIIT being good for helping with Insulin resistance.
    I do log my food accurately and I control calories, carbs, protein, sugar and fat on my diary so I know I'm there with the food and doing what I've been reading up on.
    I know I'm beating myself up... but it's something I need to do to push myself on... I will however try to go a bit easier on myself!!! I have lost a lot of inches and I can feel that I am fitter in the last 9 weeks alone so for that I am happy with myself
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    I think HIIT has been way over exaggerated. I thought I was doing it when I ran close to the same way you do. That's not actually HIIT. You would have to be running MUCH faster to get the HIIT benefit. You and I are nowhere close to that, so I would switch to something else.
  • athelemaque
    athelemaque Posts: 1 Member
    You mention that you eat between 1000-1200 calories a day. But what is your macronutrient breakdown? And how many calories do you typically burn in a day?

    Over-training and under-eating is probably what's stopping you from losing weight as quickly as you'd like. Physically exerting your body and then not feeding it proper nutrients will cause your body to hold on to whatever fat is present because you're entering starvation mode. 14 pounds in one month is definitely impressive, but maybe you need to rethink WHAT you eat versus just focusing on HOW MUCH you eat. I'm curious what the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is for your low-calorie intake.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    ScreeField wrote: »
    It was suggested I have my thyroid tested but when I came back to the UK the private doctor I saw refused to take it seriously and made some comment along the lines of "oh everyone seems to blame the thyroid"

    This surprises me (not in a good way unfortunately). Can you work with a different doctor? There's a possibility that thyroid issues and PCOS are related. And, any hormone-related issue can really mess things up, thyroid or otherwise. Perhaps you could find a physician with more expertise--maybe an endocrinologist?
    I will be doing soon. I have been living in the Middle East and Russia for the last 6 years so I have been relying on seeing different doctors in that time.. now I am back in the UK I am going to push to see an endocrinologist. A friend has given me a name for a referral.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    I think HIIT has been way over exaggerated. I thought I was doing it when I ran close to the same way you do. That's not actually HIIT. You would have to be running MUCH faster to get the HIIT benefit. You and I are nowhere close to that, so I would switch to something else.
    And there was me so proud of my 10kph!!! Lol! :s
    I'm clearly doing the tortoise version!!
  • 3bambi3
    3bambi3 Posts: 1,650 Member
    You mention that you eat between 1000-1200 calories a day. But what is your macronutrient breakdown? And how many calories do you typically burn in a day?

    Over-training and under-eating is probably what's stopping you from losing weight as quickly as you'd like. Physically exerting your body and then not feeding it proper nutrients will cause your body to hold on to whatever fat is present because you're entering starvation mode. 14 pounds in one month is definitely impressive, but maybe you need to rethink WHAT you eat versus just focusing on HOW MUCH you eat. I'm curious what the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is for your low-calorie intake.

    Starvation mode as you are describing it doesn't exist.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    You mention that you eat between 1000-1200 calories a day. But what is your macronutrient breakdown? And how many calories do you typically burn in a day?

    Over-training and under-eating is probably what's stopping you from losing weight as quickly as you'd like. Physically exerting your body and then not feeding it proper nutrients will cause your body to hold on to whatever fat is present because you're entering starvation mode. 14 pounds in one month is definitely impressive, but maybe you need to rethink WHAT you eat versus just focusing on HOW MUCH you eat. I'm curious what the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is for your low-calorie intake.

    really, so if I net 500 calories a day and my TDEE is 2000, I wont lose weight??

    go review the Minnesota starvation experiment and check back in ...
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    edited June 2015
    You mention that you eat between 1000-1200 calories a day. But what is your macronutrient breakdown? And how many calories do you typically burn in a day?

    Over-training and under-eating is probably what's stopping you from losing weight as quickly as you'd like. Physically exerting your body and then not feeding it proper nutrients will cause your body to hold on to whatever fat is present because you're entering starvation mode. 14 pounds in one month is definitely impressive, but maybe you need to rethink WHAT you eat versus just focusing on HOW MUCH you eat. I'm curious what the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is for your low-calorie intake.

    THE PART OF YOUR POST IN BOLD IS WRONG !!!!

    If she isn't eating enough to properly fuel her activities and her body isn't looking to stored reserves, where does the energy come from? Please keep your answer to the realm of possibility according to the laws of physics.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    You mention that you eat between 1000-1200 calories a day. But what is your macronutrient breakdown? And how many calories do you typically burn in a day?

    Over-training and under-eating is probably what's stopping you from losing weight as quickly as you'd like. Physically exerting your body and then not feeding it proper nutrients will cause your body to hold on to whatever fat is present because you're entering starvation mode. 14 pounds in one month is definitely impressive, but maybe you need to rethink WHAT you eat versus just focusing on HOW MUCH you eat. I'm curious what the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is for your low-calorie intake.

    40% protein/ 40% fat/ 30% carbs.
    I eat carbs through veg and some fruits and eat lean meats and fish
    I was having protein shakes but they were high in sugar so I stopped having them
    I'm unclear on what calories I burn in a day as with PCOS I have a lower BMR than normal women but I am exercising 1 hour a day with a mixture of cardio and resistance training.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    The weight loss camp I was at had us wear them for 12 hours a day as we were exercising all day apart from lunch break (1 hour) and two 30 min drink and rest breaks in between.

    In that case it sounds like they were using them for things that they're not designed for, your comment about 12 hour afterburn would support that they didn't know what they were on about. I hope they didn't con you out of too much cash :(

    Your results are ok, but weight loss is as simple as calories in vs calories out. PCOS is a collection of related conditions that aren't well understood, hence the difficulty getting meaningful advice from a GP. Notwithstanding that, the physics still works as it should.

    Concentrate on your calorie deficit, train to help your health from both a cardiovascular and lean mass perspective. That means eating in deficit, doing CV work and doing some resistance work. I'd also suggest moderating your expectations about rate of loss, as 3lbs per week is very aggressive and may be couterproductive in the longer term.
    £10,000 and I did feel totally conned out of the cash.. however other people did lose loads of weight... mainly men who didn't have PCOS!! I was upfront with them about my condition before I went and they promised they could help me as they knew what they were doing... anyway.. that was 3 years ago now and I've dealt with that! I'm just trying to move forwards now and find the best help I can to lose the weight!

    OK. As others are suggesting, given what you've already demonstrated, keep it simple. Focus on the calorie deficit, train for the health benefits.
  • LisaJayne71
    LisaJayne71 Posts: 197 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    jaga13 wrote: »
    I'm not good on miles etc!
    I run at 10 kph (6.2mph) for 30 seconds, then I straddle for 30 seconds, then back on again for 30 seconds.. I do this for 30 minutes but sometimes I burn out at 25 minutes.
    Maybe you're right about HIIT needing to be faster than my body can handle!!!

    Well, that's part of it, then. If that's what you're doing, then you're only running about 1.55 miles (assuming you make it the whole 30 minutes). Depending on weight and speed and incline, running a mile typically burns 75-110 calories, which means that you would be burning approximately 135 calories per 1/2 hour (assuming the average of those two numbers)--less than your estimate of 300/hour!

    Yep, that's what I thought. You're barely covering any miles and therefore wasting a lot of effort. Stop the intervals for now, and focus on covering more miles. Your intervals are reducing you to a 3.1 MPH speed, which is 1.55 in 30 minutes. This is the reason you're not burning a lot. Work on steady running for a while. If you can handle a steady 5 MPH, you'll cover 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. That will add almost 100 more calories!! Then you can work on improving your speed. More miles = more calories.

    Thanks! :smile:
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited June 2015
    I work out consistently between 70- 95% of my heart rate but I rarely can get above 300 calories burnt in 60 minutes which bearing in mind I am at least 27 kilos (60 pounds) overweight and sweating a lot I would expect to be burning a lot more...

    Sweating means zero. Heart rate doesn't mean much more than zero. HRM with interval type training means less than zero.

    Bottom line: a 200 pound person will burn 360 calories running 3 miles. So the first question is...can you actually run 3 miles? If the answer is "No", then if anything, your burn number may actually be too *high*.

    Second question is...can you open your diary?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Thank you! I spoke to a doctor the other day who was visiting a friend and she suggested I was possibly exercising too much but didn't want to give much advice as I'm not her patient. Who would have though too much exercise would have that effect!

    You are absolutely positively not exercising "too much".

    Good grief...
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    OP, I know you said you do HIIT running. But how many miles total are you covering in 30 minutes? Figuring out your average speed (or pace) is a good way to figure out why you aren't burning major calories. If your walking intervals are slowing down your overall speed to say 4-5 miles an hour, you're not going to burn crazy calories whereas running 5.5 miles an hour will burn more.

    I used to focus on speed intervals (very fast running-for me-alternating with walking). But I found that 1) I couldn't sustain this workout for very long and 2) I couldn't cover many miles because of the slow intervals. So I started slowing down my run and keep it mostly steady with a slight bump up or down in speed. This allows me to go longer and cover more miles, which ultimately burns more calories.

    I know, I know, there are tons of articles about HIIT being more effective--but I think true HIIT is perhaps way more intense than you or I could ever do.

    Regardless, 14 lbs in a month is outstanding. Clearly you've done something right! I wouldn't worry about how many calories you burn as long as you are burning SOMETHING and eating at a deficit.

    I try to burn an additional 200ish calories a day. That's it. Because that's all I need to bump up my eating calories to a comfortable level while still in a deficit.
    I'm not good on miles etc!
    I run at 10 kph (6.2mph) for 30 seconds, then I straddle for 30 seconds, then back on again for 30 seconds.. I do this for 30 minutes but sometimes I burn out at 25 minutes.
    Maybe you're right about HIIT needing to be faster than my body can handle!!!

    So about 1.5 miles. No more than 200 cals, more likely about 160.
  • terar21
    terar21 Posts: 523 Member
    1. 14 pounds in a month is an excellent amount of weight loss. Also consider that while your boot camp may have very well been run by highly professional individuals, it doesn't change the fact that people/groups that are trying to make a buck (and they made a lot off you) do in fact implement things they know are technically wrong to make a sale and give a certain perception. They know HRMs are "hot" right now. Therefore they had you wear them all day as "evidence" of how much you were burning. But if they have any knowledge whatsoever, they know that the accuracy of calories burned isn't dead on wearing one all day when you aren't is steady state the entire time. They used saying your calorie burn was off as an excuse to explain away why you were losing less weight than you hoped to lose so you wouldn't blame their program but blame your body. Yeah...they tried to play you.

    2. Regarding your HIIT training, I won't go into a ton of detail because other posters pointed it out but I agree with them. Your calorie burns aren't off. An increased heart rate during your rest periods and afterwards doesn't account for a major bump in calories burned. You're doing 30 minutes of running and 30 minutes of walking for 30 minutes. You're running for a total of 15 minutes. And while strength training is needed, make sure you don't mistake it for burning a ton of calories. If you see someone on your newsfeed burning 700 calories doing an hour of strength training, they're wrong. Ignore it and don't let it affect how you view your calorie burns

    3. Regard your weight gain over 2 weeks on 1200 calories and then drop when you switched to 1000 calories. It was 2 weeks. Just do the math. You couldn't have physically gained that amount over 2 weeks trying to do 1200. You also couldn't have physically dropped 4 pounds by simply decreasing 200 calories a day. That's not even a decrease of half a pound a week. So how could you body have possibly been medically affected enough to gain at a rapid rate yet lose at a rapid rate when you dropped 1400 a week? If you did somehow, someway have something that caused you medically to gain that quickly, why would that same medical condition positively affect you on the reverse end to lose at a more rapid rate than physically possible on the adjusted deficit? The weight gain was just normal ups and downs we all face and you panicked. We push ourselves a little harder at the gym, we retain water and "gain" false weight. We eat extra sodium, we retain water. Plus, all the lady business we have. We all have times where the scale is up. It can be frustrating but letting increased numbers on the scale make you believe you're gaining rapidly is a recipe for failure. Just stick to a program and keep at it. Do all the right things with food and exercise and let nature take it's course. Otherwise, you're just making adjustments too quickly for anything to actually show as being a major help or hurdle.

    Just relax. You said you weigh everything. You're actively working out at the gym. You are cutting your calories too low doing 1000 but that's another subject (adjust it to something reasonable, no need to starve yourself). Relax.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    I'm not good on miles etc!
    I run at 10 kph (6.2mph) for 30 seconds, then I straddle for 30 seconds, then back on again for 30 seconds.. I do this for 30 minutes but sometimes I burn out at 25 minutes.

    You would burn MORE calories running slower, constantly, for longer. You'll also get more aerobically fit by doing so. You'll also reduce your chances of injury and you'll recover faster. You'll be able to run constantly without the 30 on, 30 seconds off, approach... because you are running slower. Repeat: you will burn more calories.

    What is your heart rate while you are running? Are you still training with a HRM?
  • thesupremeforce
    thesupremeforce Posts: 1,206 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Thank you! I spoke to a doctor the other day who was visiting a friend and she suggested I was possibly exercising too much but didn't want to give much advice as I'm not her patient. Who would have though too much exercise would have that effect!

    You are absolutely positively not exercising "too much".

    Good grief...

    Agreed. I wouldn't listen to that doctor anymore.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Where did my post go? I commented on this this morning? :/
  • professionalHobbyist
    professionalHobbyist Posts: 1,316 Member
    I have to set my activity level lower than I think is correct and not eat back the majority of my exercise calories.

    I think the bell curve averages cover most people.

    I know for me, my metabolism seems to be slower, so I have to count calories hard to drop pounds.

    It may not be fair, but it is what it is.

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