50extra - My weight loss journey with all the embarrassing details
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I bought polar H7 heart rate monitor. It should be at my house by the time I land there. Hoping it allows me to more accurately track calories on my cardio.0
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HR monitors are more accurate, yet not 100% accurate. But they are more accurate than MFP.0
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MFP is ridiculous when it comes to calorie counting and I fear it gives me a false sense of security when it comes to my calories. I will use a couple examples.
Walking at 12.5minutes/1km is a 4.8km walk. That is slower than I walk normally and it says in 30 minutes I will burn 181calories. I wouldn't even break a sweat at that speed and I'm obese.
Riding bike light effort - again with a light effort I wouldn't even be sweating let alone having my heart rate up and it claims 10 calories a minute. I use the moderate setting from MFP when I ride my bike and in reality I am riding 2 minutes on a maintainable speed and then one minute as fast and hard as I can ride. My bike is showing me like 145calories for this. If i put the MFP calories for this it would be 3x higher than my bike, and I have to lean towards what my bike says.
I am just hoping that I can at least get closer. I will listen to what my bike says for the time being and then compare the results from my bike to the heart rate monitor to see what I think is closer. If there is one thing I know its that I would rather underestimate my calorie burn than overestimate.0 -
MFP is ridiculous when it comes to calorie counting and I fear it gives me a false sense of security when it comes to my calories. I will use a couple examples.
Walking at 12.5minutes/1km is a 4.8km walk. That is slower than I walk normally and it says in 30 minutes I will burn 181calories. I wouldn't even break a sweat at that speed and I'm obese.
Riding bike light effort - again with a light effort I wouldn't even be sweating let alone having my heart rate up and it claims 10 calories a minute. I use the moderate setting from MFP when I ride my bike and in reality I am riding 2 minutes on a maintainable speed and then one minute as fast and hard as I can ride. My bike is showing me like 145calories for this. If i put the MFP calories for this it would be 3x higher than my bike, and I have to lean towards what my bike says.
I am just hoping that I can at least get closer. I will listen to what my bike says for the time being and then compare the results from my bike to the heart rate monitor to see what I think is closer. If there is one thing I know its that I would rather underestimate my calorie burn than overestimate.
Between mfp and the bike, the HR monitor will be most accurate for sure. But there is no device as far as I know that will tell you your burn with 100% accuracy.0 -
I think I read that heart rate monitors are good for steady state cardio, so if you are doing high intensity intervals it won't be quite as accurate. But still, defintely the most accurate option.0
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That should be good because the majority of my cardio is a steady movement.0
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I look at your pictures and I'm not seeing what you are describing. I think you look pretty good. I love reading your posts your so upfront about your journey. I think it's great you shared with your wife I hope she supports and works with you. My husband and I did it together on my first journey and it gave us time together and a little competition. I miss that this time. I have used a heart rate monitor previously and I'm using a Garmin Viofit step monitor now. I used what the machine shows in gym but I keep it separate from MFP, my nutricianist wants me to keep at 1200 calories and I don't make adjustments for workouts. Everyone does things different it's whatever works for you. I use the machine numbers just as a guide to do more the next time. You have a great evening.
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Hey Lottie, thanks for the comments. My posts will always be honest and that is because the only person I would be fooling is myself if they weren't. My weekly update pictures will hopefully speak for themselves in a few weeks time when my overall composition changes. My wife is extremely supportive but doesn't understand why I told her that at the start I don't want her to see me running on the treadmill or trying out Focus T25. I am self conscious about what I look like when I am jiggling around haha. This is a journey that she will be able to support me with but will never really understand what its like to be big, shes 5'7 127 pounds, and I made the mistake telling her i thought that she was 134 which she did not appreciate
1200 calories without workout adjustments would be a tough change for me.
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That is for me. Being a man that would not work for you at all. In the beginning which was last time I started a weight loss journey , I had paid for a test. It tested my resting metabolic rate. Using the test they told me that 1200 calories would be what I need to eat to lose weight. I'm not sure how all of it works but I did lose weight and kept it off until my husband developed cancer.0
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I decided today to book the body composition test. Hopefully they still have a spot open.0
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Yeah I am going to have to figure something out because i know with absolute certainty that 35 minutes of bike riding doesn't burn like 400 calories or whatever it says.
On a positive note, well at least I hope its a positive note. A guy showed up here today for his shift that I was talking about wanting to get healthier with just before Christmas. We seen each other for a minute and only had time to talk about work for a bit. That was three hours ago and he just called me and asked me how much weight I have lost because I looked a bit different. I don't know if hes just being nice or if its true, makes me want to get on the scale even more!
My short term goal for this shift is to lose 12 pounds. That is just over three weeks of working out. I don't think 12 pounds in that amount of time is unrealistic because the water weight will be coming off first. Two more weeks until I can find out!
Hi there! I just came across your journal, first time I have seen this group on MFP. I agree with everyone that you don't need to think you look bad because you don't, but I get it that you know what is comfortable for you :-)
In regards to eating back your exercise calories, mfp had this interesting blog:
http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-should-i-eat-back-my-exercise-calories/
It is what I was mostly doing anyway or trying to do but on days when I am hungry I will eat a little more and not feel bad for it either. I guess you just have to listen to your body.
Also in regards to alcohol there is no way around it that it sets you back. Sad but true :-( I love beer.. and wine too. But even a glass or two seems to set me back and take me off target. When I am socializing I bring soda water and lime/lemon and drink that. You could try a coke zero in between drinks.. People don't generally notice so long as you have a drink in your hand. It is hard at first but once you start doing it you will feel so proud of yourself (& your friends will be secretly impressed too), and also it's nice to realize you can have a good time without alcohol sometimes!0 -
hey 50 im just new to this blog thing and loved reading your story. I'll add you when im finished here. I too am on the beginning of a journey and blogged my first post this morning. I love the idea of the photos. I took photos at the begining of Jan and then have just done the one month later photos. I was a bit disappointed cause i couldn't see a difference even though i have lost 4.2kg (9.2lb). However when i have been putting on my clothes I have definitely noticed more room in them and some of them almost feel too big. I find clothes to be a great measure of your weight loss.
Oh and way to go on the planking. Those 100 seconds will make some serious burn. Keep up the great work0 -
Khatmott, good to have you, I accepted the friend request. Congrats on starting down this long road to healthy living.
Congrats on the 9 lbs lost in a month. I imagine you have your goal set to 2 pounds a week and you would have pretty much nailed it. The photos have disappointed me too. Even though they were taken a week apart I was hoping that I could see a result. Last time I was losing weight it was much faster, but I was much younger, and much more active back then. Now I sit behind a desk all day.
I did try planking again with the 20 seconds on and 30 seconds off. Still only did 5 sets of it. Tonight I will be trying for the third time, I am hoping that I wont be so sore and can continue doing them.
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Oh just a quick update, I booked in for the body composition test. It will be at noon on Valentines day. That means that next Monday my update should be updated with all sorts of facts about how much extra weight I am carrying around
I'm excited about it!
Picture update tonight, which I'm not excited for. Stood in the mirror today and see nothing different yet, but hey its still only two weeks. I WILL get to where I want to go. It will take time though.0 -
And... I just checked Amazon, my T25 program arrive at my house for a start next Monday which is disappointing. The good news is that my HRM will get there tomorrow!0
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Love the attitude. Yes, you WILL get there - and that body comp test will be a great 'before' summary.
I'm really interested in that test and how it works. Also whether they give you any advice on what to do with the numbers ??
Do tell us all about it.
If you want to understand some science behind the HRM, you might want to read this blog post
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
which is often referenced on the forums.
I think that as long as your app has the features he mentioned then it is ok if your HRM doesn't (that's just my guess).
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You will get there 50 Extra. Like me you're starting to do stuff and your body will be converting some of that exercise is to muscle build as well as fat burn. Try to look at the overall picture not just one aspect of it. That's what im going to do from now on
Total determination thats a great read about HRM's . I use a fitbit but don't use it to calculate calorie expenditure. Mainly to calculate Resting HR as well as knowing how long i spend with my HR in the Fat burning range. Calorie expenditure comes from mfp0 -
Total, thanks for the link, I'm going to try and read that page before I head home for the night. I will discuss the body comp test more in a week from now. I will post my page up here so that people can see what it was like. As for the HRM, I have no idea what features and functions it has yet, i literally went on to amazon searched HRM and the first one that came up with a reasonable price i read the reviews and bought it. If I end up liking it and find out it lacks something, I will buy a new one. Gotta try it first to see how it goes.
Khatmott, I am 100% sure that I will get there but I like immediate gratification! I have been working on this for a couple weeks now and without a scale or a measuring tape haven't been able to measure my results. I am taking my weekly pictures tonight and I already know I'm going to be dissapointed with them. Haha in the last two hours I ate a big bowl of fried cabbage and drank 1.5L of water so I am rather bloated. But I will be taking pictures as I promised myself when I started this.0 -
Ok well last night was picture night and its kind of strange how it made me feel. I snapped my photos and looked at them on my iphone, by the way I took them with a different iphone this time which is why they are more clear and I got mad at myself that I didn't look any different. This actually took the wind out of my sails instead of driving me to work harder, because of this I used the justification that I was under calories so I didn't need to ride the bike. That is the opposite effect that this is supposed to have. It could be that or it could be that I am near the end of my shift and am just burnt out. I start my two day journey home tomorrow at 4am.
Anyways now that I am looking at the photos on the computer I believe I can start to see a bit of a difference. The first thing that stuck out was that my thighs are getting much more toned. I have always had big powerful legs from my hockey days but the bike is starting to put some definition back into them. Also I believe my belly isn't so bloated looking. I really wish I had a tape measure over here because I think between some fat loss on my back and with the smaller belly I would imagine I have lost an inch or two. The only positive about these photos is my belly is sticking out this far and over the two hours before I took the photos I drank over two liters of water.
But regardless of how they look, I promised myself I would post every week, here they are. I am going out for dinner and a beer tonight for my last night. Its kind of something we always do to say goodbye to the guys we work with. I will try to keep as close to a deficit as possible but its going to be hard. With 1500 calories I find that tough.
My next update will be from the comfort of my own home and it will work out good that it will be taken the day before day 1 of Focus T25. I will be reviewing it as I go on this page.
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Safe travels mate. Remember you're allowed to have a cheat day every now and then so don't beat yourself up if an extra beer slips in. You are doing a great job and making some great progress. Focus now on getting yourself into a routine at home and keep up the great work0
