Exercise - Burning 6000 calories a week

Eleanor_1986
Eleanor_1986 Posts: 14 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys

I would like to create a calorie deficit primarily through exercise. Any suggestions for what exercise I can do and frequency to achieve this?

I haven't exercised since before the pandemic but when i did: i loved strength training, despised cardio with a passion (although i will do it to keep my heart healthy). I have a dodgy knee so prefer to avoid too much jumping or long distance running. Don't mind exercise classes such as spinning, body pump, boxercise or hot yoga. I don't swim.

If it helps, i have access to a gym and a personal trainer.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to reply!

Replies

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Really not enough info about your history to give the advice you probably want but from what you stated...

    I would resistance train with appropriate intensity, volume, and rep ranges. If your knee is "dodgy" because of recent trauma, I would seek medical advice. If you claim it is "dodgy" for any other reason, I would want more info as these are usual remedied with appropriate training by a experienced trainer, more than likely not a commercial gym trainer who unfortunately don't have the experience or knowledge for optimal results if any.

    If you want to goal 6000 calories burned a week, I would highly recommend you not start anywhere near that level since you have been inactive for a long time.

    I would strongly recommend utilizing proper load management as without it your injury risk increases substantially. I'm not trying to alarm you, but it's a mistake I see time and time again.

    Feel free to add me as a friend. I'm not extremely social here anymore, but my page will be focused on a day or so to answer questions that you have for a professional experience coach, trainer, and athlete.
  • marius_paps
    marius_paps Posts: 52 Member
    nossmf wrote: »
    Something not mentioned yet is that adding exercise into your routine can easily increase appetite. I personally am much more hungry days I train than days I don't. Managing to avoid eating more is going to take almost as much discipline as it will take to add that much exercise.

    I'll second that.

    Basically, you'll be pretty hungry and it'll be really hard to resist eating back a big chunk of those exercise calories. Without a (superhuman?) discipline, you'll get used to eating a lot. And then, when you don't exercise as much, while still eating the amount you've gotten used to, well, we know what'll happen.

    Been there done that (and still doing that).

    Oh 6000 calories is a looooong time exercising and it's not easy in the long run. Trust me 😁
  • Eleanor_1986
    Eleanor_1986 Posts: 14 Member
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    It sounds like you are trying to lose 2 lbs. a week without changing your diet. That is very rapid weight loss unless you are more than 50 lbs. overweight and not easy to sustain. I think you overestimate the burn you get with exercise. Weights don't burn many calories. Nor does yoga. Cardio does burn more calories, but is hard for a beginner to do for long enough to burn significant calories. For me to burn 1000 calories a day, (assuming one day of rest each week) would require 10 miles a day of running or 20 miles a day hiking or 3+ hours a day on the stationary bike. Low impact aerobics would require at least 2 hours a day, probably more. That is a lot of exercise. I've been running and walking daily for years and I wouldn't want to do it.

    And one issue I've found with using exercise as a primary means of weight loss is that when you get injured (and odds are, you will get injured if you push yourself that hard) you haven't developed eating habits that will allow you to maintain the weight loss without the exercise, so you quickly gain back the weight you lost (and then some). You would do better to focus on cutting your calories and increase your exercise gradually to a level that is sustainable so that the exercise allows you to eat a few more calories but isn't necessary to keep the weight off.

    Yes the goal is 2lbs a week. I have a slow metabolism for various reasons which means that I find it difficult to lose weight by reducing calories. I started at 200lbs and have so far managed to lose 8lbs at a snail’s pace. I’m aiming for a total loss of 50 lbs to get me to my pre-pandemic weight so there’s a lot to go.

    You have made a very good point about injury. I will focus on slowly building up my exercise as suggested and see how that goes.
  • Eleanor_1986
    Eleanor_1986 Posts: 14 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    Really not enough info about your history to give the advice you probably want but from what you stated...

    I would resistance train with appropriate intensity, volume, and rep ranges. If your knee is "dodgy" because of recent trauma, I would seek medical advice. If you claim it is "dodgy" for any other reason, I would want more info as these are usual remedied with appropriate training by a experienced trainer, more than likely not a commercial gym trainer who unfortunately don't have the experience or knowledge for optimal results if any.

    If you want to goal 6000 calories burned a week, I would highly recommend you not start anywhere near that level since you have been inactive for a long time.

    I would strongly recommend utilizing proper load management as without it your injury risk increases substantially. I'm not trying to alarm you, but it's a mistake I see time and time again.

    Feel free to add me as a friend. I'm not extremely social here anymore, but my page will be focused on a day or so to answer questions that you have for a professional experience coach, trainer, and athlete.

    Thank you for the advice and I will take you up on the offer to add you as a friend.

    I think the dodgy knee might be to do with me being too heavy when it comes to jumping/running type activities and improper form when it comes to things like lunges.

    I have actually struggled to find a trainer this time round as they seem to be inexperienced and, based on appearances only (which i am aware is not always the right approach) don't seem to follow their own training plans.
  • davidbarnett852
    davidbarnett852 Posts: 4 Member
    Lots of great comments and advice here. Good luck, the only input I'll add is dont beat yourself up if you have an off day or even week, just reset your head and motivation then get back on it :)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    you cant out exercise a bad diet.

    losing weight through exercise alone IS possible, but IS difficult (not to mention, as others have said, your hunger levels will increase), and then you run into the problem of MAINTAINING that loss....

    What happens if you injure yourself, or have a health issue and can not work out, or for any other reason can't workout? what then? I wasn't able to work out for the majority of this year. Doctors orders. I have a slow metabolism (due to significant weight loss). I still lost 50 pounds this year on diet alone. So.... a slow metabolism is no excuse for diet not working.

    Just some things to think about, that sometimes we dont ....
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited November 2021
    Eleanor_1986 wrote: »
    MikePfirrman wrote: »
    6000 calories a week, for most people, is around 12 hours of decently hard exercising a week.

    I burn around that, but it takes me 7 pretty brutally hard sessions by most standards. I do cardio 6 times a week and lift 2 X a week. One is where I lift and use a rowing machine doing HIIT for an hour. I've been training for 15 years to get to the point of burning that many calories in 7 or so workouts a week.

    IMHO, saying I'm going to burn 6000 calories a week to lose weight is setting yourself up for failure. If you tried to do 6000 calories this week in exercise and you haven't exercised since Covid, you're going to likely injure yourself.

    Why not ease back into it? The only way I could possibly burn 6000 calories in a week is because I spent 10 years very, very slowly (incrementally) easing my way into more exercise. And I'm consistent as hell. When I started jogging (and that's being kind with what I did), it used to take me an hour to burn 400 calories. I regularly burn 650 to 750 or 800 now on my "easy" days. But understand, that takes years to develop that kind of cardio stamina.

    I have a very dodgy knee too. Was told 16 years ago I needed a full replacement. Rowing is easy on the knee. So is stationary bike and (some) ellipticals -- ellipticals can hurt my knee too. Climbers are great. So are Stairmasters.

    If you really want to burn calories, start slow -- build back gently. Don't go too hard or you'll get discouraged and quit.

    Turns out I vastly underestimated the amount of calories one can burn while exercising!! I’ll definitely start slow as suggested.

    I actually love rowing intervals so I’ll incorporate those. Thank you.

    If you do choose rowing, look closely as some rowing instuctions online. Dark Horse Rowing and Cassie Neimann are two of my favorites. I also saw you in the UK. There are a TON of rowing gyms and rowing clubs there. On the water rowing there is huge. I'm a member of an online (indoor) rowing club and nearly 70 percent of the members are from the UK. Rowing is one of those things that's not really intuitive. It seems like it is but it so isn't. If you start out with good form, it's much easier.

    Don't give up on cardio just yet. I detested cardio when I started losing weight. I started out just walking and using stationary bike and light lifting -- simply as a means to get more calories to do my favorite thing -- eat!

    A fantastic approach to exercise is just eat your calorie budget and use exercise as a cushion for weight loss and measuring mistakes. I used to try to eat back some of my exercise calories, but not all of them. Like half of them. What I found, over time, is because I became so consistent, I enjoyed pushing the cardio after a few years.

    Now, I'm "one of those guys" that does cardio and is somewhat addicted to it. I get really cranky now when I don't do cardio. I enjoy weights too but not as much. But a great routine includes both and even (perhaps) some flexibility exercises as well.

    While everyone is right that weight loss is primarily in the kitchen, I will tell you that maintenance is where exercise habits become more critical. Nearly everyone I know on here that is years into maintenance also exercises a lot. The National Weight Loss Registry (which is for people that have lost over 100 lbs and kept it off for years) did a survey a while back and what they figured out was the average time people spend exercising, who have kept weight loss off for years (and that number is only like 10% of people that drop the weight keep it off), is an hour a day. I lost around 100 lbs originally, so that's a number I shoot for -- roughly 6 or 7 hours a week. But that has to be something you organically build up to while being smart.
  • thisvickyruns
    thisvickyruns Posts: 193 Member
    Eleanor_1986 wrote: »
    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    It sounds like you are trying to lose 2 lbs. a week without changing your diet. That is very rapid weight loss unless you are more than 50 lbs. overweight and not easy to sustain. I think you overestimate the burn you get with exercise. Weights don't burn many calories. Nor does yoga. Cardio does burn more calories, but is hard for a beginner to do for long enough to burn significant calories. For me to burn 1000 calories a day, (assuming one day of rest each week) would require 10 miles a day of running or 20 miles a day hiking or 3+ hours a day on the stationary bike. Low impact aerobics would require at least 2 hours a day, probably more. That is a lot of exercise. I've been running and walking daily for years and I wouldn't want to do it.

    And one issue I've found with using exercise as a primary means of weight loss is that when you get injured (and odds are, you will get injured if you push yourself that hard) you haven't developed eating habits that will allow you to maintain the weight loss without the exercise, so you quickly gain back the weight you lost (and then some). You would do better to focus on cutting your calories and increase your exercise gradually to a level that is sustainable so that the exercise allows you to eat a few more calories but isn't necessary to keep the weight off.

    Yes the goal is 2lbs a week. I have a slow metabolism for various reasons which means that I find it difficult to lose weight by reducing calories. I started at 200lbs and have so far managed to lose 8lbs at a snail’s pace. I’m aiming for a total loss of 50 lbs to get me to my pre-pandemic weight so there’s a lot to go.

    You have made a very good point about injury. I will focus on slowly building up my exercise as suggested and see how that goes.

    what makes you think you have a slow metabolism?
  • Eleanor_1986
    Eleanor_1986 Posts: 14 Member
    MikePfirrman wrote: »

    If you do choose rowing, look closely as some rowing instuctions online. Dark Horse Rowing and Cassie Neimann are two of my favorites. I also saw you in the UK. There are a TON of rowing gyms and rowing clubs there. On the water rowing there is huge. I'm a member of an online (indoor) rowing club and nearly 70 percent of the members are from the UK. Rowing is one of those things that's not really intuitive. It seems like it is but it so isn't. If you start out with good form, it's much easier.

    Don't give up on cardio just yet. I detested cardio when I started losing weight. I started out just walking and using stationary bike and light lifting -- simply as a means to get more calories to do my favorite thing -- eat!

    A fantastic approach to exercise is just eat your calorie budget and use exercise as a cushion for weight loss and measuring mistakes. I used to try to eat back some of my exercise calories, but not all of them. Like half of them. What I found, over time, is because I became so consistent, I enjoyed pushing the cardio after a few years.

    Now, I'm "one of those guys" that does cardio and is somewhat addicted to it. I get really cranky now when I don't do cardio. I enjoy weights too but not as much. But a great routine includes both and even (perhaps) some flexibility exercises as well.

    While everyone is right that weight loss is primarily in the kitchen, I will tell you that maintenance is where exercise habits become more critical. Nearly everyone I know on here that is years into maintenance also exercises a lot. The National Weight Loss Registry (which is for people that have lost over 100 lbs and kept it off for years) did a survey a while back and what they figured out was the average time people spend exercising, who have kept weight loss off for years (and that number is only like 10% of people that drop the weight keep it off), is an hour a day. I lost around 100 lbs originally, so that's a number I shoot for -- roughly 6 or 7 hours a week. But that has to be something you organically build up to while being smart.

    I’m in the UK but sadly nowhere near the water. Thank you for the pointer towards rowing videos - I’ll check them out and use until I find a decent trainer. My last trainer (in London) was a rowing enthusiast and after a year of rowing and generally working out with him I didn’t suffer any injuries. I miss him!

    Interesting study. Exercise is very important for me too and also because it allows me to eat more and maintain once I get to goal weight!
  • Eleanor_1986
    Eleanor_1986 Posts: 14 Member

    what makes you think you have a slow metabolism?

    15 years of yo yo dieting and, lately, limited exercise! I have actually been limiting my calories - I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories and still struggle to lose weight. I count all calories so I’m certain that is the range I fall into. I cannot further reduce my calories so exercise makes sense to boost my metabolism and lose weight.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    You are pretty near the Thames, there's quite a few rowing clubs if you fancy on the water.

    (I'm a bit further upstream near Hampton Court and would be spoiled for choice if it were my thing.)
  • Arc2Arc
    Arc2Arc Posts: 484 Member
    edited November 2021
    The only thing I can add is you ought to get to the root of your balky knee problem either through a doctor, trainer or both. I’d want to know if it is truly a problem that could get worse through exercise or something minor, ie muscle imbalance, tightness or something else that can be improved or eliminated through appropriate stretching and exercise.

    Edit: I see that the above issue was raised so I’ll just second looking into it.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    To get that much, it would have to be somewhat low intensity cardio that you'd be able to do frequently for long durations. Running/jogging would definitely not work - it would take possibly years to work up to that kind of volume. Cycling (150-200 ish miles per week) would possibly be the most viable option...but you'd definitely still want to work up to that.
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
    Congrats on starting your program! Calorie burn doesn't really matter too much as you get underway.

    The only thing that really matters is not stopping until exercise becomes a habit. So just make a decision not to stop. The physical benefits and sense of well being you'll get from regular exercise are worth every minute spent doing it.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited November 2021
    Eleanor_1986 wrote: »
    Just thought i would post an update - i had my first personal training session in about 5 years today (add general idleness, a baby, pandemic and 50 lbs in that period) and after an hour of a workout hard enough to make me throw up (literally) according to my Fitbit i burned 350 calories. The workout mainly involved weightlifting but was hard enough to make me seriously sweat. Needless to say, i will not be burning 6000 cals a week from exercise anytime soon :D

    And as a couple comments mentioned regarding calorie burns from lifting - HR-based calorie burn calculations (like Fitbit is doing) are ONLY a valid estimate (and even then with caveats) for steady-state aerobic exercise.

    Your workout was totally opposite - anaerobic if lifting and done right, HR up and down constantly.
    So even that 350 given calorie burn was inflated - probably closer to 200-250.

    You've really setup impossible parameters to reach your goal as you seem to recognize now.

    Sweating means you were hot, nothing to do with calorie burn or even intensity - but good job. Though if to puking stage you may need a bit of recovery now. So a workout tomorrow may not go so well or as intense.

    While 2lbs weekly loss rate could be reasonable for MORE than 50 lbs to lose - it also depends on what stress your body is under.
    If under 50 lbs - than 2 lbs no longer reasonable but more likely extreme - body doesn't like extremes - it'll adapt.
    And if you have illness body is dealing with, even a slower rate may be needed.
    How much left to healthy weight?

    Very few people actually have a slow metabolism more than 5% under calculated, even with thyroid problems. That effect is just being tired and moving less, not base metabolism.
    And exercise isn't going to increase that metabolism much at all. Unless you mean something else by metabolism.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,160 Member
    Eleanor_1986 wrote: »
    Just thought i would post an update - i had my first personal training session in about 5 years today (add general idleness, a baby, pandemic and 50 lbs in that period) and after an hour of a workout hard enough to make me throw up (literally) according to my Fitbit i burned 350 calories. The workout mainly involved weightlifting but was hard enough to make me seriously sweat. Needless to say, i will not be burning 6000 cals a week from exercise anytime soon :D

    Did you literally vomit? (Rhetorical question, you don't need to answer.) If you did vomit, was your trainer OK with that? IMO s/he shouldn't be! Vomiting generally is not good for you, and you want to avoid frequent repeats.

    If that's happening, loosely a couple of things could be in play (and maybe some others I'm not thinking of right now).

    One is timing of eating around the workout. Some people find that if they eat (a particular volume, or particular foods, or just anything) close to a workout, then digestive consequences happen. On the flip side, being super empty/hungry (or seriously under-hydrated) can potentially do the same thing. Consider that, and experiment/adjust. People differ, so I can't be more specific.

    Another is physiologic consequences of the exercise intensity or total cumulative stress (from the physiology of the exercise, but potentially augmented by other stressors in the situation). Again, it's somewhat individualized . . . which is not to say there's anything wrong with the *people* who experience those consequences! What's wrong is the circumstances/outcome, and the training needs to be adjusted accordingly.

    I don't want to get too speculative, but things like lactate tolerance might be in the picture. Also, warming up gradually may be helpful.

    I do a sport (and earned coaching certs in it) in which vomiting at competitions (or extreme training sessions) can occur. There are trash cans strategically placed at major competitions just in case. However, routinely vomiting is Not A Good Thing. I can't diagnose you over the internet, but if it's happening for you because of exercise intensity, very generally find the edge, and work *sometimes* manageably close to that edge - not *always* close to it - and that can help move the threshold. As a baseline, use stress management techniques (breathing, etc.) if feasible to reduce the non-exercise-specific stress component.

    You should not be vomiting workout after workout. NotNotNot.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    Agree with Ann. You sound a lot like my wife -- full steam ahead, has to back off, gets injured, full steam ahead, gets discouraged and quits, back at it harder, repeat insanity...

    Consistent, gradual, incremental improvements in fitness are the best way. Sustainability is so important.

    Out of curiosity, I ran my weekly exercise calorie numbers up. I did 4950 last week. I literally started after a knee injury around 15 years ago (I was an athlete in my youth but took around 20 years off of being physically active outside of a job). I couldn't walk at that time and started out with just a few revolutions on a Stationary Bike and working up to walking again -- sometimes just a few steps -- later into a few hundred steps.

    I can't overemphasize enough that you should do only what you can without too much pain or soreness (or vomiting) and just be super consistent. If I can come as far as I have, you can too. You're way ahead of me now, just slow down and stay safe!

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