net calories not adding up

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Replies

  • ipinch
    ipinch Posts: 6 Member
    I have a Polar FT7 HRM and it does work in the pool but make sure its on pretty tight and stop from time to time to make sure its registering. It tends to not register if it gets to loose. Happy swimming! Keep up the good work!
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    Just a couple of questions, 1) are you losing weight at a reasonable pace? 2) How accurate are you when recording your meals, meaning do you weigh/measure everything or are you guesstimating?

    If you are losing too fast, you may need to force yourself to eat more. Try things like protein shakes and bars for extra calories.

    If you aren't losing:

    If you aren't super anal about measuring your food, or are eating a lot of restaurant and prepackaged foods, your calories could be as much as 35% above what is listed in the database. I had to stop the guy at Chipotle from putting a gigantic portion of guacamole on my burrito bowl yesterday. The scoop he had ready was probably 3/4 of a cup or more!

    With the prepackaged foods, you really have to look at the portion size. It may list a serving as a small calorie count, but when you really look at it, the serving is tiny. Like a can of soda serves 3 kind of tiny.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    Are you training for the Olympics? That's the only way I can see you burning over 1200 calories a day swimming (to net around 43)? (This coming from a former competitive swimmer.) I am serious. How much yardage are you covering in a day? How many hours are you in the pool a day?

    If she is very young and very overweight, she could burn 1200 calories with just 1.5-2 hours of vigorous effort. I'm 42/ 140lbs. and can burn 1000 calories biking for about 2 hours at a moderate pace. She may also be counting things like house cleaning and playing Wii as part of her daily exercise to get up to the 1200 a day. For obese beginners it is pretty easy to burn a lot of calories.
  • geezer99
    geezer99 Posts: 92
    Check some other websites for swimming calories. According to one calculator, swimming freestyle you would burn 2,000 calories if you swam for 3 hours and covered 360 laps (a bit over 5 miles)
  • feverinside
    feverinside Posts: 29 Member
    What i was more looking for was what healthy foods could i eat with higher cals to where i can still work out how i do, but to where I'm not under my cal count.

    Basically some healthy fats will really help you out:

    Peanut butter
    Avocado
    Olive oil in homemade dressings or use it to cook your foods. (not pam)
    nuts: Peanutes, cashews, pistacios, pecans, walnuts ect

    Healthy carbs:

    Sweet potatoes
    Rice

    Throw a side dish of sweet potatoes or rice into a meal, you easily add 200 calories. Or throw peanut butter into a chocolate protein shake and add 200 calories. Grab a handful of nutts or throw um on some yogurt and you have another 200 calories. Avocado on a sandwich.

    Another option is less-lean meats. Fat is good in your diet so don't be afraid. I know people hate on animal fat but 99/1 lean ground beef is like 140 cals/4oz and 85/15 is like 250/4oz. Plus you could save some money. :D:D:D

    Again... all of this is just IMO. You do whatever you want to do!
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
    I am one of those people that don't eat back my exercise calories (gasp!!) it just doesn't work for me. Everyone is different :) However, if I ever feel sluggish, extra hungry or if I feel my work outs are suffering from lack of energy I add some extra calories in there, usually some good carbs, like fruit and whole grains. Do what works for you. If you're not hungry don't eat. But if you notice a lack of energy while exercising or during the day you might want to add some calories. Good luck! I'm in NC too :)


    See that's my point! im not sluggish, i feel great! i have more energy then ever! and im sure if i was in STARVATION MODE every one seems to say i am, wouldn't i be tired? wouldn't my belly growl? wouldn't i kill over??? lmao but thanks, i was kinda surprised to she a helpful post. :)

    People tend to use the term "starvation mode" here a bit much... to mean that you've slowed down your metabolism, not that you're actually starving. And yes, you'd probably be tired, but no, you probably would not be hungry. The point is that this happens when your body has adjusted to too little food. So when you eat a "normal" amount, you'll gain. You may even be used to it enough that you wouldn't feel tired or sluggish. I've seen several postings recently where people didn't realize how much less energetic they'd become until they ate more.

    Eat as little as you want. But please don't eat under for extended periods of time and then come back in 3 weeks or 3 months complaining about... how this site doesn't work, how your hair is falling out, the plateau that you've hit, the number of colds you've had, how others eat foods you can't, how you're gaining weight even though you average under X calories/day etc. If it works for you, that's fine. If it works for you over the long haul, please share. Even as a relative newbie who hasn't reached goal yet, but who hasn't plateaued or suffered bad health side effects, I've seen way too many posts that basically say... I changed the plan, exercised more, ate less, it was going great and now it stopped working - why?