question about metabolism

tressatnt

I am going to do my own research as well, but I thought I'd throw this out here to see if any of you can tell me what you already know. I know that by working out and eating will boost your metabolism and therefore you burn more in a given day, more than just what you burn in exercise right? But what about the days you don't work out? Does your metabolism still run the same or almost as good? Yesterday I ran 7 miles so I imagine my metabolism was revved up all day. Today is a rest day (calves are killing!) so does that mean I'm back at a regular metabolism or is it still going strong? I really want to get to the point where I don't have to count calories so closely (don't we all) and just eat moderately knowing that my metabolism is working hard. Any thoughts?! TIA!

tressatnt

This kind of ties in with my original question: when you calculate how many calories you burn a day based on your activity level, how does the day to day changes effect that? Just like yesterday I ran 7 miles and did some house cleaning. I'd consider that very active? Today I did a little light housework and it's football day and rest day so I will be sitting down a lot. That would be lightly active right? I just wonder if it wouldn't be worth adjusting based on the day?

Hendrix7

if you are using the TDEE method then calories are calculated on AVERAGE weekly energy expenditure so there is no real need to adjust calories daily as this is already factored in.

Yes you burn more/less calories depending on what you did but this isn't really changing you basic metabolic rate.

katevarner

First question, while it might rev it up a little, there is almost no chance that the revving up lasts longer than a day, maybe not even for a few minutes. Static cardio, a 7 mile run all at once at a pretty steady speed, will make you burn bunches of calories during, but almost no extra calories afterwards. If you increase your muscle mass, you will boost your metabolism a little, but if you lose weight, it goes down, so you don't gain much.

HIIT (high intensity interval training), the new "thing" on the cardio front, supposedly increases your metabolism for a while after, some of the research suggests several hours, but still doesn't change your metabolism over a long period.

Regarding your second question, most people just use an average--that's why the calculators are based on different levels of activity. You can certainly figure out what you burn on a workout day and what you burn on a rest day and eat more on workout days, but that's figured in by MFP if you count your calories here and add in your workouts.

All of us want to quit counting eventually, but if you gained your weight over several years, the learning curve may not be as short as you want. If it's baby weight you are trying to lose (adorable picture, by the way), you may find the right numbers pretty quickly and not have to count calories for the rest of your life.

cmriverside

katevarner gave a great answer.

Also, with just 20 pounds to lose, set your Goal here at "Lose 1/2 pound per week". It is more difficult to lose those last few pounds than it is to lose if you are overweight by a lot. Your body instinctively wants to keep a small padding of fat for possible crisis times - like illness or food shortage. So it will take you a while. You are young, and with a child, you should be able to lose it over a period of a few months.

tressatnt

Thanks, yes it is baby weight, but I've got almost all of that gone now but a few pounds. I was slightly overweight when I got pregnant so now I am working on getting that off too. I've been working hard for 3 months now with little to show for it but 3 pounds, muscular legs and better endurance lol. I don't seem to be losing any inches and the jeans I was finally able to fit into have remained snug for these months. I've been working so hard that I am trying to figure out either what I'm doing wrong or what I can change to make things happen. 2 years ago when I had about 10ish pounds to lose, I did what I'm doing now, exercise and count calories and it worked great. I can't figure out why it's not working now!

tressatnt

It's hard to imagine that running 17+ miles a week isn't good enough! I have a 15k to run at the end of October so I think when that's over, I'm going to ease up on the running and concentrate on other exercises like doing some Boot Camp and circuit classes maybe.

Fox_889

Have you tried much weight training? That should boost the weight loss. I'd go with the easing up on the running also, lots of stress on the joints, knees, etc. You look pretty young so you don't notice it yet but that creeps up on ya. Metabolism really plunges after the 50 mark. I now have to to decrease calories in a MAJOR way to stay slim. Do go for the interval training and build nice lean muscles. Not only do you burn more calories at rest, working with weights gives you a nice "curvey" figure.

jstandfield

The problem with running or any type of steady cardio is the body get used to it. Our bodies actually works against us in this weight loss journey and wants to hold on to fat. Especially if you are a female. To lose those last few pounds you have to mix things up. Definetly add resistance training and increase your protein intake. I like a 20 minute kettle bell workout on my cardio days along with a 2 or 3 mile run. That ramps up your metabolism for a longer period. Typically a few hours after a run its back to normal. Soreness isn't a indication of how your metabolism is doing. I notice when i run my heart rate goes up for the first 5 minutes then steadily falls after that unless I start sprinting to get it back up. In short, just mix things up a bit. Hope this helps.

Hendrix7

HIIT (high intensity interval training), the new "thing" on the cardio front, supposedly increases your metabolism for a while after, some of the research suggests several hours, but still doesn't change your metabolism over a long period.

yeah but this keeps getting more and more exagerated though, research suggest this only likely to increase energy expenditure by 5-15%, (thats calories burned from exercise only, not overall energy expenditure) which isn't really that much.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17101527

HIT is awesome and there are plenty of good reasoned to do it, EPOC probably isn;t one of them however.

tressatnt

I just started doing some circuit strength training at the gym. A trainer put together 3 different workouts for me since I usually go 2-3 days a week. I think I'll keep running since I have about a month of good outdoor weather left here. Then when I move in the gym for most of my exercise, I think I'll do just a few miles of running and more HIIT with strength training, I hope. 3 years ago for me, it was as simple as calories in and out so I just don't see why that's not working now. I might possibly not be eating enough and I'm trying to figure out what that number is with all of my burned calories too. It's confusing!

cmriverside

I just started doing some circuit strength training at the gym. A trainer put together 3 different workouts for me since I usually go 2-3 days a week. I think I'll keep running since I have about a month of good outdoor weather left here. Then when I move in the gym for most of my exercise, I think I'll do just a few miles of running and more HIIT with strength training, I hope. 3 years ago for me, it was as simple as calories in and out so I just don't see why that's not working now. I might possibly not be eating enough and I'm trying to figure out what that number is with all of my burned calories too. It's confusing!

How much are you eating now?

How old are you? How tall are you? What is your Goal Weight? We know your exercise, so it really does sound like you are undereating - you cannot cut calories by more than about 15% below your TDEE., max, if you are within 20 pounds of your goal weight. If you are eating too little, you will have trouble losing.