Calorie burned - decreasing

cravingskinnybody

I on round 2 of insanity! right now on month 2. BUT I burn less calories than I used to to. what that could be? I don't understand what my body is trying to tell me! I've been eating enough, clean and healthy. and for example: on round 1 I used to burn 600-660 cals doing max interval circuit but now on round 2 I burn 400 or hardly 450 on max interval circuit!! what could be the reason?

orapronobis

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

AnjaZ89

as you get fitter your body adjusts and burns less..

lacroyx

as you get fitter your body adjusts and burns less..

yep.

cravingskinnybody

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

but does less calorie burned means less weight/fat loss?

BrianSharpe

In addition to your improved fitness your profile shows 12kg lost (congratulations!) which also reduces the amount of energy expended to perform a a task.

Verity1111

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

but does less calorie burned means less weight/fat loss?

I would think so. Usually.

cravingskinnybody

In addition to your improved fitness your profile shows 12kg lost (congratulations!) which also reduces the amount of energy expended to perform a a task.

Thank you! Insanity have done this to me

SHBoss1673

google muscle memory. Short answer is, the more you perform an activity, the more efficient your muscles become at it. Efficient muscles use less energy to perform the same action. That's the main reason trainers like to "mix it up" ever couple of months with clients.

NocturnalGirl

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

SHBoss1673

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

not necessarily true actually. Calorie burn is a factor of how hard you work and how efficient your muscles are at the work you are doing.

Heavier people usually burn more just because they haven't performed the activity as much, but the two aren't a direct correlation of each other. I know people who are overweight but very efficient at certain activities and burn far less than others (even myself) at them.

NocturnalGirl

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

not necessarily true actually. Calorie burn is a factor of how hard you work and how efficient your muscles are at the work you are doing.

Heavier people usually burn more just because they haven't performed the activity as much, but the two aren't a direct correlation of each other. I know people who are overweight but very efficient at certain activities and burn far less than others (even myself) at them.

True but I'm talking about if you keep all factors constant. So like they both are working equally as effective.

MommaKit79

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

not necessarily true actually. Calorie burn is a factor of how hard you work and how efficient your muscles are at the work you are doing.

Heavier people usually burn more just because they haven't performed the activity as much, but the two aren't a direct correlation of each other. I know people who are overweight but very efficient at certain activities and burn far less than others (even myself) at them.

^^^Yelp!! It is all on how your muscles and body handle and get through an activity.

CONGRATS on your progress!!!! :-)

cravingskinnybody

bumb-ing for more replies.

cravingskinnybody

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

not necessarily true actually. Calorie burn is a factor of how hard you work and how efficient your muscles are at the work you are doing.

Heavier people usually burn more just because they haven't performed the activity as much, but the two aren't a direct correlation of each other. I know people who are overweight but very efficient at certain activities and burn far less than others (even myself) at them.

so do you mean that I should stop doing insanity!!!! but that's my favorite workout like ever!

orapronobis

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

but does less calorie burned means less weight/fat loss?

Once again, I'm new to this, but I would say yes. If it takes 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound, then you need to burn more or eat less to remain at a 3500 calorie deficit each week and lose weight. Unless, of course, you are adding muscle while losing fat, then you're going to see the change in your measurements instead of the scale.

cravingskinnybody

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

but does less calorie burned means less weight/fat loss?

Once again, I'm new to this, but I would say yes. If it takes 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound, then you need to burn more or eat less to remain at a 3500 calorie deficit each week and lose weight. Unless, of course, you are adding muscle while losing fat, then you're going to see the change in your measurements instead of the scale.

I eat From 1300 to 1450! I think I can't eat less than that!

orapronobis

Same thing is happening to me. I'm no expert, but I think it's that our bodies are getting stronger and working more efficiently. My guess is that you're not sweating as much, not aching as much, and not as tired when you finish your exercises. In other words, you are getting healthy!

but does less calorie burned means less weight/fat loss?

Once again, I'm new to this, but I would say yes. If it takes 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound, then you need to burn more or eat less to remain at a 3500 calorie deficit each week and lose weight. Unless, of course, you are adding muscle while losing fat, then you're going to see the change in your measurements instead of the scale.

I eat From 1300 to 1450! I think I can't eat less than that!

I'm not suggesting that you do eat less than that. I was just making the point that you need a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound, so that's going to happen in one of two ways, or with a combination of those two ways: intake and burning. Someone made the suggestion of switching up your exercises due to muscle memory. I would try that first to see if you can increase your burn. I'm with you on this. I can't put more time into exercise, so I need to find a newer type that will challenge my newly developing muscles. Just don't lose your motivation; you can keep the loss going. Just look at all the people on this site that have lost amazing amounts of weight. I'm sure that their strategies are different than they were at the beginning of their weight loss journey.

SHBoss1673

The heavier you weigh, the more you burn.

not necessarily true actually. Calorie burn is a factor of how hard you work and how efficient your muscles are at the work you are doing.

Heavier people usually burn more just because they haven't performed the activity as much, but the two aren't a direct correlation of each other. I know people who are overweight but very efficient at certain activities and burn far less than others (even myself) at them.

so do you mean that I should stop doing insanity!!!! but that's my favorite workout like ever!

Absolutely not, insanity is a great workout as far as pre-canned workouts go. One of the best that I've seen. No pre-made class is going to be as good as individual instruction of a good trainer, but short of that insanity is a great HIIT workout. But there's a reason why insanity is only 8 weeks long, because after about 8 to 10 weeks of any specific activity, the body becomes "used" to it. Even with a very diverse program like insanity there will be a level of muscle memory.
Muscle memory is a double edged sword. On the one side, it becomes easier to do a specific activity which means your endurance gains are going up, but on the other, the energy needed to perform those activities is less because nerve/muscle interaction becomes more efficient. So what you really want to do is do a round of insanity, then find something else to do for about 6 weeks that's very different, then go back to it. I bet when you do your first fit test will be a few percentage points lower than your final fit test from the last bout of insanity.

cravingskinnybody

Okay! thank you so much for helping me

Juliane_

I was reading Jillian Michaels book and she was explaining that you need to push harder to get that burn in. There are different methods for increasing the calorie burn as you get fit. One of them is increasing the amount of weights you use.

DebbieLyn63

The stronger your heart and body gets, the more efficient your body is during workouts so you will see lower calories burned during a workout. BUT the more muscle you have, the higher you BMR so that you are burning MORE calories throughout the day as opposed to someone who has a higher BF%. They might burn more calories during a 30 minute workout, but the rest of the day they are burning less than someone with a lower BF%. Keep building that muscle!

aphid

if you've lost weight, you'll burn less calories because you burn more if you have more mass

katevarner

The less you weigh, the less you burn in general. Can you add in something else? Maybe a 30 minute walk every day or every other day? If you move more, you will burn more, so don't necessarily have to quit a workout you love, but may need to shake other things up. And definitely don't eat less!

I lost my first 16 lbs. this time doing very little (gave up Cokes and started walking the dog up to 30 minutes per day), but then things stalled, so I added in some heavier workouts on the weekend (still just walking the dog during the week) and started counting calories. When that wasn't enough (lost 13 lbs. in just under 4 months), I added in weekday workouts (so that I was working out 6 days per week) and lost the last 12 lbs. over the next 4 months. The closer I was to goal, the more I had to do to maintain a 500 calorie deficit and keep losing.

How are you measuring what you burn? If you are confident that the burn is correct, just find another way to burn another 100-150 calories and you should keep losing.

SHBoss1673

Guys, it's not true that the more you weigh the more you burn. It's a lot more complicated than that.

It's a factor of muscle memory mixed with overall lean mass that really determines how much you burn (over and above BMR that is).

Two people could weigh the exact same weight, and they could burn 300 to 400 calories different amounts every day doing the exact same amount of activity.
If one person weighed 180 lbs but had 10% body fat and the other weighed the same 180 but had 20% body fat that's one person with 18 lbs of fat and the other with 36 lbs of fat, that's a big difference in active metabolics. Now add in the exercise being done. If one person has been doing the exercise for 3 months 3 times a week and the other is doing the exercise for the first time, there can be a 2 or 300 calorie difference if it's a moderately hard exercise and is lasting say 45 minutes.

So you see, it's not about how much you weigh so much, it's about active metabolic tissue (lean mass) vs passive metabolic tissue (fat) and how efficient your muscles are at performing the activity.