Numbers, Science, & the Scale

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rlglaspie
rlglaspie Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
today I decided to track my heart rate and the amount of calories I burn each day by wearing my heart rate monitor from last night at 9pm until 9pm tonight. Today I burned 3000 calories, that does include about 500 during my workout but I had to take it off during my shower plus what I would have burned during my workout if it were normal activity...so I figure I burn roughly 2800 calories without working out. Where am I going with this, well, if my daily deficit is 1600 (total out - total in) that works out to be about half a pound (1 pound = 3500 calories) each day...why am I not seeing results faster and that much each day??? Just wondering if anyone has some pearls of wisdom.
Please help!

Frustrated and Ready for a Brownie :huh:

Replies

  • NatalieWinning
    NatalieWinning Posts: 999 Member
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    I wonder if the answer is like saying my baby walked at age 9 months, why isn't yours? Or you started your period when you were 12 and have one every 28 days, why don't I? Our bodies don't work like clockwork and all the same all the time. There is more to it than calories in, calories out. Even though essentially that's as simple as it is. Patience! Keep working at it!
  • tracycartwright
    tracycartwright Posts: 44
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    If someone figured it out, let me know! I am quite frustrated with a similar problem.The only difference is, I don't have a monitor to check and see how many calories I am burning daily. I have wondered if the amount figured by the site calculator might be wrong, because there's not a choice of "almost no movement all day long." *sigh* I am trying to do more, move more, but with my knees problem, it's very difficult.

    At least by posting you will know someone out here shares your frustration!! (And I save enough calories to have a brownie every now and then, like tonight!)
  • kiuney
    kiuney Posts: 68
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    It's important to keep in mind that a HRM is a tool but what it says is not gospel. The output indicated is calculated with math. Unfortunately, our bodies are not math problems. To get a true reading of your caloric output, you'd have to spend 24 hours inside a metabolic chamber.

    I wear my HRM when I exercise although I do track the calories it says I burned, I use it moreso to see what my caloric burn was vs. how I felt (did I feel like I worked harder than usual/did the same workout seem easy). I've also been able to predict sickness because of how my heart rate was behaving.

    It's also worthwhile to note that our bodies don't want us to lose weight. They want to keep us alive and they do that by conserving energy in the event that it's needed later.

    That being said, I DO share your frustration. Having used a HRM for years now, I've just accepted that my actual caloric burn is probably about half to three quarters of what it says. Keep plugging away.
  • rlglaspie
    rlglaspie Posts: 2
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    Thank you for all the shared frustration and the advice to save enough calories for a brownie. :happy:
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=87

    The scale isn't telling you the whole story....please read the above article...it has saved my sanity many times!
  • letha62
    letha62 Posts: 14
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    I have been struggling to understand it and the more I read the more confused I get, but I did find this page that has all these different calulators on it and I killed a half hour measuring and calulating.
    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculators.html
  • sherylhs
    sherylhs Posts: 141 Member
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    http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=87

    The scale isn't telling you the whole story....please read the above article...it has saved my sanity many times!

    Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
  • bobbijomacknight
    bobbijomacknight Posts: 24
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    http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=87

    The scale isn't telling you the whole story....please read the above article...it has saved my sanity many times!

    tagging this site to read later....because I'm sick of my scale also. Even though I told myself I wasn't going to get hung up on the numbers, it's so hard not to....grrr

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