Question for all the fitness pro's

jene77
jene77 Posts: 70 Member
edited September 26 in Health and Weight Loss
So I've been pregnant twice and gained about 55 pounds with each kid. The first week you drop about 10 to 20 pounds with water weight ect. So I really had about 35 to lose. I had no problem losing the weight, I watched my calories and ate about 1000 to 1200 each day and exercised every other day burning anywhere from 700 to 1000 calories. I lost all the weight within 3 to 4 months with each kid. And I was very fit and had great muscle definition. I had hernia surgery on my tummy and then started full time school and I gained about 30 pounds in about a year eating out with friends during school and not exercising.

So my question is.... should I just do what works for me because eating all these calories is NOT working lol sometimes it's telling me to eat 2000 calories a day! I lost 13 pounds before I joined this site and have only lost a grand total of 2 pounds in 70 days on this site WTF??

I have always been small and fit my whole life, the only times I've been heavy is during my pregnancys and this past couple years from the surgery and during school.

Anyone have any of the same experiences I've had?

HT: 5'1
WT: 145
GW: 125

Replies

  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
    Maybe you are figuring too many calories burned for exercise. You are actually close to the same size I was when I started this journey, and for us small gals to burn 700-1000 calories exercising, we would have to exercise very vigorously for over an hour a day. I now have a heart rate monitor, and for me to run for 30 minutes at about a 9 min. per mile pace, I burn about 300 calories. I weigh about 113 pounds now, which is not a lot different than your body weight as far as calorie burn. So unless you are busting your rear for a LONG time, it is not likely you are burning so many calories as you think. If you are using the calorie burn numbers from your gym machines, just know that they can be over 100 calories off for every 30 minutes of exercise. So if you are that far off in estimating calories, and then you eat them back, you are probably eating more calories than you burn, and that could explain why this is not working for you. The good news is that the numbers generated for exercise calories on this website are not too far off (at least for me), so maybe that will work for you. Or maybe you can get a heart rate monitor, or check other exercise calorie counters. They are all over the internet.

    I hope this helps!
  • jene77
    jene77 Posts: 70 Member
    Hi and thanks for your advice, I thought that might have been the problem so about a month ago I went and got a HRM and I was burning almost half more then what I thought, I was logging my 55 min workout at 500 calories when I had actually burned 1000 no kidding.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    What kind of HRM do you have? Chest strap?
    I can't burn more than 400 calories an hour no matter what activity. And it's usually just under 300 an hour for a general workout.

    For someone your size I would bet that there is no way you actually burned that much unless it was running for 2 hours or so.

    Are the settings right in your HRM? height/weight/age/sex?

    Something is up , you just have to figure out what it is...
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,526 Member
    Wow!! Must be an awesome workout. What do you do?
  • jene77
    jene77 Posts: 70 Member
    I have a wrist new balance HRM.... My husband and I go jogging together and I had him wear it one day because I seriously thought the thing didn't work either. On a 25 min jog, he burned 259 and when I jog the 25 min trail, it's a little over 400. I have know idea why I burn so many calories during my workouts. I don't really know if that's a good or bad thing.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    I have a wrist new balance HRM.... My husband and I go jogging together and I had him wear it one day because I seriously thought the thing didn't work either. On a 25 min jog, he burned 259 and when I jog the 25 min trail, it's a little over 400. I have know idea why I burn so many calories during my workouts. I don't really know if that's a good or bad thing.

    Let me explain about HRMs.

    The "watch only" type are virtually useless. When you touch it to get your HR, it counts calories based on that HR. If you were to touch it just as you started, and it used that rate, then you worked harder, it does not add more cal per minute because it doesn't know you are working harder. You will get a low number. If you were to touch it at a really high point in your workout, then slow down a bit, you would get a huge reading as it still thinks your HR is up that high even after it has come down a bit. In order for an HRM of this type to be even CLOSE to accurate, you would have to touch it every minute. This is why the ones with the chest strap are far superior. They count every beat of your heart in real time, and are based on your gender, height, weight, and age. I am guessing yours doesn't ask for all that info if you and your husband both used the same one, or if so, and you didn't reprogram it for his stats, that could explain the discrepancy.

    Does that make sense? I am guessing that you check your HR when it is really high, so it uses that rate for your whole workout when in fact most of it was lower. Check it far more frequently, or avoid checking it when it may be really low or really high...or just get a good one.... :happy:
  • jene77
    jene77 Posts: 70 Member
    Well actually I am a little compulsive with checking it and I check it like every minute lol no kidding. But no it didn't ask for Age/WT/HT I am going to for sure get a chest strap! I don't like to work out and not really know if it's accurate or not. Thanks so much for the help. Do you recommend a good brand of chest strap HRM?
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    oh, well if it doesn't know your sex/weight or anything, then there's no way it can be accurate no matter how often you check it!

    You want a Polar. I have the F4 and the FT7, they are both great. The strap is so comfortable you forget it's there. Go look on Amazon. They range in price but the FT7 is about 90 bucks and it's awesome.
  • jene77
    jene77 Posts: 70 Member
    Ok and thanks. That explains a lot if I think I'm burning and eating all those calories! :grumble:
This discussion has been closed.

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