Recording a blood donation
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As people have said, you wouldn't be able to do it often enough to use it as a weight loss tool anyway, I wasn't encouraging people to use it in that way (physical impossibility does that itself), but if it acts ANY kind of motivation to get people donating then how can you say it's a bad thing? If somebody donated blood and it saved my life, I wouldn't care about the circumstances which brought about their donation. And I genuinely think there are people out there who, if they knew it took 600 cals to replenish, would go for it. I'm not one of those people, nor are you, or the majority of people on here. Doesn't mean their blood is any less valuable to patients than ours!0
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I personally don't understand the desire to log this. As others have stated the "burn" really occurs over the course of a week or 2...It seems, to me, that you would be shortchanging your deficit on donation day if you log this, unless you divide it out over the course of 10 or so days, and then its such a minimal amount of cals, it hardly seems worth the bother. By all means, donate blood, but you might need to re-evaluate why it is that you want to log those 500-600 cals. Not trying to infer that you have a problem, but you may have an unhealthy approach to logging. Best wishes with what ever you choose.0
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Donate blood to donate blood. Go for a run if you want to burn some calories. Going out and donating blood to burn calories is an unhealthy mentality.AbbieBeckett wrote: »I feel like the Blood Donation Services should be advertising this calorie burn - they'd probably motivate more people to donate haha. I donate regularly and have never heard of this, but it makes sense. Id be curious to know over hat time period those calories are burned. I don't think it is necessary to record it - but also understand the feeling of wanting to record and track everything. I could see wanting to look back to see if there is a relationship between your appetite/calories consumed, and energy levels/level of exercise around the time you gave blood too - not just for recording cal loss.
I'm sorry but that is just a ridiculous reason to donate blood. You want to burn calories? Go for a run.
If burning 600 cals is someone's reason to donate or not, it could save a life.
Who says someone is doing that? The OP asked for a way to accurately log their calories! Which is the idea of calorie counting after all.
The projection of a skewed motivation for giving blood came from people suggesting the donation was to let them eat more cookies - that didn't come from the OP.
Eating slightly higher on a day you donate sounds like a sensible move to me. What is the downside?0 -
I personally don't understand the desire to log this. As others have stated the "burn" really occurs over the course of a week or 2...It seems, to me, that you would be shortchanging your deficit on donation day if you log this, unless you divide it out over the course of 10 or so days, and then its such a minimal amount of cals, it hardly seems worth the bother. By all means, donate blood, but you might need to re-evaluate why it is that you want to log those 500-600 cals. Not trying to infer that you have a problem, but you may have an unhealthy approach to logging. Best wishes with what ever you choose.
Some would chose to log this so they could eat a few extra calories on donation day and not have MFP give them red numbers for their calorie totals.
The plasma from the blood donation is regenerated in about two days and burns about 400 calories. This rapid regeneration is why plasma/platelet donors can donate so often. I eat back about 200 calories on the day of donation, which is about the amount for my juice and trail mix - I bring my own as that way I am getting more iron and protein.
I don't see any reason why I should be shaky and hungry for the rest of the day. It can be hard to plan exercise before the donation to earn a calorie cushion. You are not supposed to do vigorous aerobic exercise for about 6-8 hours after the donation, or weight train for 24 hours after, so exercise for the day may be shot.
The red blood cells take about 2 weeks to regenerate, and this takes around 80 grams of protein, and the balance of the 200 calories.
There is nothing wrong with eating back some extra calories on the day of blood donation. It does not lower the value of the donation. Cheers to OP (*)0 -
I donate blood every 8 weeks and had no idea it took calories.0
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I don't understand why every time someone asks this question people assume they are donating blood to lose weight. We tell people over and over again - LOG EVERYTHING. They just want to log everything, or they are curious, or they want to make sure they eat enough on that day.
OP, thanks for your generosity, and don't worry if the cookies and juice put you over for the day! I honestly don't think the calories burned are worth worrying about.0 -
britishbroccoli wrote: »I've heard 500 calories for 1 Whole Blood unit. However, the burn comes from your body replenishing those blood cells, which happens over the next 2-4 weeks. You're not doing yourself any favors eating 500 extra cals the day of a donation like you would eat back exercise calories.
HOWEVER: I highly recommend eating at or just below maintenance in the day or two after a donation. A hefty deficit + blood donation = feeling faint, dizzy, etc. I actually donated yesterday. I'm set to .5 lbs/loss per week, so I'm just making sure I eat all of my calories the next few days (vs staying under).
Note that this is only the case for whole blood donation. I have found very little information about double red or platelets.
I get a little lightheaded when I donate whole blood, but not at all when I donate platelets. For me, I think it must come from the fluid loss when donating whole blood. All they tell you before a platelet/plasma donation is to eat regularly, make sure you eat or supplement calcium, and avoid aspirin & ibuprofen for 3 days prior. I still eat at maintenance on donation day, mostly because the cookies put me over! But yeah, it's a good idea to at least keep your deficit small or eat at maintenance to be safe.0 -
One of the last times I donated, I tried to go for a run the next morning. They tell you to wait 24 hours, but in my mind, the donation was the afternoon before, so I was fiiiine.
WRONG! I ran about a quarter of a mile and was so out of breath!!! It's amazing how much energy you lose after you've donated. So now when I donate, I listen to them and wait a full 24 hours before trying anything like that, sometimes even a bit longer. Lesson learned!
That said, I've never even thought to record donations in MFP. But I'm sort of indifferent to recording it versus not recording it. I'd say do whatever floats your boat in this situation. My opinion is super important, too. In case you didn't know.0 -
I get plasma infused into my body every four weeks and it requires one specific cell and takes about 1000 donations to get that one serving I need. Knowing you're helping to keep a person alive is reward enough. I'll run a mile for you.0
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I donate blood on the regular (I manage about 5-6 times per year, with the minimum time between of 56 days) and have never even considered counting it as a calorie burn. Only thing I might do is drink more fluids day before through day after.0
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For the tax deduction?Liftng4Lis wrote: »It's a charitable contribution. Why would you try to record it?
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If one pint equal 600 calories like they are claiming, why are trauma victims, who lose much more, not weight significantly less in the weeks following the trauma than they did prior to the trauma?
A 150lb woman only has ~ 4.5 liters of blood, so at ~850 calories/liter (see http://www.ehow.com/how_6956458_calculate-calories-human-blood.html), losing 50% (more than enough to be immediately life-threatening) of your blood volume puts you down 1900 calories. That's what, a half pound of fat equivalent?
Unrelated to blood calories, but to your question - accident victims frequently lose significant weight (trauma reactions are net catabolic), and hospitals care quite a bit about how to encourage them to consume enough calories to maintain weight as they recover.0 -
I don't count blood donation calories. 600 calories sounds like a lot, but I only give blood once every 3-4 months, and 600 calories spread over 3 months is negligible. Even if you're able to give blood every 2 months (which isn't the policy where I live) that still works out at about 10 calories a day, not worth worrying about!
I just eat a couple of hundred calories more than usual to avoid feeling dizzy and make a note in the 'notes' section so I can see why that happened later on. If you don't want to eat chocolate or cookies as always seem to be on offer at the blood donation centre, I've been assured by the nurses that a banana makes a great post-donation snack.0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »It's a charitable contribution. Why would you try to record it?
For tax purposes, obviously.0 -
I once played squash right after donating. I was 105lbs. I was young. I was stupid. I was passed out on the court.One of the last times I donated, I tried to go for a run the next morning. They tell you to wait 24 hours, but in my mind, the donation was the afternoon before, so I was fiiiine.
WRONG! I ran about a quarter of a mile and was so out of breath!!! It's amazing how much energy you lose after you've donated. So now when I donate, I listen to them and wait a full 24 hours before trying anything like that, sometimes even a bit longer. Lesson learned!
That said, I've never even thought to record donations in MFP. But I'm sort of indifferent to recording it versus not recording it. I'd say do whatever floats your boat in this situation. My opinion is super important, too. In case you didn't know.
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I just had a great idea. How much does a kidney weigh? I have two of them, after all. I could donate one and drop a quick couple of pounds.
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Yup, sounds about right.0
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As someone who has donated nearly 40 times it never crossed my mind to log the calories it cost to replenish the donation, heck most people each 400-600 in biscuits and chocolate before they leave the donation centre, well I do atleast.0
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I don't record blood donations. Just the snacks I eat after.0
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People really count the calorie burn from this??
Wow. Never even occurred to me to do so. I just lived with being slightly over my calories for the day due to the extra snack, and not being able to work out that day.0
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