Silly ? about burned calories...

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jackal75
jackal75 Posts: 95
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, let's see how many theories this drums up....

At 5:30am I ate around 350 calories of mostly protein and whole wheat.

At 7:10am I completed 20 minutes of strength training and a 12 minute eliptical workout. Estimated calories burned of about 240.

At shortly after 8am my stomach is growling big time. "They" say you eat when you are hungry, but I have a nice routine that I follow for meals and snacks that will be thrown off if I eat now. So the questions:

1.) Do I eat now, off schedule, and leaving less calories for throughout the day?

2.) Why am I hungry now? Was the estimated calories burned during exercise not accurate or is the 110 remaining calories from breakfast not enough to last me until 9:30-10:00 when I have my mid-morning snack?

Replies

  • musicgirl88
    musicgirl88 Posts: 504 Member
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    Drink a glass of water. The body can sometimes confuse hunger with dehydration. If you are still hungry after a glass of water, try finding a low calorie small snack.
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Drink a glass of water. The body can sometimes confuse hunger with dehydration. If you are still hungry after a glass of water, try finding a low calorie small snack.

    I second exactly that.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    Ok, let's see how many theories this drums up....

    At 5:30am I ate around 350 calories of mostly protein and whole wheat.

    At 7:10am I completed 20 minutes of strength training and a 12 minute eliptical workout. Estimated calories burned of about 240.

    At shortly after 8am my stomach is growling big time. "They" say you eat when you are hungry, but I have a nice routine that I follow for meals and snacks that will be thrown off if I eat now. So the questions:

    1.) Do I eat now, off schedule, and leaving less calories for throughout the day?

    2.) Why am I hungry now? Was the estimated calories burned during exercise not accurate or is the 110 remaining calories from breakfast not enough to last me until 9:30-10:00 when I have my mid-morning snack?

    I'd have to do some math to determine if the 110 calories was enough to fuel the body from 5:30am to 8am without counting exercise, but I'd be willing to bet its not. You see, overnight your body uses stored glycogen for fuel for the brain and red blood cell production. The first meal when you wake up will be used to replace that glycogen. If you then burn more in the form of exercise, then you won't have enough to replenish the glycogen you are already down for the day. Then if you add in your BMR for the time you've been up (not counting exercise), you will probably be in a deficit with only 110 calories after exercise is subtracted. Some people would be in a deficit just from the BMR and exercise. For example, if you have a BMR of 1200 calories:

    1200 calorie BMR / 24 hours = 50 calories an hour burned not counting exercise.

    5:30am to 8am is 2 1/2 hours, which would be 125 calories, not counting exercise. So, 110 calories isn't even enough to cover that. Then you have to think of how many calories you are having to consume extra to replenish glycogen (not much maybe 100 calories), and the fact that exercise elevates BMR for a few hours after and you are still in the hole with just a little breakfast. So, I'd go ahead and have that morning snack.
  • stanvoodoo
    stanvoodoo Posts: 1,023 Member
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    I agree with the try water then if still hungry I would go with a protein based snack, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, protein shake (25gr or more) or a protein bar (17grs or more). Maybe even only half would be enough. Just give your body at least 30 min to digest the water for eating and that rule should be for all meals.
  • epj78
    epj78 Posts: 643 Member
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    I agree. And how long have you been on your eating schedule and your morning workouts?

    I found I had to move all of my meals/snacks up when I started really listening to my body. I'm done eating now at 5:30 pm - but for my body that works. It took me a long time to figure out that for how my body works, it was ok to front load calories. I'm not hungry at night.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    While hunger and thirst can be confused, if your stomach is growling, you are hungry. Stomachs won't growl from thirst. When you're hungry, you should eat, or your metabolism will slow slightly waiting for your next meal. You might have a 16 oz glass of water first, or better yet, with the snack you're about to eat. Have something low in calories, high in fiber (veggies, an apple, etc.) or something you planned for later today to tide you over until lunch.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    You don't have 110 calories left over as you burn calories all day long. Depending on your info you probably burn between 1.25 and 1.5 cals/minute while not working out so the 110 would be gone in 75ish minutes, if you are trying to work it out the way you are doing it.

    Hunger is not always a sign that you need more nourishment. If your stomach is stretched from eating a lot one day, you may be more hungry the next as it takes more to feel full. And some foods low in calories can fill you up longer than foods lower in calories. The best way to see if you need to eat is your energy levels. Are you tired, eyes drooping, getting cranky etc.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    You could always try exercising before you eat breakfast. I was doing it and I never had problems with energy or hunger. My workouts consisted of a 5-10 minutes cardio warm up, 30 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio. I would have a protein shake immediately after exercising and then I'd have my breakfast an hour or two later with my kids. (The only reason I had to stop is because my son is teething and wakes up in the middle of the night and I'm pregnant, so if my sleep is interrupted I can't wake up at 6am before everyone else.)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    While hunger and thirst can be confused, if your stomach is growling, you are hungry. Stomachs won't growl from thirst. When you're hungry, you should eat, or your metabolism will slow slightly waiting for your next meal. You might have a 16 oz glass of water first, or better yet, with the snack you're about to eat. Have something low in calories, high in fiber (veggies, an apple, etc.) or something you planned for later today to tide you over until lunch.

    I disagree, your metabolism wont slow down if you don't eat when your stomach growls. Again this has very little to do with energy requirements. If you ate an all liquid diet of 1800 calories you will be much more hungry than eating 1000 calories of fruit and veggies. Although you will not be getting enough fuel on the 1000 diet, you may feel full, while you will be hungry on the liquid 1800 cal diet but your body does not need more fuel.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I always figure if my stomach is actually growling, that's real hunger and I should eat something. Everyone's diferent through so I agree with thinking about the other signals - are you tired, grumpy, etc? Either way - there's no need to eat a whole meal, you just might need a quick boos from a snack - have a fruit or some almonds or something.
  • kimmerroze
    kimmerroze Posts: 1,330 Member
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    I would also say to buy a Heart Rate Monitor, if you can afford one. it may very well be that your calorie burn was WAAY off. But you never know...

    I personally believe in eating all my work out calories back for this specific reason, Which you didn't mention whether or not you believe that or if that was even a factor in your decision so forget I said that.

    But for the sake of being hungry I would definately drink some water, and then if you trust your stomach and body and mind enough to know that it is acutally hungry then I would go ahead and eat something..

    tons of people say you should eat when your hungry, but when you are just starting the journey out, your body and mind have been abused so much from mixed signals, (particularly if one is a yo yo dieter) that your mind doesn't know when it is actually hungry it just sends signals because that is what it is used to doing, so once you have trained your mind to ONLY send signals when it is actually physically hungry, not just craving something, then it is perfectly okay to eat when you are hungry.

    hopefully that made any sort of sense.
  • pixietoes
    pixietoes Posts: 1,591 Member
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    I admire your discipline about sticking to your plan.

    As far as confusing hunger with other things like thirst, or emotion need, or habit, here's the test, real hunger doesn't go away in 10 minutes, if the feeling passes, it wasn't hunger. In general I believe that if you're hungry you should eat. But you don't have to eat a meal. It doesn't even have to be a snack. Make it real food, a small handful of almonds or something on that scale is sometimes all you need to keep going. When I'm on the go I rely on Clif Builder bars, but a whole one is often too much. I find 1/3 of one is just enough to tide me over.
  • jackal75
    jackal75 Posts: 95
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    I agree. And how long have you been on your eating schedule and your morning workouts?

    I found I had to move all of my meals/snacks up when I started really listening to my body. I'm done eating now at 5:30 pm - but for my body that works. It took me a long time to figure out that for how my body works, it was ok to front load calories. I'm not hungry at night.

    I started going to the gym occasionally March 2010. Only 1-2 times per week, all cardio.

    I started MFP August 2010. I had only lost 15 lbs to that point, and needed a boost. Gym visits were still only 1-2 times per week.

    I started this current workout/eating schedule about 5 weeks ago, so I thought it would be established by now. My job hours shifted, so after work gym visits became difficult. I had to get my butt up and do it in the morning. The diamond in the ruff is that it freed me up to go every weekday rather than just twice a week.
  • jackal75
    jackal75 Posts: 95
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    You could always try exercising before you eat breakfast. I was doing it and I never had problems with energy or hunger. My workouts consisted of a 5-10 minutes cardio warm up, 30 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio. I would have a protein shake immediately after exercising and then I'd have my breakfast an hour or two later with my kids. (The only reason I had to stop is because my son is teething and wakes up in the middle of the night and I'm pregnant, so if my sleep is interrupted I can't wake up at 6am before everyone else.)

    When I started going to the gym in the mornings before work, I started out not eating until after I worked out. At the time I was doing all cardio as well. Then my trainer told me that I reached a point where I had to started putting on more muscle to burn the rest of my fat more efficiently. She said to gain the muscle would take strength training and that would require eating some more calories, preferably more proteins especially, and that I should try to have some protein before working out rather than on an empty stomach.

    So now I have something before working out, even if it is just a couple slices of peanut butter toast.
  • jackal75
    jackal75 Posts: 95
    Options
    I would also say to buy a Heart Rate Monitor, if you can afford one. it may very well be that your calorie burn was WAAY off. But you never know...

    I personally believe in eating all my work out calories back for this specific reason, Which you didn't mention whether or not you believe that or if that was even a factor in your decision so forget I said that.

    But for the sake of being hungry I would definately drink some water, and then if you trust your stomach and body and mind enough to know that it is acutally hungry then I would go ahead and eat something..

    tons of people say you should eat when your hungry, but when you are just starting the journey out, your body and mind have been abused so much from mixed signals, (particularly if one is a yo yo dieter) that your mind doesn't know when it is actually hungry it just sends signals because that is what it is used to doing, so once you have trained your mind to ONLY send signals when it is actually physically hungry, not just craving something, then it is perfectly okay to eat when you are hungry.

    hopefully that made any sort of sense.

    This brings up another question.... How accurate are the HR monitors and calorie counters on fitness equipment? Would Sparkpeople.com or a similar site have a better estimate?

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