Accepting the calorie burn

Ready2BFitMom
Ready2BFitMom Posts: 28 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I keep struggling with accepting my calorie burn. When I log I always go with the lowest number. I use 3 different apps to calculate my calorie burn from excercise and use the low number. But I can't seem to convince my mind that it's real. I have lost 16 lbs so far yet I still feel like I'm not doing enough!
I don't want this to turn into an obsession where I am never satisfied with my results. How do I work on this?

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Which devices are you using to get a calorie burn? HRM, MFP, machines?
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    I have found that usually sufficient math helps ease my mind. If one pound is 3500 calories, and you have been calculating your deficit including your calorie counts for exercise, you should be able to average out a couple of weeks worth of data to "check your work" and ease your mind.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Just do it.

    I know that sounds flippant and annoying but just doing it--using the lowest number and letting the results come--might be the best way to work through the doubt. At a certain point the sheer repetition of just doing it makes the "it" part easier.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    over what time scale have you lost 16lb?

    In any case, you're losing so you're eating at a deficit. If you're losing quickly you can afford to eat more. If you stop losing then you may need to eat less.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Try to start looking at fitness for the sake of fitness and not the calorie burn...burning a few extra calories with exercise is just a nice bi-product...it really shouldn't be your reason to fit.

    Also, you need to realize that the vast majority of your and most people's calorie "burn" is due to you merely existing on this planet....next is your day to day type of stuff (your NEAT)...unless you are an athlete or training for a competitive event, most people's exercise calories make up the very least of their energy requisites.

    way too many people think they have to do all kinds of work in the gym to burn calories...when they should be doing a moderate amount of work simply for the sake off their fitness and overall health and well being.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Just do it.

    I know that sounds flippant and annoying but just doing it--using the lowest number and letting the results come--might be the best way to work through the doubt. At a certain point the sheer repetition of just doing it makes the "it" part easier.

    Exactly!
  • Ready2BFitMom
    Ready2BFitMom Posts: 28 Member
    I use MFP, MapMyWalk, and an online calculator. I plan to get a HRM soon. I have lost 16lbs in about 3 weeks but honestly the first like 8 lbs was probably water weight since the day before I started tracking I had gorged on sodium smothered chinese food.

    I am proud of my loss but I guess I feel like its not real and one day it will just stop. I have hypothyroidism so weightloss has always been hard. They have finally gotten my medication mostly regulated so that is helping. I am just paranoid I suppose.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    You've lost 16, Sweet! You are obviously doing something right, just be prepared for when it slows down and keep doing what you're doing.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    You have to do a lot of exercise for your calorie burn to make a significnat difference, which is why its fitness first. thats not to say you cnat burn quite a few calories if you decide to put the time in, but its much easier to portion control.

    Id suggest recording your times, distances and weights so your measures are more fitness orientated and you see progress that way. Its a different journey. You cna also record calories burned as well.
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