NTHG 2-week challenge

Question: I've heard it said on the forums before that HRMs are NOT accurate for strength training/lifting. That was one of my main deterrents from getting one. What have you all heard?

I had not heard that but found this:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75

Which is interesting b/c I guess I didn't understand physically what happens to burn a calorie - whether it was based on heart rate (no) or something else (yes). So maybe I'm not burning as many calories as I thought......Gee....thanks a lot Kate. Just kidding. I have to imagine that these types of strength exercises burn more than "traditional strength training" - sitting at a machine, doing 12 reps of minimal weight, resting 60 seconds and doing it again. I get exerted, sweaty and feel my heart rate raise while doing a lot of these - especially the sqauts and deadlifts. I wonder what would be an accurate way to calculate calories burned doing strength training. Clearly some exercises are going to deliver more burn than others. This is good info though, so thanks for bringing it up. You are the research queen, so I respect your opinion. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it....keep logging my HRM based burn or try to find some kind of formula to better estimate? Hmmm.....

Oh no! Ha, sorry! I do believe it's more than traditional exercises because they are compound movements and require a lot of energy etc. to perform. I think you should trust yourself. Yesterday I walked away from KISS and I knew I had gotten my *kitten* kicked and so I over logged the minutes because I knew I had burned more than a hundred cals or so. Totally unscientific. But at the same time, I exercise almost everyday (as do most of you). We get a feel for how "hard" we worked. I would probably go somewhere in between MFP and your HRM. MFP is conservative and your HRM is probably a bit high, so take it day by day with that as an acceptable range.

Also, while this is a debated topic there is a good amount of literature that refers to the "after burn" effect of lifting. They say that sort of intense lifting will temporarily raise your metabolism giving you burn hours after you leave the gym. It has to do with the same reasons that you HRM can't quite understand the calories burned while strength training. (VO2 max related stuff)

This is reason I try to be conservative on exercise cals, liberal on food cals, and not to worry if I go over on a given day!

Thanks for the research props I do economics research for a living so it's natural that if I am going to spend time working out I want to be the most effective work out possible for my goals...opportunity cost!

(tangent: a woman at the gym yesterday approached me to ask what machine she should use to tone her arms. I said, NONE OF THEM! Free weights all the way. A general note I believe: if you're sitting down, you're probably not working too hard. Exceptions are probably vigorous biking or rowing)

Good chats on calories burned from weight lifting. I have a HRM, and whether or not the calories burned are accurate, my heart rate while lifting hard is similar to that while running (steady state, 6mph usually outside so small hills and uneven ground). Maybe all the non-compound exercises people do on machines and frequent breaks are why everyone says that strength training burns significantly less?

As far as this challenge, I am doing horribly! I was doing better before I started!! I think I need to log my food but both yesterday and today I had to go out to lunch for different reasons and I had no idea how much I ate so I stopped logging. And I had a beer at lunch yesterday. Not a good start to the two weeks.

Looks like everyone else is doing a great job though, keep posting so I get back on track please!

jenomaha - At least you did realize and limit your intake! Be proud about that and just work your way down You will do great and you already look fabulous!

I did pretty well last night! No strength.. I'll probably leave that for the weekend when I don't do my class. I went to the movies with my boyfriend and our friends and I was very good! My boyfriend offered to buy me snacks and a drink, but I just said I'd eat some of his popcorn and I'd have a water. I only had about a handful of popcorn (if that), and it made me want less after seeing him stuff an entire handful of it in his mouth at one time! (He looked like a chipmonk after he did that!) But I would say that was a success in not binging on snack foods for me!! How did everyone else do?

Hi All!

Jenomaha and shander...well done! I think just limiting the bad stuff you eat is half the battle and abstaining at the movies is no easy task!

I did well yesterday in that I woke up early to run to just get some exercise in but ended up a bit over on cals (still under on carbs!) because of a fancy dinner I went to. I should be good today though I am not going the extra exercises I promised myself. It has been a crazy week but I need to start!

I am also super sore still from Monday's lifting but I think I am going to warm up well and push through and lift today. Otherwise I will be way off on my schedule since I can't probably lift tomorrow. Here's to advil!

I did not do well on protein yesterday. I am a little sore but planning to do th eKISS workout tonight. Sumo deadlifts! hope the bar isn't up as high as last time!
I haven't been eating very well, I need to try harder. I changed my macros to 40/40/20 and it's impossible for me to meet those, ever!

Hey, it's not impossible, just takes a lot of planning. I'm sure you will rock it out doing KISS tonight

I am wondering if I can change my challenge for these 2 weeks. What I would like to do is eat at the higher calorie level but NOT eat exercise calories. It will also help me scale back on my cardio since it won't be giving me license to eat more, anyway

I love having my exercise burn reported by MFP but maybe I should start putting my burn in my exercise diary notes so it doesn't add to my total...

Hey, everybody! I just completed my day 3 of Ripped. My one challenge to stay away from the alcohol has not been a problem even though I wanted to celebrate with a glass of wine today when I got the call after all grades were posted that my son is officially a high school graduate. It's just a formality, but still...

My other challenge was that I would get 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Well, my other son and my husband are both sick so that's not been as easy. My son woke me up 3 times last night and the last time was at 4 a.m. and I get up at 5:00 :noway: ...so :drinker:

I stayed under on carbs again but didn't get as much protein as I would have liked. Today is a lost cause due to afternoon ballgame and beer. Oh well! I'll try to be good one day this weekend, I am doing a run for charity with my dog sunday so that's my 5th exercise day

Also, I upped some of my weight on KISS...105 lbs sumo deadlift WITHOUT the smith machine (SO much harder...really if you're using one just stop.)

I've only just seen this thread but I am so in on this if it's not too late to join?????

I need some time to think about what I'm gonna do but I'll be back after my boxing class to post my goals and aims - yay!

Hey, everybody! I just completed my day 3 of Ripped. My one challenge to stay away from the alcohol has not been a problem even though I wanted to celebrate with a glass of wine today when I got the call after all grades were posted that my son is officially a high school graduate. It's just a formality, but still...

My other challenge was that I would get 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Well, my other son and my husband are both sick so that's not been as easy. My son woke me up 3 times last night and the last time was at 4 a.m. and I get up at 5:00 :noway: ...so :drinker:

Congrats on all-graduate son, third day of Ripped, avoiding the booze.
I was not so good. I did the KISS workout and I upped my weight a little on everything except sumo deadlifts! Then I went to dinner, Vietnamese and I had a rice noodle bowl with grilled pork, which is probably not the best choice, but not too bad, but then when it came to drinks I ended going to the bar next door with my friend and had four coors lights!

Haha its so hard to stop with one, isn't it? At least they were light! I mainly like dark beers...not so great. I just avoid bars mostly...which is a sad way to go about avoiding those calories and is driving my bf crazy! I already slipped too, had an enormous chocolate chip cookie at a lunch meeting with work...oops! I also fell asleep after doing ab work, but before strength training last night...think I'll have the stamina after a long run to do arms?

Right, just looked at my diary for the past week and whilst I've been much better at eating every 3(ish) hrs I've not been meeting my protein needs so my aims are:

- Strength train 3 x per week as heavy as I can (I'm doing NROLFW)
- get at least 100g of protein EVERY day (even on the weekends)

My goals are to see either a reduction in weight, body fat percentage or inches

I'll count today in the challenge as I've managed to get the protein in :happy: :happy: :happy:

Happy Friday! Okay, I did it, y'all!! I completed day 4 of Ripped yesterday after work, and I got up this morning and completed day 5!! YAY! Thanks to you all's encouragement and motivation, I was able to do it. Now, I'm happy I don't have to do it when I get home today, but I think I might do some Zumba. That doesn't feel like "exercise" to me so it's easy to do even after a long day at work. Jillian Michaels...not so much.

Daily check in:

- workout = I managed to get my 3rd strength session in for the week - yay :happy: :happy: :happy:
- protein = I'm unsure today as I ended up eating out which was unplanned???? Tomorrow I will do better with the food.

How you all getting on ladies?

Congrats, sunshine- I'm sure you chose a nice proteinaceous meal at the restaurant. I haven't had any sugar except what is in fruit so far an though I picked up a bag of chips at the store I put it down. I did eat a sample tortilla chip at the store cause I forgot :embarassed: doing well on calories, I think I'm better off not eating exercise cals and just having an average calorie range to shoot for

I think this challenge is making everyone much aware of what needs to be worked on, whether it's nutrition or exercise. I can already see and feel a difference and it's a positive one!! After the Zumbathon tonight, they had cookies and brownies and I stayed away becuase I know sugar is my downfall. I saw them turned around and walked the other way, lol!! Disaster avoided!

Sunshine -great job getting the 3rd day in!

cutmd - great job putting the chips down!!!

Keep at it ladies!

@ Jenomaha - Thanks so much for the encouragement. I'm just like you, once I start with sugar I just can't stop. The Zumbathon sounds like great fun, I LOVE Zumba.

let's hope that Saturday is an even better day for us all.