Stopped running, started losing weight again, HRM question
RyvreTam
Posts: 45 Member
I've been driving myself mad with this 2+ month plateau.
After the first couple of frustrating weeks, I tried lost of things. Have you changed your exercise routine? Well, I just started running, and that's quite a change from nothing, right?
I zig zagged calories of varying activity levels, I whined all over in real life and on these boards. I ate back all my exercise calories.
Running got hard on my legs. I decided I needed better shoes and that I won't run for a week or two and buy shoes. Not even a week later, weigh in day comes and I've lost almost 2 lbs.
I have a chest, Polar hrm but the watch does not do calories. I've worn it during runs to make sure that the steady, sustainable pace my gps-based program has me at is at my target heart rate, and it has been. The only thing I can think of is that the program is wrong about calories burned and I've been eating back too many.
Now for my question. Can I use the average heartrate from the monitor to accurately calculate my calories burned? What if it's the same?
After the first couple of frustrating weeks, I tried lost of things. Have you changed your exercise routine? Well, I just started running, and that's quite a change from nothing, right?
I zig zagged calories of varying activity levels, I whined all over in real life and on these boards. I ate back all my exercise calories.
Running got hard on my legs. I decided I needed better shoes and that I won't run for a week or two and buy shoes. Not even a week later, weigh in day comes and I've lost almost 2 lbs.
I have a chest, Polar hrm but the watch does not do calories. I've worn it during runs to make sure that the steady, sustainable pace my gps-based program has me at is at my target heart rate, and it has been. The only thing I can think of is that the program is wrong about calories burned and I've been eating back too many.
Now for my question. Can I use the average heartrate from the monitor to accurately calculate my calories burned? What if it's the same?
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Replies
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***Bump*** Loving hearing about running questions0
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I tried it on my Polar F4 that do track calories burned and it was all over the place by the end of the day. One day HRM was 2100 the next 1400. I think people do it but I don't think it is accurate. I also had Body Fat test and on the print out it tells you what your body burns that's is about accurate as you can get....FYI it was different than what MFP says my average body burns.
Good luck to you.0 -
In my personal opinion... DON'T buy new shoes.... have you ever thought that the shoes may be the reason your legs are so "messed up"? trust me... I used to be all about "OMG THESE SHOES ARE GOING TO DO THE TRICK, make me faster, keep me more balanced.. etc.etc. etc..... " BUT NO!!!!!
it's not the solution... it's the problem... shoes are the problem... don't give up on running, or jogging or "jalking" ( jogging, and walking)... all you need to do is get back to the natural way.... try it barefoot... literally and non literally... these "wonderful" shoes.. are actually only giving you a mythological power... and doing NO GOOD for your legs and feet..
I know I'm rambling.... but have you ever thought about how CAVEMEN walked and run?? OH YEAH BAREFOOT...
get a pair of vibram 5 finger shoes if you choose to get any... they are the most comfortable and the most NATURAL Moving shoes.... they strengthen your feet and legs, so you can get the most optimum use from them....
just believe me.. I'm rambling because they changed my life.. anyways.... give it a shot... barefoot running...0 -
Do you measure yourself? Have you lost inches?
It depends on how often you run. When you give your muscles a break, they adjust to your body's transformation efforts. When I played basketball in high school, we would practice everyday during conditioning. We had a few days off and during the break, my biceps appeared out of nowhere and they were huge. When I ran in college everyday, if I took a few days off, I noticed my clothes were bigger and that I lost a few inches in my waist. However, my legs always got bigger when I ran. I naturally have big thighs and I used to run in order to slim down, but it has an adverse effect on my legs.
Also, if you have the same running routine, your body's going to get used to it and eventually your weight will plateau. Intervals help a lot. Try eating back half of what you think you're burning, or get a HR monitor that calculates calories burned.
Hope I helped... I really don't know what I'm talking about - just sharing my own experiences.0 -
Also my calorie burn it different that what MFP calculates also...I don't know all the exact terms but if you search the message boards you will see that what you are going through quite a few people does too. Once you stop exercising you lose weight on the scale but as soon as you start back you will gain on the scale...0
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When you add workout calories you technically need to subtract out the maintenance cals for that time that MFP has already allocated. (IE, lets say your maintenance is 2400 cals/day or 100 calories/hour. If you workout and burn 400 calories in an hour, you should only be logging 300 of them, because 100 would have been burned as part of your "normal routine"). That may contribute somewhat to "overlogging" calories.
As for heart rate and calculating calories: yes, there are formulas that use average heart rate as art of the equation. I remember seeing a thread here or somewhere about the actual calculation, but don't remember where exactly. I'm sure digging google might turn up something.0 -
In my personal opinion... DON'T buy new shoes.... have you ever thought that the shoes may be the reason your legs are so "messed up"? trust me... I used to be all about "OMG THESE SHOES ARE GOING TO DO THE TRICK, make me faster, keep me more balanced.. etc.etc. etc..... " BUT NO!!!!!
it's not the solution... it's the problem... shoes are the problem... don't give up on running, or jogging or "jalking" ( jogging, and walking)... all you need to do is get back to the natural way.... try it barefoot... literally and non literally... these "wonderful" shoes.. are actually only giving you a mythological power... and doing NO GOOD for your legs and feet..
I know I'm rambling.... but have you ever thought about how CAVEMEN walked and run?? OH YEAH BAREFOOT...
get a pair of vibram 5 finger shoes if you choose to get any... they are the most comfortable and the most NATURAL Moving shoes.... they strengthen your feet and legs, so you can get the most optimum use from them....
just believe me.. I'm rambling because they changed my life.. anyways.... give it a shot... barefoot running...
Good shoes are better than bad shoes.
As for Vibrams, mine arrived today, so Ill be building up miles on them over the next few weeks. I love being barefoot anyway, I'm excited to try them out. Most people seem to have good things to say about them0 -
If you have time search Azdark on the message boards he has really good advice on these sort of topics.0
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I used adidas miCoach to run. Varying workouts, training for a 5k, sets my pace according to GPS and my ability (there's an evaluation), and gives me calories burned. Maybe I hadn't taken enough time off. And I'll try eating back only half, that makes sense, thanks.
I'm not buying new shoes, and I've heard great things about the barefoot ones. Then again, cavemen did it because they had to, not because it was good for them.0 -
If you have time search Azdark on the message boards he has really good advice on these sort of topics.
Correction, his id is Azdak. Here is one of his blogs on HRM's -
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
I would recommend reading it to see what HRM's can and cannot do.
To OP: Are your settings correct? Loss/week goal too high? Activity level off? Are you doing weight/strength training as well? (Hint, if you aren't you need to be) Are you weighing/measuring food? (and yes, as mentioned, you need to backout maintenance cals when logging cals burned from an HRM)...Lots of things can cause a plateau, and lots of things can jumpstart loss again. If you haven't seen this thread, I'd recommend it:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/20343-how-i-have-avoided-plateauing-length-warning0 -
Why don't you get a new HRM that counts calories burned? I know that people have been getting the Polar Ft4 for pretty cheap off amazon lately.. I have the Polar FT7 personally, and would be lost without the dang thing!
I also don't run.. I just walk at a very steep incline on the treadmill.0 -
In my personal opinion... DON'T buy new shoes.... have you ever thought that the shoes may be the reason your legs are so "messed up"? trust me... I used to be all about "OMG THESE SHOES ARE GOING TO DO THE TRICK, make me faster, keep me more balanced.. etc.etc. etc..... " BUT NO!!!!!
it's not the solution... it's the problem... shoes are the problem... don't give up on running, or jogging or "jalking" ( jogging, and walking)... all you need to do is get back to the natural way.... try it barefoot... literally and non literally... these "wonderful" shoes.. are actually only giving you a mythological power... and doing NO GOOD for your legs and feet..
I know I'm rambling.... but have you ever thought about how CAVEMEN walked and run?? OH YEAH BAREFOOT...
get a pair of vibram 5 finger shoes if you choose to get any... they are the most comfortable and the most NATURAL Moving shoes.... they strengthen your feet and legs, so you can get the most optimum use from them....
just believe me.. I'm rambling because they changed my life.. anyways.... give it a shot... barefoot running...
I appreciate this, but "barefoot running" and less supportive "shoes" like Vibrams and Nike Free (not sure if that's the right name) are not recommended for new runners
(I'm a new runner and did some research, all the coaches and experienced runners I talked to said to hold off on them til I was a much more experienced runner) In particular, some of the coaches did not recommend them for people who are heavier (again, lack of proper support). Even though I've lost weight, I plan to stick to my supportive Sauconys for the time being. 0 -
I've been driving myself mad with this 2+ month plateau.
After the first couple of frustrating weeks, I tried lost of things. Have you changed your exercise routine? Well, I just started running, and that's quite a change from nothing, right?
I zig zagged calories of varying activity levels, I whined all over in real life and on these boards. I ate back all my exercise calories.
Running got hard on my legs. I decided I needed better shoes and that I won't run for a week or two and buy shoes. Not even a week later, weigh in day comes and I've lost almost 2 lbs.
I have a chest, Polar hrm but the watch does not do calories. I've worn it during runs to make sure that the steady, sustainable pace my gps-based program has me at is at my target heart rate, and it has been. The only thing I can think of is that the program is wrong about calories burned and I've been eating back too many.
Now for my question. Can I use the average heartrate from the monitor to accurately calculate my calories burned? What if it's the same?
Given the issues you have had so far, maybe it's time to stop counting (and eating) exercise calories altogether.
Here's something to consider:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/why-i-don-t-count-exercise-calories-1148730 -
I used adidas miCoach to run. Varying workouts, training for a 5k, sets my pace according to GPS and my ability (there's an evaluation), and gives me calories burned. Maybe I hadn't taken enough time off. And I'll try eating back only half, that makes sense, thanks.
I'm not buying new shoes, and I've heard great things about the barefoot ones. Then again, cavemen did it because they had to, not because it was good for them.
From some comments I've seen, you'd think cavemen did a number of experiemental studies while they were hunting and gathering. Maybe those cave paintings are just research abstracts--with footnotes.0
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