Day #1 of 'Eat Your Burnt Cals' Experiment - PLEASE comment

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OK, as you know, yesterday I started the 'eat all your burnt calories' experiment. To summarise my MFP history, I have lost 34 pounds to date, hit my target of 13 stones, and now want to add tone/muscle. When browsing these boards and people's blogs, a common thread seemed to be that if you want to get rid of your remaining body fat and tone up/build muscle, not only do you have to workout, but you also have to eat the additional calories you burn as a result of doing so. Now, having a pound or two to spare, I decided to initiate an experiment to prove the hypothesis for myself and those many people I see asking the question. The comments when I posted this yesterday were all supportive and along the 'it works for me, don't worry' line. I WAS worried - I never want to be overweight again! Some of you were also interested in the results. So, here we go:

Pre (early morning) workout: Ate carbs (as recommended) in the form of home made muesli (no sugar etc like the bought stuff), and an apple.

Workout: One hours weight training and calisthenics

Post workout: Ate protein (two boiled aggs). Again, as recommended.

Morning: General housework etc

Lunch: Prepared and ate home made vegetable curry. All natural/'clean' ingredients. Only a drop of olive oil used to kick off the cooking. Small serving of brown/wild rice to accompany. No chutney or yogurt on the side! Note: I never use added salt in my cooking! ALL ingredients registered in food diary.

Afternoon: More general housework/gardening, and an educational/shopping trip to the supermarket (FYI, basket loaded with fruit, veg, fish etc)

Evening: Stupidly (I planned to eat protein as it was low in my diary), I instead had 100g of oven fries, then finished the day with a fig so that my calories were close to the combined total (allowance and those burnt).

Drink wise, I only had 5 of my recommended cups ( I know, I know...)

Daily Intake: Protein low, carbs and sugar high. The chips and fig account for the carbs (idiot!) Sugar was just bits and pieces in the fruit and veg, an inordinate 10g from the fig (again, idiot), and surprisingly the muesli (23g). Anyone know why sugar free muesli (Jordans - the closest I could find to mine) still registers sugar in it? Is it all the dried fruit? If that's the case, that and the fig combined account for the overload. Is natural sugar (as opposed to refined) really that bad for you? If so, I'll cut out the dried fruit when I make my next batch and put my own recipe into the database for the future.

Now the good news, only 4 ounces put on! Were it not for the chips and the sugar excess, I'd probably have maintained my weight, which is my intent.

Does anyone have any comment, especially advice, on Day #1? I'll be running this for another 2 days, possibly 4 if the results are variable, so check back here if like me you're interested in the experiment.

Thanks

Replies

  • papastu
    papastu Posts: 737 Member
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    I would be very interested if you were to carry this on for about 6 weeks, to see what really happens

    Stu
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    2-4 days? Please try for 2-8 weeks to get any meaningful results.
  • kaitimae
    kaitimae Posts: 727 Member
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    2-4 days? Please try for 2-8 weeks to get any meaningful results.

    Yep, what Taso says. Day to day fluctuations can mean anything. Month to month is where you will really see lasting change.
  • Slinkybaz
    Slinkybaz Posts: 312 Member
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    Bumpity bump. I'd be interested to see your feedback here after a couple of weeks
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Agreed. Weigh in once a week at the same time. I can pee more than 4 oz :tongue:
  • Jade_Butterfly
    Jade_Butterfly Posts: 2,963 Member
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    My only comment to this would be to make sure that you are using an HRM to accurately assess the calories that you are burning and at what rate. . . before eating them all back, as the data base here is not an exact science when it comes to the calories burned for each person. . .depending on your body composition and personal weight. . Just a thought. . and make sure that you get all your water every day. . very important. .. Good luck in your experiment.
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
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    bump
  • SusanMcAvoy
    SusanMcAvoy Posts: 445 Member
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    I agree, invest in a good quality heart rate monitor. I'd love to know what happens also. I'm afraid to eat my burned calories. I eat some but not all. The best of luck to you :smile:
  • russelljclarke
    russelljclarke Posts: 836 Member
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    Thanks for your comments so far. In response:

    - I will run the experiment for longer (though I'll only post here for a while or I'll bore people to death!)
    - (chrisdavey) I normally weigh myself after my ablutions (6 oz BTW) and before breakfast
    - I'm only weighing myself daily for the experiment, I intend to go back to weekly afterwards
    - Can anyone recommend a good/cheap HRM?

    R
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    good stuff mate :)

    Just got get scared off by daily fluctuations is all I would say.
  • jopamom
    jopamom Posts: 11
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    To maintain, I try to eat all of the burnt calories from exercise or come really close. Because hrm aren't 100% accurate, I try never to go over in calories. In addition, post workout meal should be 4:1 carb:protein ratio to help your body get what it needs d it's important to eat/drink within 1 hour from your workout.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I'd suggest that you stick with the once a week weight in and report in weekly. Day to day fluctuations really don't mean much in the bigger picture, they will always vary so much because of digestion, fluids, sodium, muscle repair, you name it....
    I'll be interested to see how you go after a few months :)
  • kirsty0911
    kirsty0911 Posts: 54 Member
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    Bump
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    For HRMs, Polar and Garmin seem to be the gold standards. I hear Garmin has better GPS functionality. If you don't need GPS, go with Polar. You can probably find one on sale for $75 or less (USD).

    Since it sounds like you don't already have an HRM, try to be conservative with your calorie counts. Obviously you don't want to overestimate your burn and end up overeating. This is where the common "eat back only half" advice comes from. Not bad advice if you're unsure of the validity of your numbers.
  • russelljclarke
    russelljclarke Posts: 836 Member
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    During my weight loss, I was overestimating the eaten calories and underestimating the burnt ones. Sound process it sounds like, but more by luck than judgement. Thanks!
  • aussie_nic_getting_fit
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    bump.......................
  • russelljclarke
    russelljclarke Posts: 836 Member
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    NOTE: following an excellent suggestion from one reader, the daily entries will now be in my blog at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/russelljclarke/view/the-eat-up-the-calories-you-ve-burnt-journal-141575

    Thanks for visiting
  • lvmcdonald
    lvmcdonald Posts: 8 Member
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    If you have more sodium intake drink more water and it will flush it out. NO FRIED FOODS too much fat ;-) frying foods saturate the food with oil... try searing with very little oil if need be