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Weird HRM Experiment - wearing for 24/7

Camarogirl67 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:57:16 -0800

Hey Everyone!
Today I started an admittedly odd "experiment" of wearing my heart rate monitor 24/7. It tracks "calories burned" so I thought, "Well, if I'm referencing this for my exercise, why not wear it for a whole day and see how many calories I actually burn in a day?"
The results: not what I expected. According to my HRM, in the past 5 hours I've burned 819 calories. This averages out to 3,100 calories a day - which I know I do not burn.
So my question - are hrm's really accurate in estimating calories burned during exercise?

2/3- 2/4 Food & Exercise Journal

Maeganmaxfitness — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:30:51 -0800

Wednesday was much better than Tuesday!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast Crunch 250 calories
Yoplait Fiber Plus Pomegranate Blackberry Yogurt 110 calories

Lunch: Tomato Bisque soup 400 calories
2 slices of whole wheat bread 200 calories

Snack: Deer Jerkey 100 calories

Dinner: Gyro Sandwich 600 calories
Wheat thins and hummus 200 calories
White wine and cheese 400 calories

Snack: Peanut butter cookies

I ran 7 miles right before dinner so I was starving, so at least this makes my dinner not look so bad.

Exercise: 800 calories on treadmill and weights 150 calories
7 miles on treadmill
Bi's, Tri's, Shoulders, and a ton of lunges

Thursday:
Breakfast: Cinnamon Toast Crunch (no milk) 250 calories
1 Biscuit 125 calories
Soy milk (1/2 cup) 30 calories

Lunch: Turkey and Cheese Sandwich 450 calories
Tomato Bisque soup 200 calories
1 oz. cheddar cheese 100 calories

Dinner: Ugh dinner is going to be so hard b/c it is my last birthday dinner with friends and there is going to be some really good food. Help me!!

Exercise: Today I am going to get 3-4 miles in and some light weights. Try to get at least 500 calories burned

What is a Calorie?

Monique Marie — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:32:51 -0800

What is a Calorie?

A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories.
Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). One calorie is equal to 4.184 joules, a common unit of energy used in the physical sciences.
Most of us think of calories in relation to food, as in "This can of soda has 200 calories." It turns out that the calories on a food package are actually kilocalories (1,000 calories = 1 kilocalorie). The word is sometimes capitalized to show the difference, but usually not. A food calorie contains 4,184 joules. A can of soda containing 200 food calories contains 200,000 regular calories, or 200 kilocalories. A gallon of gasoline contains 31,000 kilocalories.
The same applies to exercise -- when a fitness chart says you burn about 100 calories for every mile you jog, it means 100 kilocalories. For the duration of this article, when we say "calorie," we mean "kilocalorie."

What Calories Do

Human beings need energy to survive -- to breathe, move, pump blood -- and they acquire this energy from food.

Caloric Breakdown

1 g Carbohydrates: 4 calories

1 g Protein: 4 calories

1 g Fat: 9 calories

The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories, and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. So if you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you know how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains.

If we look at the nutritional label on the back of a packet of maple-and-brown-sugar oatmeal, we find that it has 160 calories. This means that if we were to pour this oatmeal into a dish, set the oatmeal on fire and get it to burn completely (which is actually pretty tricky), the reaction would produce 160 kilocalories (remember: food calories are kilocalories) -- enough energy to raise the temperature of 160 kilograms of water 1 degree Celsius. If we look closer at the nutritional label, we see that our oatmeal has 2 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein and 32 grams of carbohydrates, producing a total of 162 calories (apparently, food manufacturers like to round down). Of these 162 calories, 18 come from fat (9 cal x 2 g), 16 come from protein (4 cal x 4 g) and 128 come from carbohydrates (4 cal x 32 g).
Our bodies "burn" the calories in the oatmeal through metabolic processes, by which enzymes break the carbohydrates into glucose and other sugars, the fats into glycerol and fatty acids and the proteins into amino acids (see How Food Works for details). These molecules are then transported through the bloodstream to the cells, where they are either absorbed for immediate use or sent on to the final stage of metabolism in which they are reacted with oxygen to release their stored energy.

BMR

Just how many calories do our cells need to function well? The number is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the "percent daily values" are based on a 2,000 calorie diet -- 2,000 calories is a rough average of what a person needs to eat in a day, but your body might need more or less than 2,000 calories. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. There are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day:

Basal metabolic rate
Physical activity
Thermic effect of food

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women. One of the most accurate methods of estimating your basal metabolic rate is the Harris-Benedict formula:

Adult male: 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
Adult female: 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

(Note: The first number in the equation for females is, in fact, 655. Strange but true.)

Your Caloric Needs

As you now know, there are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day: your BMR, physical activity and the thermic effect of food.
The second factor in the equation, physical activity, consumes the next highest number of calories. Physical activity includes everything from making your bed to jogging. Walking, lifting, bending, and just generally moving around burns calories, but the number of calories you burn in any given activity depends on your body weight. Click here for a great table listing the calories expended in various physical activities and for various weights.
The thermic effect of food is the final addition to the number of calories your body burns. This is the amount of energy your body uses to digest the food you eat -- it takes energy to break food down to its basic elements in order to be used by the body. To calculate the number of calories you expend in this process, multiply the total number of calories you eat in a day by 0.10, or 10 percent. If you need some help determining how many calories you eat in a day, check out these sites:

Calories, Fat and Exercise

So what happens if you take in more or fewer calories than your body burns? You either gain or lose fat, respectively. An accumulation of 3,500 extra calories is stored by your body as 1 pound of fat -- fat is the body's way of saving energy for a rainy day. If, on the other hand, you burn 3,500 more calories than you eat, whether by exercising more or eating less, your body converts 1 pound of its stored fat into energy to make up for the deficit.
One thing about exercise is that it raises your metabolic rate not only while you're huffing and puffing on the treadmill. Your metabolism takes a while to return to its normal pace. It continues to function at a higher level; your body burns an increased number of calories for about two hours after you've stopped exercising.
Lots of people wonder if it matters where their calories come from. At its most basic, if we eat exactly the number of calories that we burn and if we're only talking about weight, the answer is no -- a calorie is a calorie. A protein calorie is no different from a fat calorie -- they are simply units of energy. As long as you burn what you eat, you will maintain your weight; and as long as you burn more than you eat, you'll lose weight.
But if we're talking nutrition, it definitely matters where those calories originate. Carbohydrates and proteins are healthier sources of calories than fats. Although our bodies do need a certain amount of fat to function properly -- an adequate supply of fat allows your body to absorb the vitamins you ingest -- an excess of fat can have serious health consequences. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that a maximum of 30 percent of our daily calories come from fat. So, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, that's a maximum of 600 calories from fat, or 67 grams of fat, per day. However, many doctors and nutritionists now set the maximum number of fat calories at 25 percent of our daily caloric intake. That's 56 grams of fat per day for a 2,000 calorie diet.

Taken from Health magazine

FoodServing SizeCaloriesFat Grams

Canola oil	1 cup	1,674	218
Peanut butter	1 cup	1,520	129
Cheddar cheese	1 cup	531	44
Granola	1 cup	270	8
Chocolate syrup	1 cup	837	3
Sugar	1 cup	774	0
Coca-Cola	1 can	140	0

FoodServing SizeCaloriesFat Grams

Canola oil	1 cup	1,674	218
Peanut butter	1 cup	1,520	129
Cheddar cheese	1 cup	531	44
Granola	1 cup	270	8
Chocolate syrup	1 cup	837	3
Sugar	1 cup	774	0
Coca-Cola	1 can	140	0

Healthy App: Lose It

FitSugar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:00:49 -0800

Have you started keeping a food journal yet for this week's Get Fit For 2010 weekly challenge? We've got a cool food journal that you can print out, but if you're a tech geek like me you might be scratching your head at the idea of putting pen to paper. Try Lose It instead - a free iPhone app that helps users manage their weight by tracking their calorie intake.

To start, you enter in your current weight, age, height, gender, goal weight, and how many pounds you want to lose each week to reach your goal (up to two pounds). Based on this information, Lose It creates a weight loss plan for you. For example: a 146-pound, 5-foot-2, 30-year-old woman wants to drop down to 130 lbs. by losing one pound each week. If she starts today, Lose It estimates that she can reach her goal by May 17, 2010, with a daily calorie budget of 1,439.

To see how easy it is to use, read more.

From here, all you have to do is enter in what you eat throughout the day and Lose It pretty much does the rest. The app has a huge database of fresh, store-bought, and restaurant foods, and records the calories of the food items you've eaten into a daily journal for you. Calories eaten are subtracted from your daily calorie budget, giving you a running tab of how many calories you have left in the day. What's cool is that you can also input physical activity - any calories you burn will be subtracted from calories you consume, leaving you with an accurate reflection of your calorie intake for the day.

Although it's a daily food journal, you have the option to look at your goals over the course of the week too. This graph is really helpful because it gives you a visual representation of days when you might have gone over or under your balance. If you forget to log in any food or exercise, don't worry. It's really easy to add in items you might have forgotten from previous days. Also, if there are any foods or exercises that are not in the Lose It database, you can input the information into your account so it is reflected into your calorie counts.

I love how straightforward and simple the app is - it's a great option if you don't always have a paper food journal or you live on your iPhone. The only drawback is that it doesn't focus on overall healthiness. When it boils down to it, Lose It is a calorie counter. You can enter an unrealistic weight goal into the menu and no alarms go off, or if all your calories are from fat, you won't get any stern warnings either. There is, at least, a daily nutritional breakdown of your day, which helps you become more aware of what amounts of fat, protein, fiber, etc. you are taking in. Despite this flaw, I think Lose It is a great tool for someone looking for a food journal or a calorie counter tool.

View 3 Photos ›

Healthy App: Lose It

FitSugar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:00:49 -0800

To see how easy it is to use, read more.

View 3 Photos ›

Chelsea Clinton Sweats It Out for Haiti

kty — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:25:26 -0800

By Paul Chi
Sweating has literally paid off for Chelsea Clinton! The former First Daughter and SoulCycle have raised $66,810 for the earthquake victims in Haiti by hosting a special 90-minute spin class in New York City Thursday. Clinton, a member and regular at the indoor cycling studio, was overjoyed by the rapid response of donations made by dedicated riders – including Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos who both generously opened their checkbook and participated in the calorie-burning class. "Thank you all for being here to support this effort," Clinton, 29, said. "I hope you all continue to support Haiti over the months and years to come." Just a few days ago, she and her father, former President Bill Clinton, visited Haiti experiencing the disaster first hand. "The day after the earthquake struck, the international community fed 3,000 people," Clinton said. "Today, people have fed 100,000 people and we actually need to be feeding a million people. This demonstrates how much we've done, but how much more work we have to do. We need a lot of money to do that." With 100 percent of all proceeds made from the cardio benefit going towards the Haiti relief efforts overseen by the Clinton Foundation, SoulCycle co-owner Julie Rice could not be more proud.
RELATED: Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson Headline Haiti Telethon
"Chelsea is just so amazing. She's really like any other person that is part of our exercise community," said Rice. "So for her and the others to help when something like a tragedy like in Haiti comes up, it's really easy for us to rally our troops. We have a powerful community and it's a really giving place. We are so happy that we could do something for Haiti."

Get the Bod: Sandra Bullock

FitSugar — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:50:07 -0800

At this year's Golden Globe Awards, Sandra Bullock was looking lovely in a purple evening gown and glowing from her win for Best Actress for The Blind Side. When I saw the red carpet pics of Sandra that night I was impressed by how toned her arms and upper body look - her fitness routine must be paying off!

To stay in shape, it's all about variety for Sandra, and though she also tries to work out every day, she doesn't beat herself up if she misses a few weeks. Besides running and biking, the star incorporates Pilates, plyometrics, weights, and kickboxing into her fitness routine - phew! Sandra must know that changing up your workout is a great way to stay motivated and not get bored with a fitness regimen. If you're not familiar with plyometrics, or jump training, I encourage you to give it a try. You can easily add it into a walking routine or when strength training. By including jumping exercises like jump roping or jumping squats into an existing workout, you use new muscle groups and burn more calories. It's also just a lot of fun!

To learn what Sandra's diet is like, read more.

Sandra keeps her diet healthy by making meal plans for the week and giving herself one cheat day to eat whatever she wants. A healthy meal for her might include brown rice, black beans, and steamed veggies. When cheat day rolls around, she doesn't hold back! Viennese pastries, cookie dough, and bacon-covered chocolate are on her list of indulgent snacks.

Congrats Sandra! We're all anxiously awaiting to find out if your name will be on the Oscars list.

Getting fit...

kayalaarella — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:57:08 -0800

I'm "skinny fat." That is, I'm not overweight or anything, but I'm soft. Not strong, not toned. I tried my first semester of college to get in shape, but fell off the wagon - so this semester, I'm giving it another go. Since I'm happiest in a structured, planned environment, I've put together a comprehensive list of "goals" for the upcoming year. Don't call it a New Year's resolution!

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1. Weight: You can stand to lose about ten pounds. Through a gradual regimen of calorie restriction and exercise, you should reach 115 pounds by May 14 and 110 by August 15. Weigh in at 8am on Tuesdays. Losing about ten pounds of fat will help me see the muscle definition I build up in my workouts, and keeps me in a healthy weight range. 2. Nutrition: Keep total daily calories below 1700. Eat 50g protein or more every day. Drink 8oz of milk every day. Eat a serving each of fruit and vegetables at every meal. Avoid excessively fatty, processed, fried or otherwise unhealthy foods. Allow for three “treats” (cupcakes, French fries, etc) a week in reasonable portions to avoid being overcome by cravings. 3. Fitness: You’ve fallen off the workout wagon, so start again at the beginning: strength training consisting of weights as well as calisthenics (push-ups, crunches of all varieties, squats, lunges, leg lifts, planks) and running, starting with one mile and adding a quarter mile per week, all together in one workout done every Monday and Wednesday during your midday break. (Skipping the days you work because there’s no doubt you’ll burn calories then!) 4. Health: Sleep eight hours a day. If you don’t get eight hours during the night, make up for it with a nap during the day. Stretch every day – not just a cursory bend over the leg! Relax in each pose for a minute or two. Consider it a mental health break. And above all, be patient! It didn’t take you one semester to get out of shape, did it? 5. Deadline: All this stuff is leading up to the Big Wild Life half-marathon on August 15 – my ultimate goal, the one that all these other goals are working towards, is completing this race!

2010 Goal: Tune Up, Tone Up, and Mellow

litwino — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:56:01 -0800

Heading into my final year at university, I'm sad to say I'm in worse shape than I started. By picking up more hours working and studying then exercising and mellowing, I've become a soft, stressed student. I want to refocus myself on my mental and spiritual state, while working to tone up. While I'm no longer the girl who hated her body- her big boobs, her stomach, and her (lack of) height, I still find myself awkward around friends and shopping for clothes. I want to reclaim my body by treating it right, and getting back into shape.
So... lots of talk... but how do I expect to go about this?
Well, a few ways. My local library and I are becoming fitness BFFs, as I'm taking out as many fitness DVDs as I can, and once classes start up again, I'll no longer be an 'occasional' yogi- I love the way yoga makes me feel centered and as if I'm burning away bad calories and bad feelings- I'm resolving to stick to my classes! Plus, I'm looking into hooping and running again- I miss being the girl who could go for hour long runs- I need to find her again.

Wish me luck!

Your Run Burned How Many Calories?

FitSugar — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:07:00 -0800

Whether you run on a treadmill and glance at the display, or keep track of your run outside with a device, it's nice to know how many calories you're burning, especially if weight loss is one of your goals.

Here's a nifty chart to let you know what your pace and workout time translates to in calories burned. It can also help you figure out how intensely and how long you need to exercise in order to negate the cupcake you savored at lunch.

Do you know how many calories you burn after a moderate 20-minute jog at a pace of 10 minutes per mile? Find out when you read more.

All calculations are based on a 130-pound woman.

What is your typical pace? Vote on this poll over at RunningSugar, where the conversation is all about running.