Daily Fitness and Weight Loss Thread.

[JAK]

Anyone that wants to post their daily fitness activities and weight loss progress can post here.
All encouragement and discouragement and random weather reports or thread drift is welcome.
I will be making my first official post tomorrow morning, but here is a sample format...

Day 1 - Thursday
13 pounds to go for first milestone.
800 kcal exercise today so far. 200 kcal to go for daily goal.

Walked 1 mile with daughter in 18F. Later walked 3 miles + ran 1 mile to Rockwood Park. Lots of snow and wind coming, followed by some rain. Might get out for a ski with daughter. Find I am less hungry today, perhaps because I am feel better for exercising again. Will be trying a diet fairly low in carbs, like 30/30/40 and 2000 kcal per day or less. Best regards y'all.

[Sailing_Faith]

FWIW,

I have been walking daily since August and eating a low(er) carb diet. I have lost just over 50# as of this morning.... (246# -> 195# this am).

The dietary changes have not been as difficult as I initially thought, and I feel great. My daily exercise has been walking 4-7 miles with my pack carrying between 20 and 60 pounds.

I have been eating some of the products from Doctor's Weight Solutions (http://www.doctorsweightsolutions.com/default.asp), they are not 'miracle' type stuff, but just good quality (and eatable) lower carb stuff... the owner of the practice is a member here and a hiker chick. I ate some of the stuff on my November SNP hike (bars and soups) and never felt like I did not have enough calories / carbs.

[Old Boots]

I have been following the Dukan diet and have lost @20# since Thanksgiving. It is a low carb diet that works for me. I have also been walking or hiking daily 5-10 miles 3-5 days a week. I carry a 30-40 lb. pack. If I cannot hike longer distance I walk at least 1/2 hour per day.

[JAK]

I checked map my run and it was a 4 mile walk 1 mile run, but I think I only burn 100kcal per km walking, and 100 kcal per mile running. I'm 213 pounds, plus some winter clothes, and hills. Anyhow, 500 kcal walking and 150 kcal running so far, so I've only burned 650 total so far today, in 1.5 hours, so I have another 350 to go, not 200. Cheers.

[JAK]

Thanks Sailing Faith and Old Boots. Awesome. I will stick to walking and light jogging without extra weight for now, until my left hip feels stronger. I will work in some weights, most most calories will be like you folks. Cheers.

[Kerosene]

JAK, you're underestimating your calorie burn for running. While calorie calculators vary somewhat, a good basic rule-of-thumb (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html) is (Weight * 0.75) for running and (Weight * 0.53) for walking slowly. So, if you're lugging around 220 pounds with your winter clothes on, you're closer to 165 calories per running mile and 116 calories per walking mile. You might also try to mix it up during the course of your workout, increasing your pace for 30-60 seconds every minute or two. It makes it a bit more interesting, it's not too daunting to consider, and it keeps your heartrate higher than it would otherwise be.

[louisb]

Did my 2 miles and 3 sets of stairs (7 stories) today and will hit the gym tonight. BTW, for you runners/walkers/hikers etc with a smart phone check out the Runkeeper app. It will track your pace, distance, mileage and cal burn. You can even see your route on a map if you enable the GPS.

--louis

[jerseydave]

Trying to hit the gym a minimum of 3 days a week now, hit the treadmill for 2 miles circuit run/walk at a couple * incline, then a mile at a brisk walk at full incline. Hit up a few machines after that with some light weight, working different parts depending on the day. Crunches and other ab stuff each day I go. Takes about 75 to 90 minutes total.

Still watching my intake...... high protein, low carb, no bread or taters..... maybe some brown rice, big salads, regular veggies, some seeds and nuts for snacks, zero calorie beverages.

Feelin good, hope everyone else can say the same, good luck.

Dave

[Pedaling Fool]

800 kcal exercise today so far. 200 kcal to go for daily goal. Will be trying a diet fairly low in carbs, like 30/30/40 and 2000 kcal per day or less. Best regards y'all.What does the "k" stand for?

I've seen other people use this in a similar fashion, but the only thing I can think of is "kilo", the metric prefix for 1,000, but it would make those numbers really large, i.e. 800,000; 200,000 and 2,000,000 respectively.

[JAK]

Sorry about that. I should just say cal for calorie, because everyone knows I am talking about dietary calories, but the engineer can't help saying kcal for kilocalories because a dietary calorie is 1000 calories, the old metric unit of heat. I hope I am underestimating by calories at 100 cal per km walking and 100 cal per mile running, but I like round numbers. I was working from memory.

This varies by the person, but I burn roughly 10 kcal for every bpm above 50. It's not that accurate below 120 ( my 50% heart rate reserve ), or above 160 ( my 80% heart rate reserve ), but it works pretty good for most of the exercise I do. Walking on flats is a bit sketchy, but once I get into hills I am ok. There are better ways to estimate calories walking and running, but it allows me to estimate calories when doing stuff like strength training, circuit training, hiking on uneven trails, and cross-country skiing in different conditions. My 4 mile walk 1 mile run took 1.2 hours, and my HR started at 90-100 on the flats at 6 km/hr, but got up to 120 in hills, and with the 1 mile run I ended up averaging 112. So 1.2 x 62 = 744, so I guess that is higher than I thought. Thanks. I'll re-examine my formula and performance on the treadmill tonight, then work something out that works for me. I like using the heart rate monitor.

[quilteresq]

Heading to our yurt to shovel snow. . . . does that count for exercise? :-)

I'll start getting serious about it in the spring - going to do some peak bagging 4000 footers in NH to train for 2013. Then I'll start training with pack weight sometime around sept - not just the real hiking miles. That's my plan, anyway.

[Pedaling Fool]

Sorry about that. I should just say cal for calorie, because everyone knows I am talking about dietary calories, but the engineer can't help saying kcal for kilocalories because a dietary calorie is 1000 calories, the old metric unit of heat. I hope I am underestimating by calories at 100 cal per km walking and 100 cal per mile running, but I like round numbers. I was working from memory.

This varies by the person, but I burn roughly 10 kcal for every bpm above 50. It's not that accurate below 120 ( my 50% heart rate reserve ), or above 160 ( my 80% heart rate reserve ), but it works pretty good for most of the exercise I do. Walking on flats is a bit sketchy, but once I get into hills I am ok. There are better ways to estimate calories walking and running, but it allows me to estimate calories when doing stuff like strength training, circuit training, hiking on uneven trails, and cross-country skiing in different conditions. My 4 mile walk 1 mile run took 1.2 hours, and my HR started at 90-100 on the flats at 6 km/hr, but got up to 120 in hills, and with the 1 mile run I ended up averaging 112. So 1.2 x 62 = 744, so I guess that is higher than I thought. Thanks. I'll re-examine my formula and performance on the treadmill tonight, then work something out that works for me. I like using the heart rate monitor. Yeah, I thought it was probably just a typo, but I've seen it so many times in other places that I thought maybe I was missing something.


BTW, you ever had your max HR measured? I'm kind of interested in what mine would be, but never had it measured. I do know that it's way above the average max for my age (174bpm). I actually workout very comfortabally around 150-160 bpm and 170 isn't hurting too much. If I stay at 130 I don't even feel like I'm doing anything, so all them charts of HR/type workout are useless to me.

[sailsET]

What does the "k" stand for?

I've seen other people use this in a similar fashion, but the only thing I can think of is "kilo", the metric prefix for 1,000, but it would make those numbers really large, i.e. 800,000; 200,000 and 2,000,000 respectively.

Food calories, or dietary calories, are actually kilocalories - the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree centigrade. It is usually written with a capital "C", or as a kcal. So yes, the "k" is a thousand.

Per the government, the recommended daily calories for men is 2500 kcal, women 2000.  Beware of the federal recommendations that men should have 350 gm carbs per day, and women 300, which is 70 tsp sugar and 60 tsp of sugar, respectively. For a person with a non-diabetic blood glucose level, the total amount of sugar dissolved in the body's entire 5 liters of blood is between .8 and .95 tsp sugar, total. The difference between healthy blood sugar levels and diabetic levels in your blood is about a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar.

For weight loss, try 50 grams of carbs per day. If you eat something with 40 grams of carbs, you increase your blood sugar by 8 to 16 times, requiring a big insulin dump by the pancreas, to bring the sugar down, which, in turn stimulates fat storage. I try to stay below 15 grams (3 tsp) carbs per meal or snack. This works very well for weight loss and weight maintenance, as well as maintaining healthy blood sugar levels. (A medium order of McDonald's french fries contains 47 gm carbs, which is almost 10 tsp of sugar. Arggh!)

[JAK]

JAK, you're underestimating your calorie burn for running. While calorie calculators vary somewhat, a good basic rule-of-thumb (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html) is (Weight * 0.75) for running and (Weight * 0.53) for walking slowly. So, if you're lugging around 220 pounds with your winter clothes on, you're closer to 165 calories per running mile and 116 calories per walking mile. You might also try to mix it up during the course of your workout, increasing your pace for 30-60 seconds every minute or two. It makes it a bit more interesting, it's not too daunting to consider, and it keeps your heartrate higher than it would otherwise be.Interesting article. It is good, but like most such rules of thumbs, even from well done research, they tend to over-generalize a little, in one way or another. When I examined this closely a few year back, researching articles and stuff, I found what they found which was that walking was more efficient, up to a point. However, I also found that neither running nor walking are constant efficiency. Both have a sweet spot, where they are most efficient, and a sort of parabolic curve above and below that. Now withing a certain range a parabola is constant, but over a greater range it is curved, and more significantly, sloped. Below a certain running speed running is less efficient as you run slower. I forget the speed, but it depends on leg length. Above a certain speed running gets less efficient as you run faster. Within a narrow range it is constant, but I recall that at racing speeds, slow runners are much less efficient at their marathon speeds versus their half marathon speeds, whereas elite runners are more efficient at marathon speeds versus half marathon speeds. This has some implications when predicting marathon performance from shorter distances. Also, it partially explains why many folks should adopt a strategy of mixed running and walking, and why some elite runners can vary their pace quite a bit in certain races like a half marathon, but not so much in a 5k or marathon.

The article was interesting in the way it distinguished net calories fom gross calories. I suppose for my purposes I should be interested in net calories burned. I will have to do some testing on the treadmill and do some more number crunching and fudge making and adjust my own personal rule of thumb, based on heart rate. I know because of heart rate drift it is going to overestimate calories for long runs, and very long walks. Or is it? I have often wondered if heart rate drift is partially because the body sometimes has to start repairing itself, and other stuff it might have temporarily shut down. Technically that is still calories burned though right? Anyhow, it only has to be close enough to provide a common ground between different exercises, so I have some sort of daily target. Maybe I should be callinging them jakcals. lol

[The Solemates]

I eat whatever I want whenever I see food. That's my diet.

I exercise whenever I can whenever I feel like it, which works out to average 16-17 hours a week. Mostly, that consists of playing basketball 4 times a week, chopping wood and keeping up with 10 acres, hiking a weekend a month or so, and sometimes running with my wife. That's my fitness.

I dont gain or lose weight, never have.

[Pedaling Fool]

Food calories, or dietary calories, are actually kilocalories - the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree centigrade. It is usually written with a capital "C", or as a kcal. So yes, the "k" is a thousand.

Per the government, the recommended daily calories for men is 2500 kcal, women 2000.  See there's another one; that would equal 2,500,000 calories. Should be written either as 2500 cals or 2.5 kcals. Unless I'm missing something in your answer. I'm so confused....:confused:

[HiKen2011]

Anyone that wants to post their daily fitness activities and weight loss progress can post here.
All encouragement and discouragement and random weather reports or thread drift is welcome.
I will be making my first official post tomorrow morning, but here is a sample format...

Day 1 - Thursday
13 pounds to go for first milestone.
800 kcal exercise today so far. 200 kcal to go for daily goal.

Walked 1 mile with daughter in 18F. Later walked 3 miles + ran 1 mile to Rockwood Park. Lots of snow and wind coming, followed by some rain. Might get out for a ski with daughter. Find I am less hungry today, perhaps because I am feel better for exercising again. Will be trying a diet fairly low in carbs, like 30/30/40 and 2000 kcal per day or less. Best regards y'all.

Kwhat.............keep it simple so idiots like me understand

[Pedaling Fool]

BTW, you ever had your max HR measured? I'm kind of interested in what mine would be, but never had it measured. I do know that it's way above the average max for my age (174bpm). I actually workout very comfortabally around 150-160 bpm and 170 isn't hurting too much. If I stay at 130 I don't even feel like I'm doing anything, so all them charts of HR/type workout are useless to me.BTW JAK, this is the chart http://mizfitonline.com/2010/07/29/target-heart-rate-training-guest-post/ I was talking about WRT zones and they're all dependent on your maximum HR. Problem with me is that I know my max HR is much higher than listed on the chart because I can maintain 170 -175 for a good bit of time. All this is pretty important in dertermining calories burned.

[sailsET]

See there's another one; that would equal 2,500,000 calories. Should be written either as 2500 cals or 2.5 kcals. Unless I'm missing something in your answer. I'm so confused....:confused:

A calorie is just a measure of energy. The small calorie, or gram calorie, is 4.2 joules of energy. The large calorie (with a capital "C" or kilocal) is 4.2 kilojoules of energy. The male body uses about 2500 kilocalories per day. When we speak of dietary calories, we are speaking of kilocalories. Takes a lot of energy to keep these things running. :sun

[Papa D]

hmm I wonder how many calories I burn at 2.25 miles an hour on the AT?

I'm doing 55 miles in 3 days this weekend will be roughly 24 hours of hiking - I guess I burn 350 calories hiking and 50 calories an hour (not hiking) so that's 24x350 + 48 (non hiking hours x 50) - that should be 3 days burning about 11,000 calories? right.

If I eat 3500 calories a day x 3 days, I'll be at about a 500 calorie deficit - I think that I can make this up in beer, wine, and good cheese by mid-week -- I'm not looking to loose weight.

[JAK]

That sounds about right.

[JAK]

BTW JAK, this is the chart http://mizfitonline.com/2010/07/29/target-heart-rate-training-guest-post/ I was talking about WRT zones and they're all dependent on your maximum HR. Problem with me is that I know my max HR is much higher than listed on the chart because I can maintain 170 -175 for a good bit of time. All this is pretty important in dertermining calories burned.Mine is about 185. My resting heart rate is under 50 when in shape. About 57 now. When in shape I can sustain 163 bpm for an hour. About 157 now. Hope to get 10k back under 40min, but its about 55 minutes right now, mostly due to my weight. I am 213 pounds. I should be 165 if at 10% body fat. 170 would be nice if I gained some upper body mass for paddling. Got to get in shape before I turn 50 in June. I want to be one of those skinny old running dudes.

[JAK]

Thursday Report
213 pounds with 13 pounds to go for phase 1
2100 kcal base
walked for 600 kcal
ran for 150 kcal
shovelled for 350 kcal
total exercise = 1100 kcal
800 food - 3200 = 2400 kcal deficit for -0.7 pounds

Friday Plan
2000 kcal base
ski for 2000 kcal
2000 food - 4000 = 2000 kcal deficit for -0.6 pounds
500 breakfast, 500 lunch, 500 post ski, 500 supper
each meal will be roughly 25g protien, 50g carb, 25g fat

4-6" snow on ground, but going up to 46degF today, with some drizzle. Need to ski early.

[Hoofit]

Thirty pounds to lose by April - back to the gym today to unfreeze my membership!
Nursing a torn ankle ligament(or tendon)..
Any suggestions for good cardio whilst it hopefully heals would be welcome..
Got 1200 miles to do April through June to summit Katahdin this year!
Going back on a fruit and veg. diet with some lean protein
And buckets of water!

[JAK]

Sorry to here about that ankle. Tough call. A rowing machine might work if you have access to one at your gym. A routine I like is to do 4000m at a slow aerobic pace, with 10 harder strokes every 1000m, for strengthening and to add some spice. You could go easy on that for your ankle, but strengthening might be good. A good workout is to do 2 or 3 sets of these 4k, with one minute of pushups in between. Lets you get off and rest your butt. 4000m takes about 20 minutes. Or do just the one 4000m set and follow it up with weight training and stretching.

[Pedaling Fool]

A calorie is just a measure of energy. The small calorie, or gram calorie, is 4.2 joules of energy. The large calorie (with a capital "C" or kilocal) is 4.2 kilojoules of energy. The male body uses about 2500 kilocalories per day. When we speak of dietary calories, we are speaking of kilocalories. Takes a lot of energy to keep these things running. :sun

I have no understanding of what you're saying, will have to read up on, just out of curiosity, because I've always heard calories burned per day, not kilocalories, especially 2500 kcals (2,500,000 cals):confused: But I don't want to discuss it any longer on this thread, will look it up elsewhere, thanks.


Mine is about 185. My resting heart rate is under 50 when in shape. About 57 now. When in shape I can sustain 163 bpm for an hour. About 157 now. Hope to get 10k back under 40min, but its about 55 minutes right now, mostly due to my weight. I am 213 pounds. I should be 165 if at 10% body fat. 170 would be nice if I gained some upper body mass for paddling. Got to get in shape before I turn 50 in June. I want to be one of those skinny old running dudes. Well, with as much as you talk about calories and stuff I should've known that you know your max HR. I don't even know; I've read different ways to find it, but really haven't, maybe I should, but it'd be more for curiosity, since I don't really count calories or anything....

[JAK]

Here is the most common procedure for measuring it.

Run 2 minutes at a pace you could maintain for about 8 minutes.
Rest 1 minute
Run 2 minutes at a pace you could maintain for about 6 minutes.
Rest 1 minute
Run 2 minutes at your mile pace, but really kick the last 200m, and keep going 'til you croak.

Obviously they recommend checking with your doctor first, and having an ambulance nearby. It's not that hard really, and you don't really have to go all out until the end, and it actually helps of you do the final kick on a hill. I usually spare myself a little pain, and just add 1, to get 185. Close enough for my purposes.

I don't like to test my max HR except when I am doing that sort of training anyway, which is typically once a year when you are already in good shape and peaking for some event or recent personal best. It doesn't really change though, even with training, but it does decline with age and consistent training can slow that down. It isn't really a measure of fitness though, but its decline can be a measure of lack of activity.

In theory, larger people have bigger and somewhat slower hearts. Smaller people have smaller and somewhat faster hearts. Better trained athletes tend to have bigger hearts, but not neccessarily faster hearts. Hearts usually aren't the most limiting factor in performance, but of course it can be for some people. For most people, with a healthy heart, the heart will keep up with whatever you throw at it. Its the lungs, or blood vessels, or muscles, or the brain that tends to limit things. At some point, the brain is limiting things for your own good. So you want to train and sometimes fool the brain, but you need to pick your battles, and consider whether something is really worth it. The damage is not usually to the heart though, unless it there is an underlying condition, which lets face it is not that uncommon, especially with age, and with obesity. We tend to be naturally more cautious with age though, which is probably healthy.

No guts no glory though. Good to push yourself and even take some risks now and then. It can even be healthy because it can make you feel good, and give you a physical and mental boost. The downside sucks though. You pays yer money ya takes yer chances. I like to run a hard mile once a year, but I prepare for it, and I won't really turn it loose unless there is a recent PR in the cards, or girls watching. :-)

Not that anyone should be all that impressed with a 6 minute mile, but I'll get there, and in my own mind I'll be a legend. lol

[Hoofit]

Thanks for the advice 'JAK' - I tried a staionary bike today and it went well as long as I remember not to bend my foot.
Now I have a new machine to try - the row machine
Ankle support also helps a lot too

[JAK]

Good luck with that foot, and be careful, as they only issue two.

Get someone to show you proper technique on the rowing machine, preferably a rower. The secret is to keep the stroke rate slower than you would think, with the recovery taking at least twice as long as the drive. Also, the legs should do most of the work, and work independantly of the arms and back. So its drive with the legs holding back and arms static, then pull with the arms while rocking the back back slighty, then quickly shoot the arms back forward over the knees, and then the knees come up and the back rocks forward. All in a smooth continuous motion. Watch rowers on you tube.

Don't burn yourself trying to do personal best 2000m all the time. Build an aerobic base with 4000m at a pace you could maintain for an hour or more, but with some fartlek style "power 10" every 1000m or so, for strength. 2000m personal bests and 1000m personal bests will wear you down, like running too many 800m and miles and 3000m races. Also, better to develop good form before doing that. Plenty of time for the pain cave after you fall in love with it first.

[WingedMonkey]

All encouragement and discouragement and random weather reports or thread drift is welcome.

What happened to last springs diet and exercise plan?

:p

[louisb]

I was bad today. I keep reading all these journals of Thru hikers and all they talk about is eating. Made me so hungry I had to have a burger.

--louis

[Pedaling Fool]

I've been incorporating some of these things in my workouts and some of them are pretty tough; a very good combination of strength (including explosive strength, which many people don't work on), flexibility and working multiple body parts at one time -- a very good way to feel that heart pound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzD9BkXGJ1M&feature=related

[Tinker]

Having chocolate macadamia nut cookies as I read this thinking about how fat and out of shape I am :D :o

I rode my bicycle to the bank today (first time in 2 mos.). Felt pretty good until I turned around into a steady 20+mph. headwind (my commuter has upright bars, so forget aerodynamics ;)).

My wife's at work. I'm laid off until March, benefits ran out because I took and "unauthorized time off" last year and didn't have enough weeks in to collect extended bennies.

This year I'm hoping to start a bicycle rental business (part time). A friend of mine who owns a shop is supplying the bikes (I will pay as the season goes on) and a free space on the bike path.

We'll see how that goes.

Maybe I'll do some limited landscaping - I'm not young anymore and would need to purchase another truck (I sold all my equipment several years ago).

Tomorrow I'm taking a long walk to talk things over with my Boss. ;)

At least my BP is down below 130/80 - no work, no stress :).

Thank God for my wife (and her job).

[Plodderman]

Started last March and to this date have lost 60 pounds. I am shooting for 100 and have now picked up trail running. Went three miles today on a trail in Southern Ohio with snow on the ground and the temperature at 26. Looking forward to doing the White Mountains at the gol weight in June.

[Pedaling Fool]

Fat people forcing the U.S. Coast Guard to revise capacity numbers for ferries and other boats, i.e. Tourist vessels, etc... http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/12/fat_passengers_force_coast_gua.html


Fat passengers force Coast Guard to change Washington ferry capacities
SEATTLE --

The collective weight gain of Americans is pushing the U.S. Coast Guard to change the passenger capacities of Washington state's ferries.

Under the old guidelines issued by the Coast Guard, the average person was thought to weigh between 140 and 160 pounds. But now the average American scales in at about 185 pounds.

That weight spike forced some recalculations. For example, the ferry Yakima's old passenger limit was 2,000 people. Now, it's 1,783.

State officials say passengers shouldn't see too many changes from the new capacity guidelines because boats rarely reach full capacity.

Still, Coast Guard Lt. Kirk Beckman told KOMO News (http://bit.ly/sV5EOf) the change is about safety. They don't want overloaded ferries to capsize.



A little more detailed report: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/21/obesity-rise-prompts-wash-ferries-capacity-change/

[Tinker]

Fat people forcing the U.S. Coast Guard to revise capacity numbers for ferries and other boats, i.e. Tourist vessels, etc... http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...coast_gua.html (http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/12/fat_passengers_force_coast_gua.html)


No surprise - safety first!

I used to have to wear XL clothing. Now I fit into LARGE in most brands, (and I haven't gotten thinner:o).

Clothing manufacturers are "super sizing" their patterns to match the steadily increasing obesity of the so-called "average" American.

It's a financially motivated deception which makes Americans feel as though we're not FAT (if you try something on in one brand that is, say, XL and it's too tight, you feel better about yourself if you can get into another brand that says L on the tag, but actually measures exactly the same, and you're more likely to buy the brand that strokes your ego, or "flatters" you.

Same deception has been going on for years in shoes - women's shoes. :rolleyes: (Guys feel big and tough if they have big feet. It isn't the same with women - it means that they aren't feminine, or so we've been brainwashed to believe).

[Pedaling Fool]

Clothing manufacturers are "super sizing" their patterns to match the steadily increasing obesity of the so-called "average" American.

It's a financially motivated deception which makes Americans feel as though we're not FAT (if you try something on in one brand that is, say, XL and it's too tight, you feel better about yourself if you can get into another brand that says L on the tag, but actually measures exactly the same, and you're more likely to buy the brand that strokes your ego, or "flatters" you.

Same deception has been going on for years in shoes - women's shoes. :rolleyes: (Guys feel big and tough if they have big feet. It isn't the same with women - it means that they aren't feminine, or so we've been brainwashed to believe).If people fall for those tactics our problem isn't the companies making money off them; it's that those people make up the population. I hope they don't vote:D

[Tinker]

If people fall for those tactics our problem isn't the companies making money off them; it's that those people make up the population. I hope they don't vote:D

There's no "if":cool:, and they do. How do you think we got ourselves into this mess? Overconsumption, self-centeredness, and denial (not to mention lack of accountability). :rolleyes::-?

[Del Q]

My experience, focus on the change NOT the end result.

Do the best that you can every day, week, month, etc.

If you adjust by 2% per week......that is a 104% change per year.

Have gone from 290 to 230lbs., obese and not fit at all......... to fit, flexible and getting firm.

Slow and steady wins this race.................on the AT lighter and fitter is tons better.

The AT is brutally tough..........get in the best shape you can and flow with the trail, don't fight it.

[Sailing_Faith]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/Eloquent/miscgreen/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by sailsET http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/Eloquent/buttonsgreen/viewpost-right.png (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1238652#post1238652)
A calorie is just a measure of energy. The small calorie, or gram calorie, is 4.2 joules of energy. The large calorie (with a capital "C" or kilocal) is 4.2 kilojoules of energy. The male body uses about 2500 kilocalories per day. When we speak of dietary calories, we are speaking of kilocalories. Takes a lot of energy to keep these things running. :sun



I have no understanding of what you're saying, will have to read up on, just out of curiosity, because I've always heard calories burned per day, not kilocalories, especially 2500 kcals (2,500,000 cals):confused: But I don't want to discuss it any longer on this thread, will look it up elsewhere, thanks....

Here John, Wiki on Calorie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie)... (for anyone else who might be interested). Sails ET's explanation was spot on, and more simple then Wiki's.

[Pedaling Fool]

Here John, Wiki on Calorie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie)... (for anyone else who might be interested). Sails ET's explanation was spot on, and more simple then Wiki's.Yeah, I read it and basically it boils down to semantics, cal and kcal are equivent. Excerpts from the link:

The calorie is a pre-SI (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/SI) metric (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Metric_system) unit of energy (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Unit_of_energy). It was first defined by Nicolas Clément (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Nicolas_Clément) in 1824 as a unit of heat (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Heat), entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867.[1] (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/#cite_note-0) In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Joule). However, in many countries it remains in common use as a unit of food energy (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Food_energy).


The gram calorie, however, is a very small unit for use in nutritional contexts. Instead, the kilocalorie (symbol: kcal) or large calorie is used. In this context calorie and kilocalorie are equivalent.

[JAK]

The only trouble you might get into with calories is if you tried to figure out how we could possible stay warm at night while producing only 60 gram calories of heat per hour = 0.070 watts. The answer is that we produce about 60,000 gram calories of heat = 70 watts. If you say you are eating about 2000 calories a day, people know what you mean. I'll try and drop the kcal from now on, and use Cal instead.

[louisb]

Did 10 miles yesterday (1500 cals) and hit the gym tonight.

--louis

[birdygal]

[QUOTE=Tinker;1239215]Fat people forcing the U.S. Coast Guard to revise capacity numbers for ferries and other boats, i.e. Tourist vessels, etc... http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...coast_gua.html (http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/12/fat_passengers_force_coast_gua.html)


No surprise - safety first!

I used to have to wear XL clothing. Now I fit into LARGE in most brands, (and I haven't gotten thinner:o).

Clothing manufacturers are "super sizing" their patterns to match the steadily increasing obesity of the so-called "average" American.

It's a financially motivated deception which makes Americans feel as though we're not FAT (if you try something on in one brand that is, say, XL and it's too tight, you feel better about yourself if you can get into another brand that says L on the tag, but actually measures exactly the same, and you're more likely to buy the brand that strokes your ego, or "flatters" you.

Same deception has been going on for years in shoes - women's shoes. :rolleyes: (Guys feel big and tough if they have big feet. It isn't the same with women - it means that they aren't feminine, or so we've been brainwashed to believe).[/QUOTe

Thats interesting, I always wondered how these Stars and models can wear a size 4 and are almost 6 ft tall when I could never wear a size 4 when I was pencil thin with petite size bone frame and only 5 ft 2 in

[Pedaling Fool]

The only trouble you might get into with calories is if you tried to figure out how we could possible stay warm at night while producing only 60 gram calories of heat per hour = 0.070 watts. The answer is that we produce about 60,000 gram calories of heat = 70 watts. If you say you are eating about 2000 calories a day, people know what you mean. I'll try and drop the kcal from now on, and use Cal instead.I'm alright with either use now, just a curiosity since I've recently seen it used lately (not just here), it's as if one day everyone was using "cals", then they suddenly switched to "kcals"; but noticed that if you convert the kcal to cal the number was really high, but I now somewhat understand the change now. It's not like anyone really has a working knowledge of those numbers, but we need a standard. Much of my experience in life is with technical stuff involving electricty, hydraulics and mechanical things. Seems like the units of measure are more cemented in those areas than in biological things, but maybe that's just my inexperience in this area:confused:


Anyway, speaking of cals and types of workouts (aerobic vs anaerobic) I noticed a funny thing. I can do an aerobic exercise, say ride a bike or run... and at a HR of about 130bpm I'm very comfortable to the point of not even feeling like I'm exercising. However, when I do an anaerobic activity, say weightlifting, I can get my HR up to the same level (130bpm) and my heart feels like it's about to pound out of my chest. So I was thinking when does an exercise switch from aerobic to anaerobic? In other words, virtually anything can be considered weightlifting (anaerobic exercise), but over time you muscles get accustomed to that exercise and it becomes aerobic. For instance squatting is aerobic (without weight), but once you put some weight on your shoulders it becomes anaerobic at a certain point, but at what point? And that must mean there are different levels of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Because if you add weight at, say 10lb increments the first 10 lbs add will still be considered an aerobic exercise, but harder, keep adding and eventually it'll become an anaerobic exercise. And with more exercise that amount of weight to switch from aerobic to anaerobic will need to increase.

Not sure of my point here, just random thoughts....

[double d]

My experience, focus on the change NOT the end result.

Do the best that you can every day, week, month, etc.

If you adjust by 2% per week......that is a 104% change per year.

Have gone from 290 to 230lbs., obese and not fit at all......... to fit, flexible and getting firm.

Slow and steady wins this race.................on the AT lighter and fitter is tons better.

The AT is brutally tough..........get in the best shape you can and flow with the trail, don't fight it.

That is some of the best advice I've seen and congrats to everyone here at WB who are trying to get into better shape, but as Del Que says, its the change that counts, not the end result. I've got 40 pounds to loss by June, working out is harder during the winter months (if you live in areas with cold winter months), but still can be done well. Good luck eveyrone.

[Freedom Walker]

Since Dec 27th, (I didn't wait until Jan 1st) I have lost about 8lbs by making better food choices and eating smaller portion sizes. I have also been making it to a local fitness center 3 times A a week. One thing I learned right away was that i needed to stretch my hamstrings daily. This has helped with the knee pain I have been having since my last AT hike in early Oct. I need to lose another 12 lbs to reach my goal of 190lbs. I was 202 this am. If i lose the weight and get my knees in shape in that they don't hurt after a long hike such as the AT, I will begin the job of going UL. I have already gone from heavy pack to light pack, now to be able to manage those climbs on the last of GA into NC I must go UL.

[JAK]

Did 10 miles yesterday (1500 cals) and hit the gym tonight.

--louis
Thanks for posting that because I've fallen off the diet and exercise wagon again, and we finally had some xc-ski conditions this weekend, so I'm really ticked off at myself. Will start fresh yet again tomorrow morning. I actually start a small morning paper route tomorrow also, which will help with exercise and hopefully get me into a good routine. I'll be done the route by 7am every morning so it doesn't cut into my full-time job search and other stuff.

Plan for Monday, which I will once again call Day 1:
1. Weigh in, yet again.
2. Deliver the morning papers.
3. Work on the job search. I have the plan. Work the plan.
4. Get out for a ski and burn at least 1000 calories doing that.
5. Don't eat so much. This is usually not a problem when I exercise.
6. Don't eat so little that I might not exercise on Tuesday.

[birdygal]

My diet is just to go hiking, Since I don't have an appetite when I hike for the first few days I always seem to drop a few lbs each time without gaining it back

[jerseydave]

Just added the "14 minutes in hell" to my standard cardio routine. Give it a shot if you are looking for a real challenge. Builds stamina and endurance while seriously working your calves, glutes, arms, shoulders and upper back.

I do this routine on a treadmill while holding a 2.5lb plate weight that I pass back and forth from hand to hand as each minute is ticked off on the clock.

I will lightly hold on to the upper bar of the treadmill with my free hand to steady myself since it is easy to drift backward while doing this exercise.

Warm up on the treadmill at full incline (this is all done at 15* max incline) @ 3.4 mph for a couple minutes.

I then grab the plate weight in one hand (I put my thumb through the hole to make grasping it easier) and bump the speed up to 3.6mph, swinging the weight in my right hand in time with my stride for 1 minute..... at the end of that minute I pass the weight to my left hand and swing my left arm for the next 1 minute interval.
At the end of the second 1 minute interval (1 minute right hand, 1 minute left hand) I will bump the speed of the treadmill up to 3.8mph while passing the weight back to my right hand, continuing for another 1 minute interval, the passing to my left for the next 1 minute interval.
I continue this next with 4.0mph, then 4.2mph each time passing the weight back and forth between hands at the "minute mark" and bumping the speed up.
After completing the 2 minutes (1 minute each hand) at 4.2mph, I then decrease the speed just as I had increased it........ 4.0mph, 3.8mph, 3.6mph.

If you complete it as I normally do it, it is a total of 14 minutes, increasing through 3.6, 3.8, 4.0, 4.2 then decreasing through 4.0, 3.8, 3.6.

It's a real challenge but sure to make a huge difference in your hill climbing abilities.

jd

[Del Q]

My experience?

Sweat 5x per week
Days off help the process
Eat food (not preceesed crapola), not too much, mostly fruits and vegetables

What helps me the most as pre-section-hike conditioning is going up and down steep hills, with and without a pack.

I am just now getting into really solid shape, has taken years. Have lost 60 lbs so far, 20 or so to go.

[-SEEKER-]

Does anybody seriously know how to lose weight when you really don't need to? I can lose weight when hiking the trail and I lost 11 pounds while sick with the stomach flu but I always gain it back. I'm 5'7" and weigh 135 lbs. I want to weigh 128 lbs but, want to lose in a healthy way. Open to suggestions.

[jerseydave]

Does anybody seriously know how to lose weight when you really don't need to? I can lose weight when hiking the trail and I lost 11 pounds while sick with the stomach flu but I always gain it back. I'm 5'7" and weigh 135 lbs. I want to weigh 128 lbs but, want to lose in a healthy way. Open to suggestions.

Regular, vigorous exercise, well balanced diet focusing on protein, no snacking, plenty of water, regular sleeping habits.

[Del Q]

Something I read last year................have a BORING meal plan. Losing weight is all math, right food & calory count daily + hard workouts 5x per week = weight loss for me.

To me its all about the food plan............and not drinking too much!

[-SEEKER-]

Regular, vigorous exercise, well balanced diet focusing on protein, no snacking, plenty of water, regular sleeping habits.

AH... I'm lacking in the protein and sleeping habits department I bet.

[brian039]

BTW, you ever had your max HR measured? I'm kind of interested in what mine would be, but never had it measured. I do know that it's way above the average max for my age (174bpm). I actually workout very comfortabally around 150-160 bpm and 170 isn't hurting too much. If I stay at 130 I don't even feel like I'm doing anything, so all them charts of HR/type workout are useless to me.

John, I used to work in Cardio/pulmonary rehabilitation. We were always looking for people to be guinea pigs for using our equipment to keep staff trained and testing out new equipment. You could probably try asking around at rehab centers to find if any were willing to allow you to take a metabolic test (about a $1,000 value!). I can tell you the HR charts are pretty useless. It was rare anyone actually had the theoretical Max HR. And I can just about guarantee you that the range you gave of 150-170 bpm is exactly where you should be when exercising if that feels "comfortably hard" to you. I found that subjective information like that is more accurate than the objective information that researchers have found in university studies.

[brian039]

Oh, and as an interesting side note, I had a co-worker who was a world-class 10k and marathon runner. We had the same VO2 Max though he could run a 10k twelve minutes faster than me. Which goes to show that running efficiency plays a huge role in performance.

[Camping Dave]

Does anybody seriously know how to lose weight when you really don't need to? I can lose weight when hiking the trail and I lost 11 pounds while sick with the stomach flu but I always gain it back. I'm 5'7" and weigh 135 lbs. I want to weigh 128 lbs but, want to lose in a healthy way. Open to suggestions.

I dropped from 195 to 160 two years ago over a three month period. Ate a lot of salads and fish. Ran a lot. Stopped dieting and have worked my way back up to in about 1.5 years without regulating my diet at all: ribs, popcorn, chips, whatever.

[Sailing_Faith]

FWIW,

I have been walking daily since August and eating a low(er) carb diet. I have lost just over 50# as of this morning.... (246# -> 195# this am).

The dietary changes have not been as difficult as I initially thought, and I feel great. My daily exercise has been walking 4-7 miles with my pack carrying between 20 and 60 pounds.

I have been eating some of the products from Doctor's Weight Solutions (http://www.doctorsweightsolutions.com/default.asp), they are not 'miracle' type stuff, but just good quality (and eatable) lower carb stuff... the owner of the practice is a member here and a hiker chick. I ate some of the stuff on my November SNP hike (bars and soups) and never felt like I did not have enough calories / carbs.

Talking with a friend the other night... I realized I have been walking more then 150 miles a month... since August. With the dietary changes I have made, I guess it is not rocket science that makes this work out...

Cut the carbs (I target <20g... most target <50g) and get out there and walk!

Pardon me now, it is time for my evening hike. :)

[jacob_springsteen]

Came across this site for calculating calories burned per activity. Hope it helps:


http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

[JAK]

Thanks for all the advise and experience. Still stuck around 210#. Started a morning paper route a few weeks ago and I love it but its not paying off weight wise yet. Snow it finally here for cross-country skiing and I've been out a couple of times, which is great, but I need to get out more. I agree with others that, at least in my case, I need to up the activity to get the weight down. I actually find it easier to reduce my food intake if I am more active, probably because of the psycological benefits of exercise as much as the physiological effects and extra calories burned.

Dang though, its amazing how few calories I can survive on when inactive.

[HiKen2011]

Thanks for all the advise and experience. Still stuck around 210#. Started a morning paper route a few weeks ago and I love it but its not paying off weight wise yet. Snow it finally here for cross-country skiing and I've been out a couple of times, which is great, but I need to get out more. I agree with others that, at least in my case, I need to up the activity to get the weight down. I actually find it easier to reduce my food intake if I am more active, probably because of the psycological benefits of exercise as much as the physiological effects and extra calories burned.

Dang though, its amazing how few calories I can survive on when inactive.

How tall are you? Oh, I've lost 4 lbs. Down to 216

[JAK]

6 foot **** all. Mostly legs, and gut. Since 20 I've ranged 160 to 230, but I haven't seen much under 185 for the past 10 years. My waistline is consistently about 1" for every 5 pounds of body weight, 42" at the moment. If I get down to 180 it should be about 36, which would be much healthier I think. Everyone says 180 would be too thin but I know I could be 165.

[TroutknuT]

Have you tried My Fitness Pal? Down load, make a plan,track your food intake as well as calories burned. This app. will tell you carb,fat,and protein in take. Great tool to help fine tune your weight loss. It gets easier the longer you use My Fitness Pal. Slow and steady wins the race

[JAK]

Thanks for the link.

[Del Q]

Through years of weight loss and fitness gains, its mostly about the meal plan.............tough discipline.

I workout pretty hard 5x per week, two days off, maybe one "splurge" day food-wise.

Read a book 2 years ago........author gave up all tips right up front.

EAT FOOD (Real food, not processed crapola, etc)
NOT TOO MUCH
MOSTLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLE

[Raul Perez]

lost 10lbs since Jan 2, 2012 (in about 5 weeks). Started my heavy lifting phase for the next 10 weeks and started increasing my protein intake (primarily in food but use some supplements during my actual lifiting days).

Here's the blog and video of the change so far:

http://watermonkey.net/2012/02/04/100-mile-hike-training-day-0-to-5-weeks/

[Old Boots]

I lost <20 lbs. and 3 inches of waistline since Thanksgiving. I will be leaving Springer 2/19 and feel much lighter and fitter. Wish me luck.

OB

[JAK]

I lost <20 lbs. and 3 inches of waistline since Thanksgiving. I will be leaving Springer 2/19 and feel much lighter and fitter. Wish me luck.

OBWell done, and enjoy your hike. Good luck.

[q-tip]

Down 19 lbs. since Jan. 1. Still 21 to go, one day at a time....

[JAK]

I'm afraid I will be giving WB up for lent. I will be starting a full-time job soon, my first since doing graduate studies, so I will have to get back into the swing of things. Section hiking only for me, but I am more of a section hiker anyway. In hind sight a thru would have been great, but so is family. I will see how much weight I can lose during lent. Scales still stuck at 214 or so. I wish everyone happy hiking and WBing while I'm gone. To all thru-hikers and section hikers and weekend hikers and virtual hikers starting and dreaming of hikes during Lent I wish you all the best.

To all service providers I wish you all a very prosperous and pleasant season.
Tough times for everyone. Keep the faith.

[Kerosene]

Down 7 pounds since December 1st, but just as importantly I've increased my lean body mass and have my body fat down to ~12%. I've been working out with trainers 2x a week, but it wasn't until I really started to track my caloric intake that the weight started to come off. It's a lot of work, and I'm sore and tired most evenings, but that's what it takes at my age and working at a desk job. Now if my knees would just stop bothering me...

[JAK]

Thanks for all the ideas.

I'm finally getting some traction by using the Weight Watcher calculator to count calories. I'm not going to the meetings but my sister is, and I find the calculator handy. In the new points plus system it basically counts calories, but it records then as points, about 35-45 calories per point. It also penalizes carbs and fats more than protien. I'm not sure why it is helping more than just counting calories but it is.

Learned something.

The deduct for fiber and I couldn't figure out why. It turns out that the grams of fiber on nutritional labels is included in the grams of carbohydrates, and does count towards the calories. Weird. I read up and some fibre, the soluble fibre, does provide some calories, about 1.5 to 2.5 grams. Anyhow, weight watchers seems to account for that.

How I am using a modified Points Plus system, at least initially.
1. I used my target weight instead of my current weight, so I get 33 points not 41 points.
2. I include points from fresh fruit and vegetables.
3. I try not to use the extra 49 weekly points.
4. I do allow myself activity points, at 1 point for every 100 calories of exercise.

Why I think it might help:
1. Makes me think twice before snacking, and stop binging altogether.
2. The daily points remaining helps me spread out my food intake.
3. Develops better judgement of how hungry I 'feel' vs what my actual condition is.
4. Develops better sense of what foods provide more fullness for the calories provided.

See how it goes.
Weight this morning was 210.0 pounds.

[Ginger Snap]

just got diagnosed Celiac. . . so all my favorite foods (and drinks!) are out. . . It makes it easier not to snack. Many of my favorite lunches before were carb heavy, but not its mostly salad. Plus i've started swimming 3 days a week while i'm rehabbing my foot, and awaiting permission for more vigorous exercise. Overall score? Down 7 lbs since 2/20/12. best weight loss i've had since college!