I've been reading and reading everything I can to try to figure out if I'm burning off what I'm eating, but I dont' know how to figure it out. Anyone have any suggestions???? I do a lot of brisk walking but I don't know the exact speed AND I do a lot of strength training and have no idea how to figure that out.
HELP!!!!!!!!
Use the tools on this site and you'll be able to figure out fairly easily.
First use the burn meter under "Tools". Fill in your height gender and current weight. You can enter your activity level as light activity (which applies to just about everyone that isn't bed ridden) and then (later) you will enter your workouts separately.
This will tell you how many calories you need everyday to stay alive and maintain your weight.
Then you go to Calorie Target under "Tools" (assuming you want to lose weight?). Then you enter your current weight and your goal weight. Leave the date blank and it will set the target date and calories you need to consume to reach your goal weight.
So now you know how many calories you need to eat to safely lose weight on the days that you do not do your brisk walking or weight training.
You can't know if you are burning off what you eat until you log what you eat. Use the food log and enter in everything you eat. This will also help you to get a handle on whether your portions are in line or not.
And then finally, the best way to find out how fast you walk is to go to a gym and get on a treadmill and set it to your normal pace. I expect it will be somewhere around 3.5 mph. If you go into the Activity Log then you can search for "walking" and find various speeds and conditions. The Activity Log uses your current height and weight to estimate how much you actually burn doing the activity. If you search for "strength" or "weights" you'll find various options and choose what seems closest to your intensity when you strength train.
When you go to your profile you will see your Eat Meter and Burn Meter. When you enter your activities then the Burn Meter will increase from the base level you need to safely lose weight. As long as the deficit between how much you eat and how much you burn each day is no greater than 1000, then you are fine. On days when you exercise you can eat a bit more. The ideal deficit to maintain each day to lose weight safely is between 500-800 calories.
Hopefully this all makes sense.
If your a number freak like I am, the 1st thing to do is figure out what your resting metabolic rate is. That's your starting point, it's also where you burn most of your calories. Once you know what your metabolism is doing, you can set your caloric intake accordingly.
See if there is anyone local who can perform an Indirect Calorimetry test. (google it)
Thanks! I'll take the advice from both of you and try to get my numbers. I've been keeping a count of my calories for 2 1/2 years but I didn't know how to figurw out what I was burning.
