Gosh I feel like I did so much for so little!!!!!!!!!!

Stats:  I am 37 years old.

Started new lifestyle July 30/07 at 247 lbs.  Now Dec 09/07 i am at 186 lbs.  Good right?? 

UGH...........I just read some old posts, which i should have already realized, but UGHHHH I feel like i've failed......

I go to the gym 7 days a week.  I LOVE the treadmill.  I punch in my weight, 186 lbs and incline 12% and speed 3.0 mph.  I go everytime for 45-60 minutes burning at LEAST 500 calories according too the treadmill readout.  Here is the problem:

I'm a rail holder!  Not like hold on for dear life.....however i do hold.  Not side rails, but for heart rate monitor.  my heart rate ranges from 128-140 bpm.  When I am working out, i feel burning in my outter thighs and buttocks.  I should also mention,  in addition to the 60 lbs lost, I have lost a total of 27 inches (includes waist, chest, hips, thigh and calf)

So..........I have been logging all wrong cuz i'm a holder?????  I have burned next to NO calories cuz i hang on to metal rail for heart rate???  i'm so upset!

No way - you're doing great!!! Look at your amazing weight loss so far! I think you're burning the same amount or close to it. Congratulations, btw!

You are clearly burning calories, if you've lost 60 pounds - if it makes you feel better, I've lost only about 20 in the same time period. And all of the calories are estimates anyway.

But now that you've realized that you hold onto the rails (especially now at your lower weight, when it takes more to burn the same number of cals), try weaning yourself off the rails, and that will help you keep losing. You are doing great.

Haley, if you have lost 60 pounds and 27 inches in six months, you've got to be doing SOMETHING right! That's ten pounds a month... and about as far from 'failure' as I can imagine!

If your failing - I hope to fail to!

you lost 60lbs - i hardly count that as failure! I doubt holding the rail makes you burn so many less calories, and anyway its the amount of energy you expelled, if you werent holding on you still would have probably burnt 500cals per workout just prehaps you would have run for less time.

Congratulations on your failure so far an i hope you continue to fail for another 60lb loss!

Uhmmm Yeah...I don't see that as a failure at all.  However, for a personal goal try weaning yourself off the rails.  I try to let go for 1 minute and work up to my goal.  Congrats on the weight loss.  Keep in mind that you are excercising your heart which is the most important thing here.  You're losing weight the healthy and correct way with or without rails.

Lightly having your hands on the HR sensors should not make a significant difference as long as you're not using the rails to support any of your weight.

yeah worry when you quit losing weight...you are fine, stop worrying.

wow.....you lost all the weight that i need to lose. definitely not a failure. you're probably doing better than most people here!

You have been doing great and there is no way anyone could consider that "failure!" The main thing is that you are reaching a good heart rate and it sounds like you are.

My first few months of exercising I overlogged my calories burned too, because I either used this website or the machines before I got a heart rate monitor and learned that I only burn about half of what those things say! But I still lost a lot of weight. The difference now is that I log fewer calories for exercising, but I bumped my normal burn rates higher because that seems to make sense to me. I track my cals burned vs. eaten in a spreadsheet and compare my calorie deficits and weight loss to the 3500 cals that it takes to lose a pound. You could do that, if you want to be obsessive like I am. You could also get a heart rate monitor and get a more accurate burn number. Obsessive calorie deficit geeks unite!!!

Edit to add: I have noticed that lots of machines read and display my heart rate from my heart rate monitor so that I do not have to hold the handles! This may be another reason to ask Santa for one. I have the Polar F6 (around $100, Amazon) but there are many out there.  

 

 

You are doing good. Your in the 100's not the 200's. I think you should get the clothes you started this diet and see how it fits. I'm sure they are saggy. You are doing a fantastic job, keep it up.