WW Exercise points question

[tprevost]

okay, I keep forgetting to ask this...

I'm doing WW online and of course I am adding in my AP's when I ride. What does everyone choose when they ask whether its 'moderate' or 'racing - above 12mph'? Do you base it on effort, speed, average speed?????

I've been trying to estimate the amount of time I am at high effort and logging that time as 'racing' and the rest as moderate but I'm curious as to what others are doing.

Thanks,

Tracy

[Aggie_Ama]

I try to base it on effort. If I had a headwind and felt like I really exerted myself, I use racing. On days when I sail along with a tailwind I use moderate. Hope that helps!

[maillotpois]

Same here. 12 mph is SO not racing, so I just try to estimate based on whether I felt I pushed myself. On days when I am particularly hungry, though, I go for "racing".

[tprevost]

I agree with the "so not racing" at 12mph (of course, if you're me, that's a little different!). There is just such a difference in AP's for the same number of minutes between the two... as an example, my ride today - 120 minutes is 6 APs at moderate but 14 APs at the 'racing' level. I think I will continue to break it down to what number of minutes were at a high effort and calculate those using the < 12mph and go w/moderate for the rest.

Thanks for the input, I feel like what I'm doing makes sense based on your input.

Trac'

[maillotpois]

But what I said about it being "racing" if I am more hungry (needing more points) is only partly tongue in cheek. I think your body actually tells you when maybe something requires a little more compensation on the food front. So I guess, it's just a little bit of listening to your body, too. Within reason. 'Cause my body always like to tell me I need a chocolate malt, but I have learned to disregard that.

[tprevost]

gotcha! Today I took all my APs as moderate because I didn't feel like I had made a huge effort. My bod is always telling me I want food... too many kinds to list ;) that's what got me into this mess in the first place! :p

However, I understand what you're saying and will definately take that into consideration when I'm figuring my APs.

Thank you!

T~

[oldbikah]

3rd party chiming in! I agree on letting the body dictate level of effort, but I rarely count points at the highest level even if I work that hard. And I try not to eat all the points---that so-called license to eat got me into this situation in the first place. For me one of the biggest benefits of any kind of exercise is the metabolism boost --- which I can practically see moving the needle on the scales!

[tprevost]

Good Point Oldbikah! Although I do tend to choose the days with high APs to go out to dinner for the week if we're going to. Sometimes the points at 'medium' seem SO low for the effort that I do add the 'racing' points in for maybe 20-30 minutes out of 120 (as an example).

Thanks!

Tracy

[maillotpois]

Good point - and if I used "racing" for a century or double, even with a 17 mph average, I couldn't possibly eat all the points it gave me in one day. (I do prefer this system where they don't carry from day to day - makes it much easier and more effective!)

[CyclaSutra]

I picked a point on the slidey PointsBooster thingy that's about a third of the way between "moderate" and high. The way I figure it, "High" would be at max heart rate, about 160+ for me. "Light" I figure would be at 115. "Moderate" I think should be at about 130. So because I average about 140 bpm on most of my rides, I'm calling most of my rides at that third-of-the-way above moderate.

If I were doing hill repeats or racing, I suppose I might credit myself a few extra points.

But with my calculations (bear in mind I flunked college algebra three times) this gives me a solid 5 activity points per hour of exercise. Because I burn 500-600 calories per hour at this biking rate, that only gives me license to eat half the calories back. And I never eat ALL the points.

Unless I'm on a long ride (4+ hours) and then my coach (yes I had to pay someone to be accountable to) wants me to be eating 250-300 calories an hour while on the bike. The first one of those for this season will be Saturday, so we'll see how I do, and whether it pays off at weigh-in on Tuesday...

But that being all said, I like Weight Watchers much more than something exclusionary, like my previous "no alcohol" or "no flour, no sugar" plans. It is much closer to what my dietitian (used her the past two major loss cycles) asked me to do, AND it's way cheaper. She cost $90 a session, so I couldn't afford to go every week like WW.

BTW, all the ladies in my WW meeting are average age 50. Being 32 in a ski/resort town where most of the residents are 22 and uber-fit, I feel caught in the middle: youngish, fit and fat. Sigh.

[tprevost]

oooh, there's a pointbooster thing? I've gotta find that! ;) I do also count the points in my gu/sportsdrink etc. but I'm not doing huge long rides either so they usually don't amount to much.

Thanks CS!!!

Tracy

[snapdragen]

oooh, there's a pointbooster thing? I've gotta find that! ;) I do also count the points in my gu/sportsdrink etc. but I'm not doing huge long rides either so they usually don't amount to much.

Thanks CS!!!

Tracy

I'm not sure you get one if you're doing the online WW, but I may have an extra. I'll check, if I do I'll stuff it in the duffel bag! :D

[tprevost]

Oh goodie!!!! Thanks Snapdragen! :p

T~