food log

[crazycanuck]

Hey,

A while back, our coach had a sports nutritionist come in and speak to us about labels etc. The nutritionist suggested taking note of the foods we ate but never thought much of it until last week.

I just started this week writing down every food i eat, how many calories in each plus the amount of exercise i do each day. I found the food & exercise diary at a local bookshop and find it an interesting yet scary experience.

I noticed on monday my calorie total was 1215 for the day but if i subtracted the calories for the excercise i did, i only took in 585. Does that sound right?? I'm a bit lost & am wondering if i'm doing something wrong.

I bought a scale last week but my aim is to weigh myself only once a week just to remind myself the numbers on the scale are just that...numbers...

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Cheryl

[Barb]

I suppose that is possible. Are you sure of the cals you burned? Maybe I am a light weight (ok I know that I am!) but I don't burn that many calories in during my average work out. I have been logging what I eat and exercise while working with a nutrionalist and exercise physiologist. We figured out my Basil Metabolic Rate and the additional calories I would need if I exercised X amount during the week. It was really interesting and helpful. She did warn me not do eliminate more than 500 calories in any one day. You need 3500 cal deficit to loose 1 lb. ( I aim for that every week).

[DeniseGoldberg]

My sense is that you're not taking in enough calories for your level of exercise. I have two sports nutrition books that I really like, both written by registered dieticians. They are down to earth books, may be worth a look: Eat Smart, Play Hard : Customized Food Plans for All Your Sports and Fitness Pursuits by Liz Applegate, and Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook by Nancy Clark. Both are available at Amazon.com.

I just did a quick search on the web and found a "healthy body calculator" that seems pretty reasonable. It's on the site Ask the Dietician, which is also authored by a registered dietician. The calculator is at http://www.dietitian.com/ibw/ibw.html

Just out of curiosity, I ran through the calculator a couple of times. With what I would consider a normal work day - which includes 1 to 2 hours of moderate exercise, I came up with a caloric requirement of 2230. I suspect serious cycling falls somewhere between moderate and heavy exercise. If I put in 4 hours of moderate exercise, my calorie needs come out to 2610, and if I put in 4 hours of heavy exercise my calorie needs show as 3040. So likely somewhere between 2610 and 3040. But even my average daily rate, assuming my sedentary work (I sit at a computer all day...) and an hour or 2 of exercise comes out to a lot more than the 1200+ calories that you say you are eating. (Even with no exercise I still came out to need 1800 calories. Oh, and of course height & weight plays in here too - I'm around 5 ft 5 inches and weigh about 115 pounds.)

--- Denise

[Robbin_G]

Oh, and of course height & weight plays in here too - I'm around 5 ft 5 inches and weigh about 115 pounds.)

--- Denise

*sniffle* I'm 5'5" and well, don't weigh 115 pounds. I struggle with wanting to be Turbo Athlete and eating because because food makes me happy! No really, it does. I'm interested in being a part-time food writer! I'm also looking into some other kind of "exercise as work", maybe a spin instructor!

+Robbin

[Asphaltgirl]

Another vote for CalorieKing....been using it for a few years after dropping my online membership with Weight Watchers. Trying to get off a 6 month plateau and have an appointment with a nutritianist tomorrow. She's a cyclist and hopefully will be able to relate to my needs for weight loss and for the energy needed for the long distance cycling goals that I have. Was on a carb restricted program (almost a diabetic type diet), last year, and it was great--eating every 3 hours so my blood sugar didn't crash-- dropped 20 lbs. BUT once I got into my summer cycling I had no energy to draw on because of the limited carbs. I think my biggest problem is finding the right combination of protein/fats/carb to keep this middle aged body happy!
~AG~

[Gidiup]

Another good website is mypyramid.gov It allows you to keep a food log, activity log and will tell you what nutrients you are short on. The more well balanced your meals are the less cravings you have. Stick with serving sizes.

[Robbin_G]

I like this book/log:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096...lance&n=283155

[sydney_b]

I track with MyFoodDiary.com. It's 9.99/mo., but seems to work pretty well with a large food database. It also makes it easy to enter your own recipes. I didn't compare it with other online programs, though, so Fitday or Calorieking might be just as good or even better, they're certainly less expensive. The only thing I would complain about is that it seems like it over-estimates the calories burned sometimes.

/s

[trigurl]

Is it possible to burn 4000 calories a day???? I wore my h/r monitor for 15 hours yesterday and that is what it said! 600-700 were from 1 hour of mtn biking.
I don't know about all those calories it said I burned???? that was at work where I mainly sit, I do move about and go up and down stairs but for the most part I sit.

I put in all my info, age, weight, sex - surely it must be wrong?

I have been following a low cal diet my trainer told me to do with low carbs and have been tired tired tired, I have lost about 8 lbs. in almost 3 weeks but I HAVe to add in some carbs now since the weather is getting better and I can BIKE

I have been trying to stick to 1300-1500 cals a day and I stay hungry! last night I broke and ate a big bowl of green beans and quite a few walnuts after dinner! not bad but must have added up to a lot of cals - especially with the walnuts! I just want to be slim and not hungry allllll the time - and I really hate counting calories

Sorry this is kinda rambling.

[carback]

I have been trying to stick to 1300-1500 cals a day and I stay hungry! last night I broke and ate a big bowl of green beans and quite a few walnuts after dinner!

No bloody wonder you're hungry. 1300-1500 cals a day is fine if your idea of exercise is to be really agressive with the remote. But to be active? No way. Someone a few posts back mentioned resting metabolic rate - that is the minimum your body requires just to keep your body in a homestatic state. Throw biking (or walking, or any activity) into the mix, and you're going to need more calories to find the energy.

And don't get me started on the low carb thing....Carbs are good. Especially if you're active. The right kinds of cards are where your energy stores come from.

[tattiefritter]

That sounds very, very low to me unless you are a really tiny person! I struggle on less than 1800 - 2000 cals a day, more if I exercise hard! I'm around 5ft 5 and 140 pounds but I have always struggled with keeping my blood sugar on an even keel and need to eat quite regularly. Where are you getting the calorie counts from?

I have also just re-started taking note of everything I eat again as I have put on a few pounds lately. I use fitday (www.fitday.com) which is a free online tool. I like it because it gives you the breakdown of your carbs/fat/protein for the day as well as overall calories, I tend to eat a diet too high in carbs at the expense of protein and fat and this helps me balance things a bit. I used it a lot last year and looking through my entries for then it seems that 2000 cals was generally the magic number for me to train reasonably well and still lose weight (except for my long Sunday MTB ride, I ate as much as I wanted then).

There is a BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator on the concept2 (http://www.concept2.co.uk/training/bmr.php) website that gives you an idea of the amount of calories you need daily. It uses your sex/age/weight as a base then you add on your activity level, my calculation came to 2700 a day.

[Dianyla]

That definitely doesn't sound like enough calories. Either you're not eating enough, or you're not calculating portion sizes properly. The thing that always gets me is when I eat/drink a small container of something and then look at the nutrition label and see "150 calories" and think OK, that's 150. Oh, wait! it's 2.5 servings per container!

I use http://www.calorieking.com for calorie and exercise tracking. It's not free like fitday, but it's fairly economical (something like $30/year) and the improved database and user interface is worth it to me.

[Nanci]

I use the Calorie King software on my Palm. I love it! I had a problem Saturday, though, making it believe I could ride a bike for 16 hours, burning 10,000-some calories. It counts them, but just says ERR. I took in about 4000.

Cheryl,

I'm suspicious of your calorie count. I _struggle_ and have to watch _everything_ and weigh/measure everything and have absolutely no treats to hit 1300. But I think the amount burned for cycling, 600? is perfectly reaasonable. That's roughly an hour at 14mph.

Nanci

[Dianyla]

I use the Calorie King software on my Palm. I love it! I had a problem Saturday, though, making it believe I could ride a bike for 16 hours, burning 10,000-some calories. It counts them, but just says ERR. I took in about 4000.

Goodness, I can't say I've ever had that problem! I use the web version because I don't have a handheld and that way I can access it from any internet connection and update it. Could you maybe just enter in two 5,000 calorie events? Or is it a daily max total that you're hitting.

Boy, I'd love to see what the staff there think of that bug report.

[crazycanuck]

I think i'm going to ingest what you ladies have said & go back to square one..
I have nanci clark's book & will sit down & re read it....

Will let you know more a bit later..

Thanks
C