I’m moving into my weight-loss phase of training (some call this “basebuilding”) and, wanting to maximize my efficiency, thought I’d learn more about this burn-more-than-you-eat thing. How does one calculate caloric burn rate for periods other than exercise? For example, how do I know how many calories I burn while driving me desk all day?
Thanks.
Re you trying to lose weight?
As boring as it sounds, my current plan has me eating about the same thing daily M-F
I can keep close watch on every calorie, fat gram, protien gram, and fiber gram I eat as well as to know exactly how many corbohydrates I am consuming.
I eat about 1600-1700 calories per day, adding 200-300 per hour for training with addl calories for the 150+ miles of riding I do on the weekend.
At this rate, I am at a 500 calorie per day deficit, and will burn 3500 calories worth of fat per week, or about a pound. I have to watch myself when I get to the 10% body fat range however, to avoid getting sick. I am lightening up before it gets cold here and before cycling camp.
I measure all my food and write down everything I eat.
you burn 600 calories sitting at your desk for 8 hours.
gary, what is it you are eating everyday
.
There are tons of calculators that take into account hundreds of daily activities. URL for a good index is:
normal, healthy, low fat food.
I recommend all of Gordo’s articles on nutrition.
http://www.byrn.org/gtips/gtips.htm
Look at Epic Eating, and Essential Nutrition 101, 201, and 301. The best thing I gathered from all his writing is this- focus on the nutrition and the weight will go where it needs to.
if you really want to have a 500 calorie per day deficit, you have to know how many calories you burn and how many to eat
guessing never has worked for me, I always ate too much
I am hungry every day.
“I am hungry every day”
That is a TOUGH gig to maintain. I truly feel that one can not maintain a constant state of hunger indefinitely and perform optimally. “Race weight” can be good to attain, but look at the pro’s- their weight fluctuates over the course of the season; a little heavier in the offseason, a little lighter in season. It all averages out. They build up a lot of “mental hunger” during the season, and must back off of training and relax in the offseason. If you’re constantly hungry, training will suffer. I once tried to get to what I thought was an ideal race weight. My training sessions suffered because I would be hungry and have no energy. One thing I really like about Gordo’s approach to nutrition is that you don’t have to be hungry all the time. You get unlimited fruits and veggies. For me, it was a matter of removing all “distraction” foods from the house. You only have to restrain yourself temporarily at the grocery store; if you buy something bad, you have to control yourself ALL the time when you’re in the house. If I buy it, I will eat it. I eat a pretty big volume now, but it’s all good stuff. Fruits, veggies, good protein (lean meats, beans), good fat (fish, nuts), and low GI carbs. After I ran Chicago a couple weeks ago, I went to Arby’s and didn’t feel bad because I eat well the rest of the time.
I really find that making myself hungry causes me to eat more overall. The only time I make poor nutrition choices is when I’m under stress or let myself get really hungry- then I binge. I try to keep a constant steady flow of good nutrition coming in. When I train less, I eat less simply because my body doesn’t ask for as much food. When the volume goes up, so does my eating volume. But rather than try to tell myself at 3:30 that I can make it till dinner time (I’d usually break down at about 5:00 and eat something unhealthy and/or spoil my dinner apetite), I’ll have a repeat of breakfast- a decent size bowl of oat bran with an apple and a banana sliced in it. It’s a pretty good volume of food, but relatively low cal; it holds me over till dinner but doesn’t really fill me or spoil my dinner.
Sorry for the long response! I’ve just been very happy with my nutrition since overhauling it in the past couple months. In my opinion, it’s about making consistent good choices, not being hungry all the time.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Need to drop about 10 pounds, then maybe a couple more for race weight by next spring/summer. Not a big deal, just want to do it smarter this time around. If winter up here in AK cooperates, I’ll shed that no problem between skiing and trainer rides, but I need to get this eating thing under control, and to do that need to know how to count calories. Thanks.
Find out how many calories a food item has for the quantity you’re eating. Add them up.
Gary did you take pre circumference measurements?
Also what method of body fat testing are you using for assesment?
What is your eventual goal? How did you decide on this goal?
when I raced NORBA MTB in 2000 I weighed 158 and was lean (I’m 6 ft medium/lg build)
5 yrs later and 10lbs heavier, it takes more work to get lean for road racing as I fell off my eating habits
I know that on 1860 cals plus 200 to 300 per hour for training, I will feel a little hungry, moderately satisfied but never full, and will shed weight and hold a very trim profile
I eat 4000 to 5000 cals per day at cycling camp
I also took up weights this fall/winter, upper body and abs, legs not needed as I do hill work cycling.