Calorie burning - to gym or not to gym?!

[RobSmith]

I was hoping someone would be able to clear this up for me since it's probably going to make or break my decision on getting gym membership.

I have a Concept 2 rowing machine at home, along with a weight bench and a few other pieces of equipment for muscle training. I'm in the process of trying to lose around 2-3 stone, depending on how I feel when I hit the 2 stone mark. I'm keeping a fairly strict 2000Kcal a day intake, consisting of just the three main meals (tempted to switch to frequent, smaller meals) minus the calories I rack up from exercise.

Me: 107KG / 6 3" / Endomorphic

My daily routine currently consists of 8.5km (resistance 10) on the rower, then a series of different core/leg muscle workouts, which is normally something like 10 sets of 10: sit-ups/40KG leg extension/15KG bench - it depends on how I feel after I have rowed.

According to my rowing machine 8.5km at resistance 10 burns roughly 500Kcal, this combined with the muscle workout afterwards I am guesstimating a total of 600Kcal burned during my workouts - which I am very happy with.

I've began to wonder if I am actually getting anywhere near that number because a few pals of mine tell me that the calorie counter on all machines w/o heart rate monitors go by "normal, default" persons (don't ask me what they meant by this). Is there the possibility that I could actually be burning fewer (or more, would be a bonus) than I currently am?

Thanks in advance!

Rob

 

[icecold]

Completely ignore calorie numbers from machines, they're inaccurate and basically irrelevant anyway. Just row for time or distance goals and aim to improve.

Provided costs aren't an issue, getting to the gym and doing a proper routine will help.

 

[RobSmith]

Completely ignore calorie numbers from machines, they're inaccurate and basically irrelevant anyway. Just row for time or distance goals and aim to improve.

Provided costs aren't an issue, getting to the gym and doing a proper routine will help.

The time/distance goals is a good idea, it never even crossed my mind, I could try that instead of pure calorie counting.

I'll give this routine another few weeks/month to see how the weight loss progresses and then perhaps take up a gym membership for the new year!

Thanks icecold

 

[BlackCoat2k10]

Time / distance, something I've never tried as I usually just go by calorie amount / set timed and go with the flow. This is something I am going to have to try, work on my fitness a bit more rather than concerntrate on numbers. Cheers for the idea!

 

[mrthingyx]

The machine is using a number of different variables to work out calories burnt:

- Distance
- Resistance
- Time

It is not accounting for you r muscle mass, muscle type, weight, height,technique, etc. After a good load of exercise, your body carries on burning calories to replenish/repair your body (even where aerobic work is concerned), so counting the machine's calories alone is even further from the mark.

So it is a load of codswollop.

Join a gym if you feel you aren't making the gains/losses you think you should, or if you're unhappy with them, etc.

A gym membership only gets you lighter by £X a month unless you use it, and you may not even see the benefit over your existing routine if you don't use it correctly.

Here are a few questions... how long does it take you to row the 8.5km? Do you break a sweat? How do you feel afterwards? Would you say you're putting in 100%/80%/10% of your effort into the exercise? How quickly are you losing weight?

The answes to those will determine whether you need to adjust your existing routine for more benefit at home, regardless of whether you're hitting an expensive gym...

Personally, I thi kthere's a lot more you could do to improve your workout regime for weightloss, but that depends on how hard you want to go at it, and whether or not you're changing you rlifestyle to accompany the weightloss, and whether you're happy with what you've got/getting

 

[RobSmith]

The machine is using a number of different variables to work out calories burnt:

- Distance
- Resistance
- Time

It is not accounting for you r muscle mass, muscle type, weight, height,technique, etc. After a good load of exercise, your body carries on burning calories to replenish/repair your body (even where aerobic work is concerned), so counting the machine's calories alone is even further from the mark.

So it is a load of codswollop.

Join a gym if you feel you aren't making the gains/losses you think you should, or if you're unhappy with them, etc.

A gym membership only gets you lighter by £X a month unless you use it, and you may not even see the benefit over your existing routine if you don't use it correctly.

Here are a few questions... how long does it take you to row the 8.5km? Do you break a sweat? How do you feel afterwards? Would you say you're putting in 100%/80%/10% of your effort into the exercise? How quickly are you losing weight?

The answes to those will determine whether you need to adjust your existing routine for more benefit at home, regardless of whether you're hitting an expensive gym...

Personally, I thi kthere's a lot more you could do to improve your workout regime for weightloss, but that depends on how hard you want to go at it, and whether or not you're changing you rlifestyle to accompany the weightloss, and whether you're happy with what you've got/getting

Thanks for the response!

In answer to your questions..

The 8.5km takes me 35 minutes to row in which time I definitely break a sweat, and as for my effort levels I'd say they're at about 80%. I feel fairly tired after my row, but quite a lot of the time I feel as if I could carry on for a good while longer, however rowing becomes so monotonous, different pieces of equipment might help, which is another reason to go to the gym.

I am actively not monitoring/measuring how much weight I'm losing because I find that when I do and don't hit what I expect to see I get ****ed off and fall off the tracks. I can definitely feel I have lost weight/improved fitness over the past month I have been doing it but as you say, probably not as much as I could be, but that's down to loads of other factors like long work hours etc which I won't go into.

Just a few prominent questions I'd like someone to clarify for me (once and for all!), if they wouldn't mind

- When trying to burn fat/lose weight what tempo of exercise should I be going at? High, medium, low intensity?

- Can someone suggest a website I can use to calculate the calorie intake I should be adhering to for weight loss.

I really need to get myself a personal trainer for a couple of days to tell me the what's, hows and whys of losing weight, searching the web just makes me more confused!

Thanks again!

Rob

 

[icecold]

1) Depends on what you're doing. My preference would be high intensity interval training, but steady state (low-medium intensity) is also common. HIIT takes less time and keeps burning calories long after you leave the gym.

2) There are some good links in the diet sticky at the top of the page.

 

[RobSmith]

1) Depends on what you're doing. My preference would be high intensity interval training, but steady state (low-medium intensity) is also common. HIIT takes less time and keeps burning calories long after you leave the gym.

2) There are some good links in the diet sticky at the top of the page.

Thanks again Ice!

I'll probably stick to the high intensity as I feel its all well and good being slim but it's no good if your completely unfit, plus it makes for a much more enjoyable workout - endorphins overload!

I used the Harris-Benedict equation to work out my BMR: ~2300

I wasn't sure whether or not my activity levels constituted low or medium, but either way I am not consuming any where near those calories levels - even at low level activity I am under eating by about 1500 calories. Rather surprising really, but it was pointed out that the equation is relatively inaccurate, however if it were true, I "should" and I use the term lightly, be losing roughly 2lb a week, isn't that quite a lot?

 

[mrthingyx]

It's difficult to say, really - every person is different, training regimes are different, diets are different.

If you're getting your calories from soft drinks and not doing the right kind of exercise to use the energy provided straight away (loading up on glucose before or during sports... bad exammple, but you get the idea), then you're not going to do yourself any long-term (or even short term) favours than if your were getting them from meat and veg.

To add to icecold's response:

1) Whilst "it depends" isn't overly helpfulas a response, you are the one who needs to be happy with the kind of training you're doing, otherwise you won't stick to it. I happen to get an absolutely massive buzz (and strangely enough a huge amountof back pain relief) from doing big compound lifts at the gym, yet I know a lot of people who wouldn't. This is again related to what you want to achieve, and how you want to go about it.

I would always go with interval training from a "burn" perspective simply because - physiologically - I understand it is more effective. But if you can't deal with it (it is hard work) then you won't stick to it at which point it becomes useless.

More importantly, however, is getting your dietary habits right - or as close to 'right' as you are happy with. Three meals a day is fine, but if they're deep-fried chip butties, topped with processed cheese, you're not really helping yourself.

2) Calorie calculators are fine, but are useful as a VERY rough indicator only... personally, I'd go on what you see and how you feel, rather than on generic equations. Sure, as a rough prniciple (if doing X then I need to have another meal/snack/whatever to keep me going), but not as the be-all-and-end-all.

Regarding your final question, 2lb a week isn't bad going. It's not phenomenal, but as part of a new routine/lifestyle, it's a good start. It won't be consistent, as your body will adapt to its new levels of food/exercise, but - again - as long as you're happy with what you're seeing, who cares?

 

[icecold]

Thanks again Ice!


I'll probably stick to the high intensity as I feel its all well and good being slim but it's no good if your completely unfit, plus it makes for a much more enjoyable workout - endorphins overload!

Your 8.5km row isn't high intensity in the sense I was talking about, you're doing steady state cardio at medium intensity. You can be absolutely shattered after a marathon but it isn't high intensity exercise.

High intensity would be as high as 100% effort, and you wouldn't be able to sustain that for much more than 30 seconds or so. Hence high intensity interval training, where you have alternating intervals of high intensity and recovery. The length of each interval depends on fitness levels and what activity you're doing.