I have been using CK off and on over a couple of years. The thing that always stresses me out is on the days I exercise it wants me to eat the additional calories that I burned off in the gym. I work out pretty hard and this can mean an additional 400-700 calories. My daily target is 1350, which on most days I feel like is plenty of food. I am afraid to eat more than that plus I question whether I have really burned that much in the gym. I figure an hour of high intensity exercise is about 600 calories max. So my question to you is do you really consume those extra calories on the days you exercise? If you do, do you notice a difference when you don't?

Agree about the ellipticals. they are really given such a great billing: the ultimate exercise machine, low impact, good for everyone - except for little old ladies like myself with arthritis in the low back. my edurance on one of those is less than 10 minutes and then I am crippled for rest of the day. thank goodness I tried it before my husband bought one. we are sticking with our old fashioned treadmill. I can tolerate that just fine, and so can he.

Glad your joints are holding up.

Agree about the ellipticals. they are really given such a great billing: the ultimate exercise machine, low impact, good for everyone - except for little old ladies like myself with arthritis in the low back. my edurance on one of those is less than 10 minutes and then I am crippled for rest of the day. thank goodness I tried it before my husband bought one. we are sticking with our old fashioned treadmill. I can tolerate that just fine, and so can he.

Glad your joints are holding up.

You are doing great! Congrats for getting out of the 180's.

I hope the machines are accurate, too. I know the stationary bike is accurate. I can feel myself working hard. The older machine may be questionable!

So far, my joints have been holding up very well! I used to use the eliptical, and my hip joints hurt every night. No problem yet as long as I am walking and sitting down while using the machines.

How are your joints holding up?

I hope your machine is more honest than mine. I wondered why I was working the program so faithfully and not making much progress. I was trusting my treadmill to tell me how much I had "earned". When i programed the same intensity and duration into CK the calorie count was almost 1/2. that means that for at least half the days on the program I was seriously over target in my calorie intake.

called a screeching halt to that this week and seem to be making progress. not much but some. at least out of the 180's.
Betty

I eat back my calories. So far, I don't burn anymore than 200 calories in 1/2 hr. The machines give me the count. Are you sure you are burning 600?

Donna

I am new here, but I eat back my calories in the form of a treat at bedtime. If I don't exercise, I don't get the treat.

I eat around 1350 calories. On big workout days I will up that to as much as 1500. If I eat back all my calories, i find that I maintain at best. I had my body fat tested in July and at 145 pounds they said my calories needed were about 1540. That would be without exercise.

Everyone is different. It also makes a difference if you are close to goal weight or still have many pounds to lose.

That is were the CK diary comes in handy. If you record all your exercise and calories, it is easy to figure out if what you are doing is working.

Hi! I have only been here a few weeks and I am to date eating my exercise cal's within 100 or 150....never more as I feel it may be too many calories...I am glad to find an over 50 group and look forward to chatting up this weight loss challenge.

I started out eating my exercise calories, and I think it was way to much. I have a generous 1650 to start with and I don't need any more. So I override the exercise calories and put down 0. I really don't get the exercise calories, because I am very hungry when I exercise but if I eat the calories, I don't lose the weight. I need one of those heart rate monitors.

Hi Robin,
I use a heart rate monitor and that gives me a more accurate measure of the calories burned during exercise. I record and eat back about half the calories and this seems to work for me. I am also more hungry when I exercise and I have noticed that when I do not eat enough calories, I do not lose weight.
Hope this helps.
Sally1

Yes, I'm finding that on my heavy workout days (weights + cardio) I am more hungry during the day so I end up eating around 1500 instead of 1300. But if I'm burning 700 calories in the gym (which I doubt) It would be difficult to eat that much more food.

I don't eat back my exercise calories.I override it and put in 0.I do keep track of how many minutes tho. My weight is losing just fine at my 1550.Maybe you'll want to just eat half of the calories back.

I do eat back the calories that I burn. I generally work out for a half hour or 45 minutes depending on what I'm doing. I find that if I don't eat back the exercise calories I don't lose the weight.


HW 162
CKSW 156
CW 138
GW 120