- Am I "supposed to" eat back the calories I burn?
- Because I'm trying not to, but it's hard.
- What's a good target heart rate for someone 27-years-old and about 15 lbs overweight?
- I have no idea.
- When is the best time to exercise (calorically)?
- Because I do it at night, and then I'm pretty ravenous all evening, but it's bearable... and I think if I do it in the morning I'll be ravenous ALL DAY instead of just a few hours. But then I heard you burn more calories all day doing it first thing.
- How intensely can I exercise while pregnant?
- Hell, I just need answers to lots of pregnancy-related things.
- Is fasted cardio really a thing people do?
- Because, if so, I kind of think they need their heads checked. I could never do my standard hour of cardio on an empty stomach. (Currently I do about 30-60 minutes of cardio and 15-20 minutes of lifting per workout. It's going okay for me.) But I might if it helps me lose these thighs.
- How come I don't sweat as much as the other girls?
- I sweat. But I'm not drenched. Like my hair doesn't look like I got caught in torrential downpour, and my back and butt are usually wet, but I want to look like I worked harder! My Polar HRM says I burn on average 600 calories every time I workout.
As you can tell... I do too much thinking while I should be focusing on my burn.
Anyone have any thoughts, answers, or even your own questions we can ponder together?
Hey Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteI can answer some of your questions, if I may.
Eating back the calories you burn really depends on your goal. If you your going for weight loss and your already in a deficit then you could eat half of them back if your hungry. Its always best to listen to your body.
Sweating is totally individual. I have always sweated like marathon runner on all my workouts, but that was just me. If you are working your body and pushing it then I wouldn't worry about it.
The best time to exercise is whenever you can get it in! I do it whenever I can. There are a million opinions out there on this one though, lol.
I'm afraid that's all I can answer, I used to use a HRM but for the life of me can't remember what the target heart rate was. I was close to your age when I used it and weight too.(170) I used a Nike Imara and it came with a graph about HR's. Perhaps you can look up your brand online and see if there is a graph you can go by?
I hope I was of some help. :-)
In this entire post...all I saw was the pregnancy question. I need you to call or text me asap. Obviously, you have something to tell me. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou can find target heart rate calculators online (like here's one: http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/heartrate/#). They are usually based on age and sometimes resting heart rate. Next you want to figure out at what percentage of your maximum heart rate you want to work in. So they say you should work out within 55-85% of your maximum heart rate, so for me that means my range is between 99-155...and I pretty consistently feel comfortable working at about 143 beats per minute. The best thing about using a heart rate monitor is that it gives you instant feedback if you are not working hard enough...or even if you are working too hard. Because realistically, if you work too hard, you are going to exhaust yourself, you risk injury, and ultimately, you aren't likely to come back and do the workout again the next day. You have find just the right amount of effort that will show results AND keep you coming back day after day.
ReplyDeleteAs for the sweating, I have a personal non-medical belief that the more efficient your body gets at working out, the more sweat you will produce. This idea comes from YEARS of starting and stopping exercise routines. I found that the first few weeks/months I wasn't near as sweaty as other people. But the more consistently I kept at it, the more my body really started producing sweat...everywhere. Like you can look at my forearm now while I'm on the elliptical and see it building up. I kinda like the sweatiness...makes me feel like I accomplished something. :)
Oh wait...I have more. I actually prefer doing my workouts with no food in my stomach...but that's just me. I'm sure that doesn't help how ravenous I feel after a workout...but for some reason the thought of working out with food in my stomach feels like something I can't do. If I absolutely need some sort of pre-workout nourishment, I will drink a protein drink or eat a piece of cheese.
ReplyDeleteOn the pregnancy thing...I've never been pregnant (aside from one very brief time that sadly didn't last)...but everything I've always heard is that as long as you are exercising regularly prior to getting pregnant, it is actually okay to continue with it once you get pregnant. But they don't recommend starting a vigorous exercise routine AFTER getting pregnant.
Ok...I'll stop talking now. :)
Looks like they have you covered, but I will echo a couple of things. Work out when you can work out. Worrying about what time of day is best is just going to keep you from getting it done.
ReplyDeleteI always work out before I eat, but I don't want to be starving. Meaning, if I work out first thing in the morning, I will do it before breakfast. If I work out at lunch time, I will do it before eating lunch, but I will eat breakfast.
I don't allow myself to eat back all my workout calories, but I find I need a little more food when I'm working out. Like if I burn 500 extra calories that day, I might eat back 200-300 depending on the day.