Treadmills Lie (Day 143)

This post is for Tuesday, January 5th, 2010.

Treadmills Lie! One of my favorite cardio workouts is walking on the treadmill at a very steep incline with a pace just under a jog. The speed is somewhere around 4.2 - 4.5 mph. The onboard computer on the treadmill asks for my weight and then calculates an estimated calories per hour burned. On my typical settings of incline 14.3 and speed 4.3 the treadmill tells me I'll burn 1240 calories per hour, so that's 620 in 1/2 an hour. Not even close. I wore my BodyBugg along with the digital watch display for the first time yesterday and in the 1st 1/2 hour of cardio I burned about 256 calories. That's just over 40% of what the treadmill estimates. For the sake of my argument I'm gonna assume the BodyBugg is more or less correct (90% accurate is what BodyBugg claims). The treadmill takes the number it assumes you'll burn in an hour and then divides it equally over each minute during the workout. So basically it tells you that you're burning 20 calories per minute. In reality, for the first few minutes you're burning much, much less. As time goes and your workout continues you burn more and more calories per minute, but never catch up to the estimate from the treadmill. Another observation via the BodyBugg was that hours after my workout was over, I was still burning considerably more calories per minute than before the workout. Does this extremely long cool down period of increased burn post workout add up to the #'s from the treadmill? I think it's close. I'll try to track it more carefully over the next few days and see. A great thing about having the digital display for the BodyBugg was that I saw I wasn't near the burn #'s I wanted, so I altered my cardio after the workout and was able to get near what I wanted while at the gym (not counting the extra burn during cool down). So ultimately I haven't been burning quite as much on the treadmill doing my uphill walking. Maybe it all adds up during the day to close to what I thought. I will alter my cardio some, adding more intervals/HIIT on the treadmill, more sessions on the elliptical, and especially a lot of spinning once my new bike arrives, thus more cardio time over all, . I still like my uphill walking though. I stay aerobic, my heart rate doesn't get too high, and my knees never hurt.



Our workout today consisted of 30 minutes on the treadmill to begin. We trained shoulders, starting with 3 sets of hammer strength military presses, 3 sets of side lateral raises, 3 sets of upright rows, and finally 3 sets of rear delts. Back to the treadmill for 20 minutes of intervals, jog speed of 4.5-5.0 mph, and run speed of 8.0 mph. Walk a minute, run a minute. I finished up with 5 more minutes on the elliptical trainer before calling it quits and heading home to eat.

For breakfast I had a chocolate chip scone, facon, a banana, and a slice of bread. Lunch was vegetable beef soup and 2 serving of cauliflower with cheese sauce. My afternoon snack was a white chocolate chunk cookie with 2 tsp's of almond butter. Dinner was a sloppy Joe and 2 servings of cauliflower with cheese sauce. Dessert was a fudge brownie with 2 tsp's of almond butter. Kim made a very low calorie tuna salad (using some sorta fake mayo) and we each had 1/2 of a tuna salad sandwich.



We watched the first episode of "The Biggest Loser" last night. I still wish they'd change to format of the show and let all of the contestants stay and train the entire 6 months. The could compete for $/prizes each week and all have an opportunity to win in the end. Instead the weakest/sickest contestants who need to be there the most get sent home first. And as much as I like the show, someone needs to tell Bob & Jillian they are not therapists, they are trainers. Quit psychoanalyzing each person and trying to make the scream/cry. Just shut up and train them. I LOVE the shameless promotions during the show though. So subtle.

BodyBugg Info
Calories In - 1601
Calories Burned - 3821
Calorie Deficit - 2200

Stupid Cold (Day 142)

This post is for Monday, January 4th, 2010.



It's stupid cold here (way down in Georgia). We can't walk the dogs, they really don't enjoy being outside more than a few minutes at a time. Snow is foretasted for later in the week, which means the entire state will descend into chaos. Yippee!


We trained chest at the gym today. Of course we did our cardio first. 30 minutes on the treadmill, incline 14.3, speed 4.2. We intended to do 15 more minutes or so of cardio afterward, but we were both starving and tired so we skipped round 2 of the cardio. Our workout was fast paced and relatively intense. We began with 3 sets of flat hammer strength presses, then 3 sets of incline presses, next was 3 sets of decline presses, and finally 3 sets of the bodymasters fly machine. Kim is still wrecked from our Sunday leg workout, and my hamstrings are kinda sore. Maybe we'll recover in time to train legs hard again on Friday.


I've joined Marie's January challenge on the NS blogs. My goal during this month's challenge is to loose 8.4 pounds and weigh in under 200! Additionally, a side goal is to train 5 days a week, cardio 7 times a week, and have 1000+ calorie deficits each day. I've ordered a spinning bike for the house so I can get in extra cardio in the morning/evenings. I'm really excited about being able to ride as soon as I get up in the mornings (instead of screwing around on the internet for an hour).

I've finally found some almond butter at a local grocery store. Lili raves about it, so I had to try it. Kim opened it up on the way home and mentioned something about a layer of oil on top. When I opened the bottle at home I discovered exactly what she was talking about as the top 20% of the bottle spilled out onto the floor. The pug loved it. Once I stirred it up and tried a bite so did I. I added about 2 tsp's to a cookie last night and it was great. We also found some white chocolate peanut butter, which is delicious.

Belle after eating some of the almond butter that spilled.

The display for my BodyBugg arrived late in the day. I synced it up and it worked perfectly. I can't wait to try it out in the gym and see how much I'm burning as we train. I'll have a pic of it tomorrow.

For breakfast yesterday I had a blueberry muffin, facon, a slice of bread and a banana. Lunch was red beans and rice and a veggie burger. My afternoon snack was a coconut almond bar with a tsp of peanut butter. Dinner was Rotini, cauliflower with cheese sauce and a veggie burger. Dessert was a chocolate chip cookie with almond butter. My morning snack which I pushed until after dessert was an oz of blue cheese.

BodyBugg Info:
Calories In - 1601
Calories Burned - 3270
Calorie Deficit - 1669

Weigh In

I weighed in this morning to find that I've dropped back down to 208.4. 8.4 more to go to hit my primary goal, then about 10 more to my new updated goal of 190.

I discovered yesterday that I've been taking in WAY more calories than I thought. For years I only had a single cup of coffee in the mornings, but recently (couple of months) I've been having quite a few more. We use fat free 1/2 & 1/2 and calorie free sweeteners, so I never thought much about calories in my coffee (because I was only having a single cup). I had a D'oh moment as I finished my 4th or 5th cup and realized that we'd gone through about 1/2 a container of the FF 1/2 & 1/2 THAT MORNING. Hundreds of extra calories I've been taking in without thinking. No longer. Back to black coffee with some equal. Stupid delicious 1/2 & 1/2.

Time to wake the incredibly sore Kim (we trained legs yesterday) and prepare for the gym. We train chest today.

Leg Day On Sunday? (Day 141)

This past week our gym was closed for NYD so our workout routine was thrown off a little. Today (Sunday) we had to train legs. This is our first leg workout in 2 weeks (we took off for Xmas) so we kinda took it easy. I began with 30 minutes on the elliptical, increasing my intensity every 5 minutes until I hit level 18. Kim got her cardio in on the treadmill. We started the leg workout on the horizontal leg press for 3 sets, then moved on to true squats for me and leg presses for Kim for 3 sets, and finished quads with 3 sets of leg extensions. I led off the hamstring workout with 3 sets of leg curls as Kim was wiped out with 3 sets on the glute master machine. Next was 3 sets of seated leg curls, and we finished up with 3 sets of weighted hyper-extensions. We were both tired the rest of the day & I had the added fun of my knees buckling a few times. Super fun.



Today was a low calorie day for me. Breakfast was a double chocolate muffin, facon, a banana and a slice of bread. Lunch was tomato soup and a veggie burger. Dinner was bbq pork wrap, broccoli & cauliflower in cheese sauce. My afternoon snack, which I had after dinner, was a chocolate crunch bar. Dessert was pound cake with a tsp of hazelnut spread.



Weigh In in the morning. Hopefully I'll be back under 210 headed down to 190 over the next few weeks.

BodyBugg Info:

Calories Burned =3545
Calories In = 1500
Calorie Deficit =2045

Of Bagels and Biceps (Day 140)

Today (Saturday) Kim and I began the day with a trip North to the nearest Panera Bread Company store for a bagel. We split an Everything bagel with cream cheese (I'm trying to make this a weekend ritual). She returned some clothes to a nearby store and then we headed back home. After resting for a bit and getting cleaned up we headed to the gym. Not nearly as crazy as on NYE, but still crowded and everyone was training arms, which is what we needed to train. We knocked out an easy 30 minutes on the treadmill, incline 14.3, speed 4.3 before hitting the weights. Triceps came first, starting with 3 sets of press downs, then 3 sets of overhead presses, and finally 3 sets of rope press downs. Biceps began with 3 sets of standing barbell curls, then 3 sets of standing dumbbell curls, and finally 3 sets of machine preacher curls. We decided to skip the remaining cardio (both my feet were cramping, weird) and get home. No dog walking (it's STUPID cold here) but we did play a little Wii. We've gotta get a few more Wii games soon.


Breakfast was the 1/2 bagel from Panera, lunch was a double chocolate caramel NS bar & a basil tomato veggie pizza burger. My afternoon snack was half a small supreme protein bar, an oatmeal raisin cookie with peanut butter. Dinner was a thick crust pizza with veggie chorizo and a salad. Dessert was a white chocolate chunk cookie with peanut butter.



I've noticed the BodyBugg and the treadmill have a great discrepancy when it comes to the number of calories burned. I use the treadmill on almost the highest incline while walking a a moderate pace (speed of 4.2 mph or so). The treadmill calculates my calories burned at over 1200 per hour, based on the incline, speed, and my body weight. The BB numbers are no where close. I do hold on to the treadmill for balance (did I mention the incline is kinda steep?) so my arms do not move as if I were walking. Could this be the cause for the difference? Or maybe the treadmill just overestimates terribly? I need to do some research on this. I think when I use the elliptical the calories are closer in line and my arms are moving while holding onto the handles on the machine. Anyone have any ideas?

BodyBugg Info
Calories Burned = 3058
Calories Consumed = 2000
Calorie Deficit = 1058

Why I Love My BodyBygg - So Far (Day 139)

Today (Friday) our gym is closed for the 1st. I had planned on Kim and I walking the hounds around the lake a few times, but it never happened. Instead we spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, trying to appease our cats, and preparing dinner for our friends K & K. So I didn't do any cardio all day. I was kinda upset late last night, but decided it was ok and I could get in some extra cardio on Saturday. I plugged in my BodyBugg just before going to bed and was thrilled to see that I had burned over 3700 calories on the day. Sweeping, folding clothes, running up and down the stairs repeatedly, and scrubbing different stuff all day was evidently a decent workout spread out over the entire day. Without the BB I'd have fretted over not training all night (probably had nightmares - my Domo would have been chasing me on a treadmill or something) and would have forced Kim to hang around the gym as I did extra cardio on Saturday. Now we can train normally, and maybe even share a bagel for breakfast!

Me trying in vain to remove something from my Pug's mouth. She at whatever it was.

Food was NS in the morning and lunch, dinner was peas, greens, and lean pork. I hope last night was the LAST celebratory meal we have until Valentine's Day. Seems like I've said that before...

Belle wanting more food.

BodyBugg Info

Calories Burned = 3765
Calories Consumed = 2502
Calorie Deficit = 1263

Again, as usual on days when I eat foods that are guestimates, the calories consumed is an educated guess. I think I had about 900 NS calories before dinner. Hopefully I'm over estimating the amount consumed with dinner. Either way, I'm still thrilled with the calories burned number.

RJ, wanting food as well.

Finally, I saw this posted on FaceBook. A conversation between a friend and her husband, both UGA alumni, concerning the Florida Gators bowl game:

"Will: What's a bear cat?
Me: I couldn't tell you.
Will: Is it like a centaur?
Me: Again, I couldn't tell you.
Will: Whatever it is, it clearly hasn't ever seen a gator before.
Me: Bastards"

As hard as it is for any UGA fan/alumni to say Florida and Tebow looked great. Like pros playing a high school team, or worse. Thank goodness he graduates, finally.

Puppy (cat), you guessed it, wanting food.

Obvisously no photos of food today, so you get some pics of my animals. Belle, RJ, and Puppy, all wanting to eat whatever we're touching.

Ney Year's Eve (Day 138)

Kim and I were able to get to the gym today (Thursday), but it was a MADHOUSE. This time of year is awful at most gyms. The gym is only open a few hours on holidays, so everyone who trains regularly are squeezed in at the same time. Add to that the New Year's Resolutioner's and you've got a mess. NYR's are the folks that train (attempt to train) for about a week after the holidays. The hit the gym like a crazed person, get INCREDIBLY sore, and are never seen or heard from again. Occasionally a few become dedicated and fall in with the rest of us and make exercise part of their lifestyle, but most do not. When we got to the gym I gave up on the idea of training arms and we only did cardio. 30 minutes on the treadmill, incline 14.2, speed 4.2 & then 15 minutes on the elliptical at increasing levels of intensity. I saw some of the worst form used by some of the NYR's I've ever seen. Lots of swinging of the weights, movements that train tendons, and lots of lower back exercises. Years ago I'd have offered some tips or advice, but after trying that a few times only to be assured they knew more about training than I ever would, I now NEVER offer to help anyone I don't know. If someone asks, then sure and I'm delighted to help, but if not I just watch, smile, and shake my head. Kim noticed some of the craziness as well and looked at me and cracked a smile. Good luck to all of them. If you are one of the NYR's, get some help. Hire a trainer for a week. Ask someone who looks like they know what they're doing. Read a magazine or find some info online. Most importantly, go slow at first and BE SAFE.

After our cardio I decided to turn the ringer off on my phone (I NEVER get to do this) and curl up with a book as Kim went into her final holiday baking/cooking mode. I read/rested for a few hours and she cooked up a storm. We went to a friend's house for NYE where I had a single REAL hot dog. It was wonderful. I also sampled quite a few different snacks and overall didn't do bad eating. However a little later I felt terrible. I don't know if it was the hot dog or if it was a delayed reaction from the Indian last night, but either way, I began to suffer from terrible abdominal pain. Thank goodness we don't have anymore dinners/feasts/celebrations to attend until maybe Valentine's day.

The rest of the day was all NS. Breakfast was a cinniamon swirl granola bar, morning star sausage pattie, a banana, and a slice of bread. Lunch was cheesy home-style potatoes with a morning star chik'n grillers. My afternoon snack was a fudge brownie with a little PB. Up to that point I had about 998 calories on the day. I'm gonna guess I had another 1500 the rest of the evening bringing me in at 2500 calories on the day. The rest of the weekend I'm gonna cycle my calories back down towards the 1500-1800 calorie range.

Bodybugg Info:

Calories Burned =3286 (really low for me)
Calories In =2500
Deficit =786

Again, I'm guessing on the calories after the NS part of the day.

The gym is closed NYD so I guess we'll be walking the hounds multiple times and playing the Wii trying to get some exercise.

Happy New Year's everyone.