February 10, 2013

Calories experiment

After two rest days in a row, my legs were really aching to go for a run this morning. It's funny, my legs always ached when I was obese, and I assumed it was from being obese--and maybe it was--but now, if I go more than two days without a run, I get that same ache. The only way to make them feel better is to run!

With four miles on the schedule, and the temp at a toasty 21 this morning, I headed outside. I did my favorite out-and-back route. There were a few patches of solid ice, and it was kind of scary running on it, but most of the road was dry.

It felt really good to run this morning! That's the best part about taking a couple of days off--it actually feels good to do it again.

When I uploaded my run, I noticed that Garmin Connect added a new feature to their website--the weather from the time of day and location that you ran.

So, for the last week, I've been logging my food on Weight Watchers, like usual, but I've also been tracking calories because people keep asking me how many calories I eat per day while on WW. The beauty of WW is that I don't have to track calories, but I did it this week just out of curiosity. So here is the result:
This could vary enormously, depending on the amount of fruits and veggies eaten (I happen to eat quite a bit of fruit, which is 0 PP but I still counted the calories for it). My PP target is 32 on maintenance, and usually I don't only eat the minimum like I did Sunday and Monday, but that was right after I went out Saturday and spent a billion PP on Mexican food and margaritas. Thursday was my long run day, so naturally, I ate a lot more. Regardless, I averaged 1814 calories per day (or 40 PP), which is probably pretty typical on maintenance (for me, anyway).

A few people were curious where I got the number 80 from when I explained how I calculate my activity PP earned. I don't remember where I read that! I read to take the calories burned and divide by 80, and that will give you the PP earned. However, I'm going to start logging the activity PP that is calculated when I enter my activity into the e-tools tracker. Usually it tells me a couple of PP more than I've calculated, but I don't think it'll make much difference in my maintenance... and I want all the PP I can get! ;)


I am SO ready for it to be summer. Going to Key West was a tease--even though it was hot to run the Ragnar in Florida, it was so nice to vacation there, and just walk around in a sundress. Normally, I enjoy the cold weather, but right now I'm really in the mood for some sunshine and warmth. (Of course, when I'm running in the heat this summer, I'll be complaining that it's too hot and I wish it was February again!)

Just looking at this picture makes me feel warm and cozy!

17 comments:

  1. I like how you aren't focused on calories. I used to be a counter, but then I noticed that I would be super (on the verge of restriction) healthy during the day, but then at night when I saw I had an extra 600 calories to eat, I would GO TO TOWN and eat way more than 600. Now that I don't, I still weigh the exact same, and restriction doesn't happen. Yay!

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    1. I wish that I could maintain my weight without counting anything, but I've tried that quite a bit over the past couple of years, and I have a REALLY hard time with it. I think I'll have to be a counter forever! But I'm not nearly as strict as I was in the beginning... I'm learning to loosen the reins and enjoy life WHILE being a counter ;)

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  2. It was so nice to see your calories (vs PP) because I count calories and today was a BAD day for me. But seeing that on maintenance you basically average what I am averaging and I weight SO MUCH MORE THAN YOU than maybe I am not doing as horribly as I thought (even though today was horrible)

    Thank you for being such an inspiration. You are literally the person I go to (your blog that is) when I need motivation through words or pictures and you have no idea how much I appreciate your presence in the weight loss blogging community. You are pretty awesome!

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    1. Even if you have a bad day or two, over the course of a week or a month, it's not that big of a deal! Just brush yourself off and keep on going. I've had to do it a thousands times over the past few years!

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  3. I noticed this on Garmin yesterday, too! I really like this feature.

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    1. Me too! I know it's very simple to just look up the weather, but I like having it on my Garmin page :)

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  4. Hi Katie!

    I don't comment often, but I just have to say I really love your blog, and you help keep me motivated to keep on with WW. =)

    I had heard the divide by 80 thing to calculate the APs too, but now that I have my ActiveLink, I've realized that it was way off calculating it the other way. For example, before my AL, for 50 minutes of zumba, I would typically earn between 6-8 APs. However, with the AL, it usually only tells me I earn between 3-5, depending on what the rest of my daily activities were. :( Kinda depressing! Makes me want to ignore the AL and go back to calculating by dividing by 80. ;-)

    Keep up the awesome work! You truly are an inspiration.

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    1. That's interesting! I'm going to give the Active Link a try soon, just to see how it compares. I'm curious, now :)

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  5. I fell walking out the door yesterday, so I can not imagine running out there! I'm just a chicken!

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  6. Feels like 14! I don't think I'd be able to get out of bed let alone go running outside! Way to go Katie!

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    1. It actually wasn't too bad yesterday! The wind makes a big difference, and it wasn't very windy.

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  7. You don't use the chart in the Weight Watcher book to get your activity points? (The white book - "Pocket Guide for Lifetime Members") Do you feel that it is not accurate? This is the first time I've heard of any other way of calculating points, although I've only been to one meeting in years and that was just to get the new program materials. Do you get your calories burned from your Garmin? My Garmin gives me calories burned but my 205 doesn't have a heart rate monitor so I don't know how accurate it is.

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    1. I never even noticed that there was a chart there! Hahaha, I've always just used the website or my phone app to calculate the PP, and then I eventually started dividing calories burned by 80. I just looked up a few sample runs, and the book looks like it gives the same numbers as the app and the website.

      My new Garmin is very accurate with the calories burned, because it takes my heart rate into consideration, which is why I used that number.

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  8. I'd be interested to see what would come up if you used Active Link - do you? I have found that I was overcalculating my AP. It's been an adjustment to get used to.

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    1. I haven't tried the Active Link, but a reader just asked me if I'd like hers, since she doesn't want it. So I'll post about that soon :) I'm curious what it tells me! I'm pretty inactive other that the running, so I bet my activity PP will be a lot less than I'm used to. But I've done great at maintenance while using my method, so I may just stick to what I'm doing!

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    2. I've found the same thing, Tracy! It's kind of depressing to see that on a typical day of sitting at work all day, then going to 2 1 hour fitness classes each, I "only" earn 4-5 APs with the ActiveLinK! haha.

      Yes, Katie please report back! How awesome of your reader!

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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