completely new to all this an have some questions

[skit1225]

First, I found the list of cardio excersises and approx. how many calories you lose depending on your wieght. Now the problem is that it only goes up to 190. My weight is 250, how do i calculate for that?

Also, can i get away with losing weight with just doing cardio for now and weights later? Or is it easier to juse mix in a bit of weight training now? Does holding 1lb weights while doing cardio count?

screaming baby, gotta go, willing to bet there will be more questions later. Thanks in advance!!

[RK19]

you should include weights now as youll reap the benefits sooner. and no holding 1lb weights wont help anyone, least of all you. dont worry about counting how many calories you will burn, the main thing is to get going.

[cassiegose]

Hi there,

Counting calories is definitely a frustrating and futile process. Instead of exercising to burn a certain number of calories, exercise for a set amount of time or until you can get all of your lifts out. If I were you I would shoot for about 20-30 minutes of INTENSE cardio 2-3 days a week and do weights three days a week. The weights are going to help you more than the cardio as the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you naturally burn each day. Plus, weight trainging helps to you burn calories throughout the day while cardio really only burns calories while you are doing it.

For weights.. you really don't need to get too intense if youre just starting. Doing simple things like body weight squats, body weight lunges, step ups, pushups variations, dips, and inverted rows.

Remember, fat loss is about 30% exercise and 70% nutrition. You can exercise all you want but if you're not fueling your body properly you will ultimately fall short of your goals.

Hope this helps,

Cassie

[born4unc]

I'm confused. I'm new to the site and have been working out longer than I've been tracking my calories. I'm confused with the cardio tracker because when I'm working on my equipment I see how many calories I've burned, but it's not all making sense with the tracker. It's showing less calories burned. On average I'm burning between 200-300 calories and when I enter my exercise it's only showing between 65-119 calories? Am I looking at the tracker wrong?

[cassiegose]

Hi there,

Let me make sure i'm understanding this... You're confused because your exercise equipment is giving you a different reading than the fittracker? Keep in mind that the equipment at the gym isn't always completely accurate in measuring the number of calories youre burning. Entering your weight and age makes them slightly more accurate, however they can still be off by quite a lot.

On that note... I wouldn't dwell too much on the calorie counting. Get a general idea of how many youre eating every day and then workout for time, or until you get all of your lifts in... don't work out for calories. To figure out how many calories youre consuming get a food journal and write down everything you eat for about a week. This will give you an idea of how many calories your getting. Once you have an idea review and revise your caloric intake if necessary. When working out, go for how you feel. If youre doing intervals and you feel like you could go longer maybe pick up the pace or add a little more time next time. If you're lifting weights and you feel like you have a ton of energy afterwards, then next time you should hit it harder by increasing your weights. By trying to burn X number of calories each workout you could ultimately cheat yourself as you may not be working as hard as you could. I would rather to intervals as hard as I can for 30 minutes and have the machine tell me that i've only burned 300 calories then go for an hour and a half and have the machine tell my i've burned 900.

Just my thoughts...

I hope this helps,

Cassie

[Packard]

Also keep in mind that it takes more calories for a 400 pound man to walk across the room than it does for a 120 pound woman.

If your exercise machine does not ask what your body weight is then the calculations are based on some arbitrary "average" weight, and may not be even reasonably accurate for you.