I’m not sure what it uses, but I’ve setup Age, Sex, Weight, MaxHR, guessed LTHR and RHR and my Forerunner seems ~ correct for step Calories and Stride Length when I run.
I have stride length set to Automatic but that would only change the number of step recorded and not the Calories per step. Seem very old that its seemingly so far out. For what is worth using the wrist HR or a Garmin Tri HR strap I get the same results.
What Garmin are you using and is the HR data seemingly reliable? Wrist measurement can be a bit dodgy for some people.
Using a forerunner 235. HR data seems to be normal and have compared it to my tickr during workouts and it matches up ok. Activity tracking works fine. The only abnormality I have seen is the calories estimated which at first I didn’t think much of but compared to my wife’s vivoactive they seemed wildly different.
Interestingly I did a quick Google and the 235 was the first one that came up with a few people complaining it over calculated. Same on the 935, but that was sometime ago so I would hope they fixed the algorithm some time ago if there was an issue,
I’d suggest just keeping an eye on it and if it seems out delete the adjustment out of MFP and put you own in. I’ve done that a few times with rouge readings, its easy to Google the rough calories for given activities, for example 80 - 140 calories per mile run. It is dependant on weight and pace, you can nail it down closer by basing it on your personal stats.
Annoying I know, but then Calorie calculations are a bit hit and miss anyway. Best to run what you think is a deficit and see if over time the scales match, then adjust up or down.
So my weekly check in - down 0.5lb, which is my weekly loss “goal” that I set while tracking with LoseIt! So I am happy with that. If I can keep going down 0.5lbs a week through the winter it will be a big win for me.
I did go back and look at my ftp/weight tracking spreadsheet that I use to keep track since starting TR. I have lost a lot more than I thought I did - down just shy of 20lbs since Dec 2019. I have done that with tracking calories for the most part as well as trying to consistently get on my bike 5 times a week (which I have for the most part). And then I also need to remind myself that I am down 50lbs since starting to get active and paying attention a few years ago.
Sometimes I forget to take a step back and look at the big picture - if you have not you should do that as well!
OK, i’ve held roughly steady for 4 weeks now while i’ve gotten a couple big rides out of the way. Now i’m back to running a calorie deficit and seeing if I can shed another 10lbs or so over the next 2-3 months.
Honestly the last few weeks of riding with plentiful fueling i’ve felt so good on the bike. I’ve been able to put in some really hard efforts and can’t wait to get to my goal weight so I can just maintain and feel like that all the time.
Well, I have a long list of excuses the last three weeks… personal issues, long work hours, illness and almost no riding sent me in the wrong direction. For me when things are crazy the meal planning and prep goes out the window and the wrong food is so much more convenient. My friend told me “if it comes in a wrapper, bag or box, you probably shouldn’t eat it” I fail to follow this wisdom when things are nuts. If I can figure that out I will be golden.
Definitely struggled with this in the past. My issue was (and to an extent is…) that exercise is my primary means of controlling weight. My diet isn’t bad, I eat plenty of good stuff and not too much really bad stuff although I do have a sweet tooth, I’m just a big eater and can easily put away a lot of calories even if they’re mostly healthy calories. I’m also a lifelong habitual exerciser so most of the time I’ve exercised enough to burn those calories off, the problems start of course when for whatever reason I can’t exercise as much! I’m pretty hopeless at portion control and pathologically incapable of leaving any food on the plates. Only thing which has really worked for me is intermittent fasting since for some reason I find it much easier to go ~16 hours without eating any food than I do to eat normally but with smaller portions.
Weighed in last week for first time in a while (seem to be on more of a monthly than weekly weigh in cycle, but just got my scales reconnected to the wifi so will start being a bit more regular), very happy to have trimmed off a couple of kg since last weigh-in in August! Mostly down to getting back in a good training routine including some fasted rides, after a few months with quite a bit of life disruption. 1 more kg to get to target weight, goal is to knock that off during October and then try to stay at about that weight through the rest of winter.
I thought I was doing good this week. Sunday morning I was on track to have lost 1/2 lb, but I woke up this morning and gained over two pounds from Sunday morning. Not sure what the heck went wrong. I burned around 1800 calories on a long, easy bike ride and then spent 3 hours washing and cleaning the car. I didn’t overeat by any stretch.
This seems to be the trend for me, do really well during the week through Sunday , wake up Monday morning and bam back to square one. I always think it is water weight, but I end up spending the week getting it back down to where it was the prior Sunday. It’s a vicious cycle that I want to break, I am tired of it.
When I weigh myself daily I see a very similar pattern. Weekends for me nearly always mean lots of training (often 50% or more of my volume for the week) and lots of calories to fuel and recover from that training. Plus it’s the time when I’m most likely to indulge myself on food and drink. So Monday morning is often my heaviest morning of the week, I guess through some combination of water weight from the carbs, inflammation from the training, or just extra food still working it’s way through my gut.
Guess the solution is either only weigh yourself once a week on the same day to get an apples to apples comparison and maybe avoid thinking you’re doing better than you are during the week. Or go the other way and weigh yourself every day and then just take a weekly average to smooth out the day to day fluctuations?
Welp, I’ve been fairly stagnant in my weight-loss, but not too upset by it considering my diet hasn’t been the greatest. I’ve baked a lot of cookies lately…
I did, however, get blood work done recently and my RBC is just below norm (but hemoglobin in the norm?) and hbA1c at 5.1, which I was hoping for 4.9 or lower, even though it’s within the normal range
So with that I think I’m going to focus on my diet to include foods that help with RBC, which coincidentally are not high sugar foods, and maybe along the way lose the last few pounds!
After a long break from riding my bike… 434 days to be exact… I am now back on it and want to slowly edge my weight down.
I have lost a lot of weight in the past, c.30kgs, and being accountable is one of the keys to be successful… this time I want to get from 78kg down to the weight where I previously has my best racing results, 70kg.
Steady week for me - I will take it after a couple of not so great eating weeks. Looking to get back on track this week and eat at a small deficit. Really only have a couple of lbs to go to reach first goal. Then if I can lose an additional 5lbs to get down to 180 I would be pumped, but not stressing about it at all.
I think one thing that has been helping a ton is getting back into a plan after a summer of unstructured riding. I am in week 2 of SSB2 after nailing every workout in SSB1.
this week is totally hard for me, at the beginning of this week i went out with my dog and get an attack of 2 free running dogs, so i protect myself and my dog with kicking them with my foot, then comes the owner of both dogs and kicked me, so i have an injury (Bruise and strain on my foot), so it’s impossible to train, so hope i can hold my reduced weight, more reducing is impossible
two weeks for the price of one.
Big green last week, down 0.3, delighted overall.
Had a race on Sunday, and proceeded to carb load properly for it.
Glad I did, but i seem to have put on reserves. Will probably take a couple of days to even out.
Result? +1.3
Another somewhat solid week of re-learning how to tune into my hunger/fullness cues. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made, although I’m not there yet (I still have a tendency to overeat) and the weight has remained stable. Remaining stable without having to track everything is still progress in my book, though!
Completely agree. I’m more or less neutral over the last 2 months, not having tracked at all.
I feel i need to recaliber once in a while though, so not excluding going back to mfp, but in the meantime, it’s great to enjoy food without having to track
Having said all that, I feel like my next step will be to be able to not track and lose a sustainable amount of weight. It will be a tricky balance to get, I believe, but I’m getting more confident with every week that goes by!
