I got a Fitbit Charge 2 last year, March or so - I realised that my previous years’ efforts of trying to quickly ramp up my workout routine to what it used to be weren’t the right way to go about it so instead I opted to first become a bit more aware of what my baseline is and try and gradually include more exercise into my long-term routines - the Fitbit tracker is part of that effort.
The ‘badges’ etc. are very rah-rah…but over the course of the year I’ve definitely become more aware of a) how little I sleep b) how little I exercise when I’ve got a lot of work on and c) how stressed I must be at work, even though I don’t even notice it (heart rate).
I went away hiking for 2.5 weeks and my resting heart rate dropped from average 66-67 to around 56-59, I’m assuming just from less alcohol, very little work stress, on average 2 hours more sleep per night and a good few hours of exercise every day. A bit scary.
2017 I was very successful at work but that came at a cost to health / fitness goals - I know that in order to continue being able to take the stress at work I need to get more fighting fit so will try to get at least 3 medium intensity workouts incorporated to my work week. The other key areas will be to sleep more and drink less - I eat reasonably healthy, although you can always get better, of course.
Yeah - I’ve switched from beer to red wine. Not exactly a horrible change to make. Severely limiting my carbs. Trying (unsuccessfully) for less than 50 grams of carbs a day. But the sleep thing is just funny. Over the course of a week, I’m averaging about 6 hours a night (total) with 30 to 60 minutes of that deemed as “awake” time, 30% in REM, 45% in “light” sleep, and 20-ish% in “deep” sleep. The average is skewed by one stellar 7+30 night I got way last week when I had a day recovering from a string of night shifts at work. This is last night for instance:
My wife gets more like the requisite 8 hours on average. I’m able to catch sleep here and there when required though. Like I can sleep for 3 hours, get fully woken up by a pager or call, and go back to sleep for 3 more hours immediately. She gets woken up in mid-sleep, and it’s just gonna be a bad day for everyone from that point onward…
The sleep thing is interesting - I’d take the ‘scientific’ breakdown with a grain of salt, after all the proper sleep tests measure a bunch more stuff than just heart rate and body movement via the accelerometer…but I think it does give you a good overall idea of how much you sleep.
I cope ‘fine’ with reasonably little sleep but I am a lot more switched on when I’m properly rested.
The issue is that by the time you’re done with work and life admin it is 9pm but instead of starting to slow down for sleep, I often head into the home office for ‘me-time’ and gaming (flying, mostly)…and end up sleeping less than I should. Here’s a typical busy month:
As to beer vs. wine…that’s not a bad idea from a calorie-perspective. I really like my speciality beers, though! My job also involves some drinking with clients (which loses its appeal quickly), so need to try to limit the intake at home when work has been boozy.
Which length triathlon did you do? I’ve been eyeing the Olympic one to have a nice medium-term goal for the year.
I have to seriously contest that. It really depends on how much sports you usually do. If you exercise regularly, then yes, but if you don’t, ramping up your burn rate will make it much easier to lose weight than trying to do it via diet alone.
This is how my 2017 health and fitness turned out. A complete bust. Starting off 2018 with a couple of challenges orthopedic wise, but will spare you the details. It’s all up from here.
For me, it’s been spot on. At least as far as the time I go to bed and the times I wake up in the middle of the night and wake up in the morning. Now the light, deep, and REM stages…I don’t know exactly how it would know that. I assume it is using a baseline heartrate and then measuring for those stages I suppose.
I have lost over 30kg by changing my diet.
There are individual differencies, of course.
If you are overweight, then it’s much easier to cut a lot of energy going in, opposed to getting rid of more by activity.
But it is a energy game. It’s intake vs. output.
And here’s where you also need to have to consider what kind of energy you are digesting.
Throwing away they carbs forces the metabolism into ketosis and this really helped me lose weight, while still being able to function, i.e. not being hungry all the time.
Well, that ‘definition’ will vary with the type of sport now, won’t it
I exaggerated that to make my point.
From my point of view, and I guess for most people, reducing weight means getting rid of excess fat.
You can do this by exercise, or you can change your diet. Or a combo, of course. But for the sake of argument;
For most people, exercising 1 hour per day is a lot.
If you change your diet you can alter your metabolism to burn fat 24 hours per day, even when you sleep.
So, if you want to get rid of blubber, changing your diet is the most effective way. That’s my experience anyway.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t exercise, but you need to put in some serious time if you want to reduce your weight by exercising, compared to changing your diet.
Most people, me included, just can’t make time for that in their busy schedule. I get maybe 3 hours per week…
The best option is of course to exercise AND change your diet. But in my mind there’s no doubt about what causes the greatest weightloss.
Hmm. I would say professional athlete level starts at a mean of >3h of high intensity training per day, depending on the sport. In many sports it will be much more.
Well alright, if you don’t have time to do any exercise, diet is your only choice.
Exactly, that’s what i was saying. Both measures will compound each other, so you might not have to be too drastic in either regard to get the same or better result. Plus eating healthy alone is not enough to stay healthy in the long run. Your body needs exercise, period. If that is not an option for you, then at least one needs to be conscious of and ok with the ramifications of that lifestyle.
I think you’re reading my post in the most negative way you can imagine, or something…
I’m NOT disputing the benefits of exercise.
Just saying that changing your diet is a more effective way to reduce bodyweight for overweight people. If you are an overeater, or simply eat the wrong food, exercise won’t help you reduce weight.
Not as long as we’re talking about normal exercise levels. Not if you continue to overeat.
I agree. Some people’s normal, everyday activities are plenty to lose weight under a normal caloric intake (ie: a construction worker or carpenter). Eating 6,000 calories a day (sodas, fast food, desserts) vs doing a thousand calories of cardio aren’t going to make a difference to that person. If they dialed it back to 2,500 or 3,000 calories, a modestly active person will definitely lose weight. Of course, “fitness” has more do do with just being at an ideal weight…so there’s that.
Pretty much this. If you excercize enough you can eat pretty much whatever and how much you like but most people don’t have the time for that. And while you can eat whatever when you workout enough, in the long run it’s important to complement your excercize with a healthy diet.
Cycling is pretty good if you want to lose weight.
I cycle 2h+ per day, mostly just below heart rate threshold and I have to eat a lot more than the average person to maintain weight. It’s my hobby and I use my commute as training, so for me it’s much better to take the bike to work and cycle 2h per day than to commute 1.5h per day and then go cycling for an hour after work.
I ran across this article, which pretty much sums up my idea of weightloss.
It focuses on spending a practical amount of your time on focusing on what you eat, or how you exercise.
Sure, there are different schools of thought here, and for every article saying one thing, you can find another article saying something completely opposite
Let’s say you are a 200 pound man who is at 30% body fat. You expend 1,743 calories per day just staying alive. (200 x (1-.30) * 9.81 + 370 calories)
He’ll expend about 10% on top of that by what’s known as the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): the amount of calories that he spends digesting and absorbing his dietary intake.
Add another 10% on top of that through a metabolic process known as NEAT ( Non Exercise Adaptive Thermogenesis). This is the amount of calories wasted through things such as fidgeting. Unfortunately, this can vary greatly from individual to individual.
This means that without so much as getting out of bed, our subject has already expended 2,100 calories.
Now, add another 10% for getting out of bed and going about his daily routine and he’s already burned 2,300 calories.
Adding exercise into the equation barely makes a dent in his overall caloric expenditure; most of the work is done before he puts on his running shoes. Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t exercise, but rather, it’s important to realize where a majority of your caloric expenditure is coming from.
And it finishes with a great quote
“Sure, weight is lost in the kitchen,” says Dr. Freedhoff. “But health is gained in the gyms.”
Depends on the type of training, sports and character of the person.
I remember back in my rugby career days. Early on, sport science was in its infancy. There was generic training and understanding towards fitness. It was in these times that my sport training consisted of personal weights and aerobic fitness 4 times a week excluding 2 rugby training nights and gameday once a week.
But later in my proposed career when i went semi pro, the change in sports science was immense. Training more specialised and intense. I tried to maintain my schedule but i hit the breakdown. It was too much.
It was interesting playing sport at a decent level and at a time where i saw the huge popularity in steroids rise (i never did), then become frowned upon then became hidden in sport. I simply couldn’t keep up with the progress of these guys on the juice. And its hard to keep your spot on the team when competing with those who knew well how to cheat the system with drug enhancements (different story)
But the change in training due to sport science was immense in my time. However that was many moons and beers ago and it would be interesting to know how much it has changed again.
I have really bad flu. Three days in bed now. I never get sick, so am feeling ultra sorry for myself. My main energy is spent on whining pathetically. Pretty sure Typhoid Mary was on that return Las Vegas flight. Great way to lose a bit of weight though.
