Going to gym 3 times a week which I enjoy and burn between 700 - 1000 calories a time.....

[RemyMartin]

but then today I have eaten 1 large chocolate bar and 1 packet of shortbread fingers! Obviously if I didn't go to the gym i would be even bigger but I'm still size 18. Does anyone else do this? Do you know why? (apart from greed?)

Hi just bumping to see if anyone else does similar to me? It's like one step forward two steps back and I seem to be sabotaging my own efforts to lose weight.

I don't exercise like you, but what I tended to do in the past was loose a few pounds then think oh that's ok if i eat that chocolate bar, have a glass of wine or crisps and before you know it the weight has all gone back on and more. Maybe becuase you have worked so hard in the gym you feel its ok to have some treats? The only thing I can suggest if that you reward yourself a realistic treat like a small choc bar and 1 biscuit. Are you following a particular diet or just increasing your exercise?

No I'm just exercising, but I find that when I exercise I generally feel better and don't feel like bingeing as much, but I still do it once or twice a week and I can't understand why.

RM I wish I knew the answer, I'm the same, can be good either exercising or dieting for a couple of weeks then totally blowing it all - I blame the hormones

try some motivation - to lose a pound you need to burn 3500 calories a week, or eat that amount less food, so if you did the gym but didn't eat the extra food, the weight would drop off - take an apple to eat on the way home

The thing is I think the exercise is keeping me sane and I love doing it, but it's not going to have much effect the way I eat sometimes. Maybe it is hormones. I should keep a diary, but then I'd be afraid of dp finding it, I feel ashamed of how I eat sometimes.

You could always try an online diary like foodfocus.co.uk. This is what I am using at the moment and it's really working to keep me on the straight and narrow and it was a real wake up call to just how much I was eating...

Thanks amysaidno, I'll have a look at that, sounds interesting.

remy, a ew questions, where were the short bread biccys? where they in the house or where they in the supermarket 5 minutes before you eat them?

why di you want to eat sthem? was it the taste? or was it you where having a drink?

what where you thinking about 10 minutes before you opened the packet?

sorry to be intrusive and you don't have to answer the questions, but if you perhaps think about these things and then decide that next, you may not have them in the house, so you actually have to walk to the supermarket to get them.

That if they are in the house you must put them somewhere with a note - do I really want to eat these?

I don't have stuff in the house, it just doesn't get brought with the weekly shop. The dc have to go without aswell.

Also...hate to be the bearer of bad news but those gym calorie burner numbers are often between 25% and 50% overly optomistic - might it help if you divide what you think you've burnt off by 2 and have that number in your head?

Prinnie - If she is using a HRM then it sounds about right for her weight and an hour in the gym, not forgetting the HR will be raised for a whie after the session and lose a few then.

I know if I leave my HRM on that as I drive home after a 30 minute hard session in the gym I lose another 100 in the 10 minute drive home to the shower - so a total of aorund 400 ..no idea how that reckons the rest of the hour after??

Remy, what are you doing in the gym to burn so many calories?

I do CV stuff for an hour and only burn about 600 calories.

Where am I going wrong?

Oh - yes, sorry I didn't realise she was using a HRM

With the 1000 calories, I was running on treadmill for 1.5 hrs. I don't actually use a hrm, but I usually do about 15 mins on cross trainer, 10 mins on rower, various weights and then about 1/2 hr run, or do 6 x 1k intervals on treadmill. I sort of thought that the calories were usually set up based on someone lighter than me, so I might actually be burning more?
Re the biscuits, they were at the supermarket, but I live very near to 2 supermarkets!

If she is using a HRM - i don't know either but it could be the case...

I used to burn around 500 calories in a 45 minute spin class, as got fitter the calories increased as the wattage increased - to around 600 calories. But thats not the whole story, as I got fitter my heart rates doesn't stay as high so that a higher % of fat is burnt for example 40% fat at 600 cals rather than 20% fat at 500 calories.

OP may be burning 600 calories but only 25% fat and Biftilly may be burning 500 calories and 35% fat

I hope that makes sense.

I usually burn about 600-700 if I don't do a big run btw.

remy do you do any weights at the gym or a weights class?

To alter your body and trim you need to be doing weights for 50% of your time at the gym.

Ivykaty44, yes I do weights, and I'm really noticing a difference in my strength and posture

Does your gym have body pump class? if you can do that twice a week it will really change your weight if you are eating a sensible 2000cals a day.

Keep adding on the weights aswell, move the level or use heavier weights and don't worry about if you don't do all your reps, you will in the end, then move it up again

As for the binge chcy and biccys - walk inthe opposite drection and then if you still really want them buy a bag of prunes aswell and make sure the chocolate contains no less than 70% coco

Remy - if you want to lose weight I think you need to combine the exercise (which you are doing great at!) with a healthy eating approach too (which sounds like you do well at generally and then suddenly splurge and purge?). Foodfocus or Weight Watchers - which would let you know how many calories you should be eating to lose weight at the level you exercise at - might help.

dinkystinky I am losing weight, but I could be losing it faster, I'm just trying to understand why I do it. I'll have a look at foodfocus, thanks

1.5hr on the treadmill I couldn't keep it up for that long

What speed do you run at?

I can only do 40min at 9.2km/hr, gradient of 1 and that burns about 450cal according to our treadmills.

BTM I run a lot slower than that! I was doing it at about 8k/h on a gradient of 0.3. I don't really want to, but I have agreed to do a half marathon so have to run further than I would prefer to really. Once I've got the race out of the way I won't be running anywhere near as much

That's a great goal to have.

Maybe I need more of a challenge!

Not really I just feel scared! And I'm not doing enough. And I'm still fat.