Re: But is it all about CALORIES?

Marcello:
> 
> "Scott Safier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
>> I got down to 6% this past summer by doing lots of aerobics (I bike
>> (like 3 hours a day)) and eating a high protein diet.  very little
>> muscle loss.  Oh, and I'm 40 y/o.
>>
>> As has been pointed out, it's both diet and exercise.  It's also
>> commitment and discipline.  Things like pedometers, food diaries, (and
>> wearable computers) provide information to help achieve your goals, but
>> in the end, it's really up to you.
>>
> 
> 
> Wow, congrats on those great numbers!  Where would you reccomend getting a
> good pedometer?  

I tend to agree with the other poster that the value of pedometers is
limited.  A simple step count is one source of information, but
doesn't really tell you how many calories you are burning.

>Also, can you elaborate on your food diary.  I have done
> this before and has some success with it but eventually lost interest when
> my improvments from dieting plateued.  But my diary mainly consisted of me
> writing eveyr thing I ate down thus restricting my calories.  What is the
> goal with the diary?

The goal is this idea of energy balance or caloric balance.  If you
want to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you are
consuming (and, I would argue, pay attention to the type of calories
you are consuming).  People burn calories through exercise and
movement (e.g. walking more).

A food diary is half the energy balance equation.  Basically, it is a
record of how many calories you are consuming -- what you are eating,
size of portion, etc.  To be blunt, they are a pain in the ass.  There
are systems to make them easier, like Weight Watchers or a variety of
websites.  There are studies (which I have at work) that show that
people are very bad at keeping food diaries -- people underestimate
what they are eating.  However, if you are serious about weight loss,
you need some method of understanding how many calories you are
putting into your body, even if you make mistakes.

The other side of the equation is how many calories you are burning.

As I've said, I work for a company that has developed a wearable
computer.  I've had access to it.  We've done clinical studies and
come up with algorithms to estimate caloric burn based upon the data
the computer's multiple sensors collect (and, please remember, I am
under a non-disclosure agreement on the specifics of such algorithms).
Our technology has been tested in clinical studies.  So, when it tells
me that I'm burning over 3000 calories a day (and I bike for 60 to 90
minutes per day), I tend to believe it is pretty much on target.  When
I bike for 3 hours a day and the device tells me I'm burning over 5000
calories, I believe that.  I can then adjust how much I'm eating to
either maintain or lose weight.

As I pointed out in my other post, this is all about feedback.  The
food diary and the pedometer/wearable computer/etc simply provide
information about how well you are doing.  Your bathroom scale also
provides that feedback, as does a mirror.  However, the scale provides
a more coarse granularity (say, over a week or a month timeframe) than
does a pedometer (or wearable computer), which can provide daily (or
even hourly or at any minute) information.

As a computer geek, I tend to believe there is value in information,
and sometimes more is better.  For weight management, information
comes in two flavors -- how much you are putting in and how much you
are expending.  Food diaries and pedometers/wearable computers/caloric
burn numbers on treadmills/etc are the two sides of this scale.

-- 
Scott                                      http://www.pink-triangle.org/scott
AOL IM: CorwinScot                         YahooIM: CycleMuscle

"Stand firm for what you believe in until or unless logic or experience prove
you wrong.  Remember, when the emperor looks naked the emperor is naked.  The
truth and a lie are not sort of the same thing.  And there's no aspect, no
facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza."  -- Daria