Am I a fit fat person?

[emccorm]

Jamie, amazing stuff. Inspirational.

Ive a quick question.

Doyou know how many calories you are consuming each day? reason i ask is that i am ticking along now at between 1500 and 2000 per day. I weight in at about 105kgs now, which is about 230lb i guess. Down from about 120kgs or 250lb. With moderate to heavy exercise, this seems to work for me pretty well. the weight has steadily come off.

at this consumption level i dont really ever feel hungry, but it does at times take some disipline. but only a little bit.

wondering if its reasonable to go lower on calorie intake, hence my question.

One thing ive found during my period of weightloss is how strangely/theoretically poor the erg is at burning calories versus being on a bike. I am assuming that the calorie measure on the C2 is correct and i am also assukming that the calorie measure on my Garmin cycling computer is correct as well, but in an hour of moderate cycling one burns almost twice as many cals as one does during an hour of UT1 rowing on the erg. I dont really understand why, but i do know with some certainty that an hour on the bike is a LOT easier and repeatable than an hour on the erg.

I do both each week so i cant say ive tested each exclusively wrt its effect on my weight but its just an observation. Ive found myself as a result using the erg as a fitness machine, much more than a pure fat loss machine if that makes sense.

Cheers
Ed

[Fat Jamie]

Jamie, amazing stuff. Inspirational.

Ive a quick question.

Doyou know how many calories you are consuming each day? reason i ask is that i am ticking along now at between 1500 and 2000 per day. I weight in at about 105kgs now, which is about 230lb i guess. Down from about 120kgs or 250lb. With moderate to heavy exercise, this seems to work for me pretty well. the weight has steadily come off.

at this consumption level i dont really ever feel hungry, but it does at times take some disipline. but only a little bit.

wondering if its reasonable to go lower on calorie intake, hence my question.

One thing ive found during my period of weightloss is how strangely/theoretically poor the erg is at burning calories versus being on a bike. I am assuming that the calorie measure on the C2 is correct and i am also assukming that the calorie measure on my Garmin cycling computer is correct as well, but in an hour of moderate cycling one burns almost twice as many cals as one does during an hour of UT1 rowing on the erg. I dont really understand why, but i do know with some certainty that an hour on the bike is a LOT easier and repeatable than an hour on the erg.

I do both each week so i cant say ive tested each exclusively wrt its effect on my weight but its just an observation. Ive found myself as a result using the erg as a fitness machine, much more than a pure fat loss machine if that makes sense.

Cheers
Ed

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the kind words.
Your figures correspond almost exactly with mine. Im averaging between 1500 and 2000 calories per day (1750 per day weekly average) and as you say it takes discipline but once used to it its no serious hardship.
Im exercising between 5 and 6 days per week, with one or two of those days being a minimum of 800cal/max 1500cal exertion.
And the weight is steadily coming off, not falling off but on everage just over 2lb per week. Also, like you, im not ever feeling starving hungry, except perhaps the morning after a heavy training session the night before!.

Also, ive noticed the correlation between C2 cals burned and cycling cals burned, with cycling being indicated as so much higher. Now im probably going to be shot down in flames here for suggesting this but IMHO I feel the cycling caculations are made by considering that you have been cycling constantly, in an upper HR, without taking coasting into account.
Like you again, I never feel that ive worked as hard on a similar length training session on my bike, in fact it takes twice the amount of time in the saddle to feel comparitively tired...again I put this down to coasting, all the time spent freewheeling essentially, and the fact I find it fairly easy to cruise on the flats at 18 to 20mph, particularly with no headwind.
Therefore, I personally tend to reduce my suggested calorie burned figure for any given bike ride by 40 to 50%.
Im comfortable with this, as I prefer to underestimate than over, but i'd be surprised if I was way off the truth.

As for going lower on calorie intake, by all means give it a try. However, you have already achieved excellent progress and unless you are at a plateau that you are unable to shake off then I would recommend more of the same..
Ive spent a week or two between 1000 and 1300cal per day (after exercise) and although the hunger wasnt unbearable, I found my recovery slightly slower and my energy levels slightly lower (understandably). Also, the hunger straight after exercise was much more pronounced as my body screamed for fuel.

In order to mainain a good level of exercise my comfort zone seems to be around 1750cal per day, I guess when my bulk reduces down to something like 230lb or less I would consider going slightly lower until at a weight im happy with but right now, if it aint broke!..

All the best and keep it up!

[Fat Jamie]

Not so fat anymore Jamie,

Reading about your successes is inspirational. I was a very competitve rower just a few years ago who fell off the deep end and put on about 100 pounds! I am finished feeling sorry for myself and set a goal..to row in the Head of the Charles this October in the Alumni Eights category. I started my training on January 1st and weighed in a scale tipping 318. Two weeks into eating better and erging at least four times a week I'm down 7 pounds. I am hoping to be down at least 50 pounds by the time on the water training begins in August.

Thanks!
Your PB list is inspirational to me, and the fact that you now have set yourself a target will no doubt have you back to your PB's by October.
It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly the C2, or any form of (taxing) CV work can improve your general fitness. Stick with your programme and in just a few weeks you'll be feeling full of confidence.
Its not rocket science right? cut out the high fat foods and sugars, and do some moderate exercise. Works like a charm!
Keep us posted!

[Fat Jamie]

Keep up the inspirational posts Jamie!

I'm in a boat similar to yours. I was 275 pounds last week, and I'm at 270 this week. I'm just getting started, and it's good to hear from someone who is making it work.

Todd

Great start for you Todd. The trick is to not let a poor weekly result get to you.. just get back on it, dont feel sorry for yourself, but teach your metabolism who's boss!.
I felt I had let myself down over christmas (4500cal on xmas day alone ) and at first was dissapointed at maintaining my weight for a week or so.. now three weeks on ive dropped another six pounds after hitting the ground running (quite literally!)
Mix up your sessions and keep it up!.

I've found that it gets to a point where you have worked so hard, and achieved so much, that you will never let yourself go again.
A 6" waistline reduction, means having to buy new smaller trousers twice since september is a price worth paying!
Jamie

[emccorm]

I dont know how to insert previous comments, but i am replying to jamies reply to me.

Mate i agree re the calorie thing. I think it may indeed be a combination of the two. Cal burned is I understand a function of the weight that is being moved, so as far as the erg is concerned, it will make its calculation based on the estimaed weight which will be, i assume, some arbitrary number the c2 boffins believe is about average. For you and I, this isnt really appropriate. Ive stepped things up lately on the exercise front. I am swimming/riding every day for 800-1500 cal burn. I lift 3 or 4 times a week, and on lifting days i erg. Ive only been doing this for a couple of weeks but i can tell y0u its hard to keep up on sub 2000 cals. Just today i had a bit of a blowout. Cycled this morning, came home and ate my usual beakfast. By lunchtime i was starving so ive had 4 peanut butter/paste sandwiches. 200mls of softdrink/pop and some of my lwifes lasagne she was having for lunch. Ill still be in a small deficit for the day but the bottom line is that one needs to make sure one os eating enough so that one can avoid the massive blowouts.

if you have never had one, you should see if a "DEXA" scan is available in the city in which you live. If you hve never heard of it look it up on google. Basicaly its a super accurate body composition test. after one of these youll know exactly, to the gram, how much fat you are carrying and where it is. Ive been getting one done every 8 weeks and they help enormously. also uselful in finding out ideally what weight you should be. as in, no point trying to be 180 pouinds if you have 190 of lean tissue.

[emccorm]

sorry to hijack this thread but i thought id add something.

on the way down, whilst i am not really getting enough energy to recover optimally, ive been taking creatine. Creatine is often associated with muscle growth and weight gain, but really what it does is aid muscle recovery. Its not everyones cup of tea, but i can highly recommend it if you are feeling your recovery between sessions is inadequate. Once i am at goal fat % ill cut the creatine out, but for now i find it valuable.

[Fat Jamie]

wowzers... watch out for burnout..
im sure you know this already but its very important to have at least one rest day per week.
Creatine may work wonders and is something ill be looking it to eventually, but your muscle fibres need time to repair themselves.
Kudos to you for the effort though!

[emccorm]

Hows progress Jamie?

I pulled a 20 min erg the other day. I am same age as you and here in australia, back when i was at high school, we would do 20 min tests. I see this has now changed to 6k as the standard. anyway, i pulled 5133, or 1:56.7 average. was happy with that. My last (and first in 15 years) 2k test a couple of months ago i pulled 7:31. Short term id very much like to get through 7 mins, id like to hit 6:30 before the end of 2011 but i might be pulling myself. long story short, i was reasonably happy with the 156.7 aerage for 20mins. Ideally that number should be 1:50 for 6kms but its a work in progress.

with your cycling mate have you found that, at the same heart rate, u can maintain a faster speed at lower weight? I ask coz i have. Did 50kms this morning on whats basically a flat course. 1% is the biggest incline/decline. i went out just to ride steadily for 50km at 130-145 heart rate. anyway, normally id average say 27 or 28kmh (divide by 1.6 for miles per hour), today i was just short of 31kmh average barely breaking a sweat. I presume this is simply because i am lighter, but im pretty curious what your experiece has been on the bike. could of course be attributed to being fitter, but weight must be a factor re cycling speed. not many boys our size on le tour......

[Fat Jamie]

Hi guys,
Just a quick update, ive been keeping up the CV work and calorie control and this week hit 70lb weight loss.
Im slightly ashamed to admit that my concept2 has had very litle use for the last 5 or 6 weeks as ive become very much hooked on running.
I never thought id be a 'runner' but my ergo has given my lungs and heart the chance to haul my bulk around without too much trouble and within 2 weeks of starting running (new years eve) I was running around 5 miles non-stop. I now run a 10k every weekend with at least two slightly shorter runs during the week.
Although my relatively fast row times havent neccesarily transferred to fast running times (im at 10min per mile right now) im very happy with my progress and have signed up for two half marathons later this year to help give me a target.

Combined with the weight loss im now starting to notice more spring in my step and more flexibility. Im at the same weight now as I last was around 14 years ago!

Now the weather is turning good im also cross tranining by cycling again, but will aim to add in more occasional rows. Im sure it will get much more use in the winter when its too cold to work outside.
I must reiterate that if it wasnt for my Concept2 I would never be in this posiition and defintely wouldnt have had the confidence to take up running. I owe it so much and it probably has saved my life, its almost certainly prolonged it!.
My resting heart rate is now as low as 44bpm, averaging at 45/46bpm.
Next target, 100lb loss..

[Bob S.]

My resting heart rate is now as low as 44bpm, averaging at 45/46bpm.
Next target, 100lb loss..

Great Job, Jamie! Keep up the good work.

Bob S.