OK, the title is, I'll admit, a little dramatic.
I went through body composition testing today. It was as bad as I expected it to be after 16 years of inactivity:
Weight: 212lbs
Body fat 32% or 68lbs
The machine also measured my resting metabolic rate at 1820kcal/day.
I figured out that it I don't gain an ounce of muscle I have to loose 42 to 48lbs in order to get to a 12% to 15% body fat range.
Now I need a good estimate of caloric output during swimming. Last session I swam about 2000y in 90min. I need to translate that into kcal per workout so that I can figure out the rest.
Does anyone know of any articles/sources on the caloric output measurement during an activity like swimming? I know about the myriad of websites with estimating calculators. I am after actual measurement if at all possible.
I wonder if it is as simple as using a really precise scale. Since 3500 calories is 1 pound it stands to reason that you might be able to measure calories burned by simply having a really good weight comparison before and after. A scale with repeatability of 0.1lbs or better might be all you need. In this case, 0.1lbs would be about 350 calories.
I wonder if it is as simple as using a really precise scale. Since 3500 calories is 1 pound it stands to reason that you might be able to measure calories burned by simply having a really good weight comparison before and after. A scale with repeatability of 0.1lbs or better might be all you need. In this case, 0.1lbs would be about 350 calories.In theory, yes but in a real practical world, no. Even if the initial state of your body before working out was negligible (I don't think it would be), you are at best going to burn about 900 calories or less than .3 pounds by your calculations. That's about 5 oz of water which could easily be accounted for by water still in your hair/ears/swallowed from the workout.
I'd just weigh yourself weekly (or daily if you want to... I do) to look at overall long term trends. Adjust your food intake/exercise balance to obtain the results you want. Be careful about dropping it all too fast. As you say, it is a long road.
I wonder if it is as simple as using a really precise scale. Since 3500 calories is 1 pound it stands to reason that you might be able to measure calories burned by simply having a really good weight comparison before and after. A scale with repeatability of 0.1lbs or better might be all you need. In this case, 0.1lbs would be about 350 calories.In theory, yes but in a real practical world, no. Even if the initial state of your body before working out was negligible (I don't think it would be), you are at best going to burn about 900 calories or less than .3 pounds by your calculations. That's about 5 oz of water which could easily be accounted for by water still in your hair/ears/swallowed from the workout.
I'd just weigh yourself weekly (or daily if you want to... I do) to look at overall long term trends. Adjust your food intake/exercise balance to obtain the results you want. Be careful about dropping it all too fast. As you say, it is a long road.
