GeekFit PodcastPodcast hosts: Jason Tucker and Steven Klassen discuss healthy weight loss for geeks.
Posts tagged calories
What’s The Secret?
Feb 2nd
I got a Facebook comment on a recent Body Bugg update (3944 calories burned, 2958 calories consumed, and a 986 deficit). The question: “How do you burn so many calories, must have the secret…”
This was my response (written first thing in the morning, so bear with me):
I wish I could say it’s all muscle, but that only accounts for maybe an extra quarter calorie per minute (225 calories over 15 hours)**. I burn ~2750 calories a day at an idle, so that extra 500-1000 comes from deliberate daily exercise. 30m on the treadmill, a couple 15 minute brisk walks, etc. The 4500 calorie days are a Zumba class or a combination of weights and some intervals.
I’ve had a couple surplus days though – no exercise and usual intake. That’s good food, too. After tracking with a Body Bugg like this it’s really easy to see how tossing a Double Bacon Western Cheeseburger in the mix (or something similar) would EASILY pack on the pounds.
So, why 3000 calories at an idle instead of 2000 (USDA break-even calorie number)**? I’m carrying 100 lbs of extra ballast. I’m used to carrying it, so it’s like a workout you do for too long and plateau.
If I had to guess I’d say 2000 is a average, 2500 (extra 500 for the muscle composition), and then an extra 250 for carrying the extra weight brings us to 2750.
So the secret is to either be 100 lbs overweight (I really don’t recommend this one!) and/or lift weights to get the added benefit of the extra burn.
** This is a complete WAG (wild @$$ guess) based on what I’ve been heard from other bodybugg users who average 1-1.5 calories/min at an idle.
Review – DailyBurn FoodScanner for iPhone
Sep 24th
Both Steve and I are fans of DailyBurn and today they released a new iPhone application called FoodScanner. FoodScanner uses the iPhone built-in camera to take pictures of the barcode on food that you eat to help you keep track of what you are eating.
Below is a slide show of some screenshots that I did today while eating lunch. Once I got back to the office I started scanning my co-workers food too. I finally did find one item that did not come up based on the barcode but was in their database after searching for it.
After you input all the food items you have eaten (water bottles work too!) you can load see how many calories and other food facts from their website or the DailyBurn iPhone app.
DailyBurn’s FoodScanner is by far the best app I’ve used to date to collect the data that I need to calculate my daily intake. FoodScanner is like a magic wand for calorie counters, no extra effort is required.
