How Many Calories does my Workout Burn?

First things first - you do not weigh as much as the person next to you.  Which makes an overall answer to this question of calories burned much harder to answer than calories in food.  There are plenty of websites that claim to have an accurate count.  No site is right unless it takes your body weight into consideration.

For example, when you are on a cardio machine at the gym and don't customize the weight setting before you start your trek, you will only have the right calories burned if you are 150 pound person.  Note that I said person.  The machine does not account for sex.  Nor does it account for muscle mass or lack there of - muscle burns a few more calories a day than fat.  People who weigh more, burn more calories by default.  The Mayo Clinic has a fantastic and simple article explaining metabolism and weight loss.

All of that said, you want tools, you got them.  The one I frequently used was on the Lean Cuisine website I gave you yesterday.  It was convenient because I was also keeping track of my calories 'in', so inputing my calories 'out' there made sense.

Here are others:
Mayo Clinic has a short list with general weight categories.
From Livestrong
Health Status
Calorie Control
This one has more activities than I have ever seen.

Like yesterday, everyone needs to pick the one that works for them.  (I don't mean the one that always says you burn more calories. ;)  )  And something I didn't say yesterday, I don't endorse any of these links specifically.  I am simply doing the hunting and linking for you.  I want you to have an easier time getting started or staying motivated than I have.

Hopefully one of these will work for you. Whatever you do, find something you enjoy and can keep at and watch the changes in your body begin.

Tomorrow - The soundtrack to your workout.

Yours in Health,
Kate

How do you count calories?

This is one of the questions I am asked most frequently.  It also has many answers.  For some people keeping a food journal is the way to go.  Some just want to ball park it using the knowledge of their foods make up.  Other people only want to count carbs and fat.  And yet other people go cross-eyed at the idea of keeping track of anything.

I need to tell you, again, find what works for you and you will keep up with it.  So I am going to give you a myriad of options and you hopefully will find one that sticks - the key to success.  All of these are online, because you can log on anywhere and keep track - even on vacation.  However, you can also buy just any regular journal and a calorie counting book at the book store and take them along as well.

Food Journal links:  (You will have to create an account, but otherwise, these are free.)
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/
Use the "Track your Fitness" tool - http://www.leancuisine.com/Tools/Index.aspx - I used this one.
http://www.thedailyplate.com/
http://www.fitday.com/
http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Calorie Sites:  Most of the above sites will automatically load calorie information when you log your food.  If they don't have what you need, here are a couple of sites that can help.
The United States Department of Agriculture - http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
http://www.calorieking.com/foods/
And I just found out that iGoogle, if you have a personalized home page, has a Calorie Calculator.

Okay, now you know what you are eating.  Tomorrow I will give you tools to figure out what you are burning through exercise.

Yours in Health,
Kate