Another Week…

Just grinding away the miles and the calories.

• Monday: Scheduled rest
• Tuesday: 3 miles (done)
• Wednesday: 2 miles (done)
• Thursday: 3 miles
• Friday: Scheduled rest
• Saturday: 4 miles
• Sunday: 3 miles
• Total planned: 15 miles

It seems like ages ago when I used to whip out 30 miles a week without thinking twice. Oh well. At least I’m back to grinding the miles.

On the calorie front:

Monday:

• Calorie budget: 1690
• Calories eaten: 1699
• Exercise burn: 0
• Calorie deficit: -9

Tuesday:

• Calorie budget: 1690
• Calories eaten: 2201
• Exercise burn: 616
• Calorie deficit: 105

Wednesday:

• Calorie budget: 1690
• Calories eaten: 2047
• Exercise burn: 462
• Calorie deficit: 105

I’ll have a weight loss report this Saturday. Believe it or not, I didn’t weigh myself when I first started this cycle.

Went for a Run and a Hike Broke Out!

It’s not often these days that I can find someone to force me out the door, but, on Saturday, I caught wind that one of my “buds” from Colorado was in town. Turns out that she had just finished a trail run on Saturday, so I thought I would be safe and offer to take her on another run on Sunday. After all, who would want to run trails two days in a row?

Well, I may have found out why some people are in shape and improving and I’m not. She accepted! So, I met up with Ali and Yas Sunday morning for a trail run. I know that we don’t have anything in Southern California that compares to the majesty of the pines and elevation in Colorado, but we do have our own little gems. I decided to take them on a little jaunt through the oak canopy that lines many of our hills here.

Luckily we met early, because the sun was already out and blazing at 8:30. We headed into Laurel Canyon in the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

I was maybe a mile and half into our run when I figured out that the one think I had left behind was a rope so Yas and Ali could pull me up the hills! Oh well. Thankfully they waited around and made sure I made it back down in one piece. Thanks for making me get out there and get it done gals!

On the calorie front – at least the exercise let me have a Mexican dinner out. It’s amazing what those tortilla chips can do to a diet:

• Calorie budget: 1690
• Calories eaten: 2294
• Exercise: 477
• Deficit: –127

That’s two days in a row of exceeding my budget. Hmmm……

Software Pitfalls

So, after a few days of tracking and watching my calories and exercise, I noticed something that is a little distressing. According to MyFitnessPal, every mile that I run at a leisurely 12 min/mile pace (well - leisurely for most), I'm burning 185 calories. Say what? That's a full 50% greater than my Garmin reports.

What this really points out is that calories counting is an estimate at best. And depending the program that you're using those estimates can be grossly off - both for food ingested and exercise burn.

For the time being, I'm going to assume that the algorithms in MyFitnessPal are equally off for both sides of the equation. If they are, then the deficit is still correct - which is why I'm really aiming for. Today's lesson? Due diligence.....

As far as yesterday's burn:

Calorie goal: 1690
Calories eaten: 1727
Exercise burn: 0 (scheduled rest day)
Calorie deficit: -37

Whew. Glad I decided to pass on dinner out with the family last night.


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