300 calories

[Bazza1234]

Walking or jogging 3 miles works off around 300 calories.

This is what 300 calories looks like - and reminds us of how easily it is to "waste" the effort of running 3 miles (after we get home)

[PippiRuns]

Very educational. Having counted calories for a couple of months, I've learned the same lesson.

[shortfatslug Graduate]

I like the look of 3 gins and slim line tonic

[misswobble Graduate in reply to shortfatslug]

The slimline tonic on its own looks identical and will quench your thirst with no calories

[GoogleMe Graduate]

But this does ignore the impact of activity on metabolic rate... A typical run for me is 200 calories and perhaps only once or twice a week (I do more sometimes and do other activities sometimes) But the positive impact on weight loss seems to be over and above that accounted for by calories burned.

That said, I realised after a couple of outings that Laura's suggestion of eating a banana after a run did not apply to me or others who need to lose weight.

[OldPossum in reply to GoogleMe]

Ooh I still have a banana - makes me feel like an athlete 😀 I am still losing weight though I do count it as part of my breakfast. Half before I run and the other half when I get back. Works for me 😀

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to OldPossum]

I could probably get away with it now... but that's 20kgs later!

[OldPossum in reply to GoogleMe]

Funny but I think we all have things that undo us. For me it is drink - wine, beer, cider - doesn't matter, instant weight gain even its within an acceptable calorie count for the day . Yet I have friends who include it in their calorie count and still lose weight. Not me 😁

[bettybelle Graduate]

Life is so unfair

[marco83]

This is exactly why I joined healthunlocked and started counting calories...

I started logging my runs in May 2014. Back then I was 90 Kg. and I wanted to get back in shape and run some half marathons or marathons... since then I ran 5 half and 2 full marathons and logged 2,600 miles. Now If we do not consider metabolic rate and we do a very simple calculation with 100 calories per mile (I think I am at about 150 but let's ignore it) I should have ran off 260,000 calories in the last couple of years (2.5 years) additionally to my 2,000 daily calories (which probably is also underestimated...).

When I looked at the scale in middle July I was 96 Kg. so I gained 6 Kg instead of loosing weight... There must have been a lot of calories coming from small snacks and drinks that I didn't count before but that were very dangerously wasting my running...

As correctly pointed out: a lot of wasted effort!!!

So now I am counting calories and learning a lot from this community and similar tools and I hope to get in a better place with a more healthy BMI and running shape soon...

[davelinks Graduate]

Never count calories, I watch portion size, fats & sugars. I like a proper gin & tonic or a beer in moderation...and drink plenty of water througout the day..

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

Bazza, you would have liked a programme I saw on TV a few years ago. They took a dozen overweight ladies, and put them in a house (a bit like Big Brother!) They were taken to a special shop to get their food, this was obviously set up for the programme, where everything was packaged in 100 calories - so they could have, say, 12 packets per day. A massive bunch of broccoli or carrots, or half a chocolate biscuit...very educational!

[TurboTortoise Graduate]

It's a really useful visualisation. I have another way of looking at it - when people go on diets the usual advice is to aim for a safe and healthy weight loss of 1lb (0.45kg) per week. For this you need a calorie deficit of 500 kcals a day (because the energy needed to 'burn off' 1lb of fat = 3,500 kcals). In order to do this through solely through running you'd need to run 5 miles a day, 7 days a week!

Which is why it's so difficult to lose weight through running alone - though exercise definitely helps you process what you eat (blood sugars and fats especially) more efficiently.

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to TurboTortoise]

I'm finding that my purple friend Fitbit is proving quite helpful in focusing on the calorie deficit rather than fixed calorie limits or exercise achievements (I don't eat exercise calories though)

[OldPossum]

I'm convinced drinking lots of water helps with weight loss too.

[Janey1012]

***(Two penneth alert***

Food is fuel. Simple as that. We shouldn't forget that we actually need calories to survive. Often people worry too much about burning off calories, but if we did that all the time we'd die!

I've lost 2.5 stones over the last 6 months. Not by doing anything other than upping protein and good fats and cooking meals from scratch. They fill you up and so (after a week or so ) you really don't want to overeat. This is not time consuming (I work full time and still manage to prepare 3 meals a day for myself and the family - 20 mins per meal tops).

The running has toned my body, along with the gym for resistance weights etc. This approach may not work for everyone bit I would recommend less emphasis on calorie counting and more on what exactly it is you're eating ie. What it's doing for you. 100 calories from a protein source will do more to fuel you efficiently than 100 calories from refined sugar. Same calories, totally different result.

*end of alert* ☺