Quote:
Originally Posted by desiree
I am going to order one of those gadgets, but during the MRM program it does not matter as much what you exercise or how much you are burning compared to making sure you get your calories in and to keep increasing the calories in program stages right? So the little gadget is more to have an idea for the future, right?
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I have the GoWear Fit, and my advice to you would be to get it as soon as possible, so you can begin adjusting your thinking about your caloric burn as soon as possible. I'm also a former undereater. I wouldn't say my exercise was as strenuous as yours, but for a while I was probably eating around 1000/cals a day (this was before I had a clue about weighing food vs. measuring, so I'm not entirely sure--when I started weighing my food, it turned out I was in the minority and thought the portions I was giving myself were *bigger* than they actually were, so my intake could've been less). Thankfully I came across Leigh's stuff right as I was considering getting into HIIT and whatnot and decided that it wasn't a good idea to get into really strenuous exercise just now.
But my point is that I've had the GWF for about three weeks now, and I first began wearing it during a rest period. On my lowest burn day, it still listed me at 2000 (I'm 5' 8.5", 150 lbs). It was hugely eye-opening, because for the past couple of years (again before I came across Leigh's stuff) I'd calculate my BMR using the various formulas, look at how much I was eating and the fact that I wasn't losing fat/weight, and conclude that I or my metabolism was "broken" somehow. The fact was that I wasn't burning anything because I'd been in a deficit too long and hadn't had any sort of training break for too long.
Currently, I'm working on getting up to maintenance-level. I'd previously worked up to what I thought was my maintenance, but going by the GWF, I was still about 250 cals too low (I'm averaging 2450 cals/day), and I certainly never got to eating above maintenance, like Leigh recommends for refeeds. So that's what I'm working on now, before I use the GWF for what most people use it for--fat loss.
But in any case, I think that's what Leigh's getting at in recommending the GWF--people like us just need the security blanket, so to speak, to tell us "Hey, you ARE burning this much, and so you need this much food to fuel it." And since I don't want to have to use the GWF or track my calories forever, it's also helped in that I'm starting to realize how much food fuels my current activity level.
Is the GWF 100% accurate? No. But it's at least giving me a ballpark figure, and seeing those calories on a computer screen resonates with me more than all the various formulas. And incidentally, my average burn on the GWF pretty closely coincides with my estimated burn using Leigh's activity calculator. They're within 50 cals of each other. But it's just reassuring to me that I didn't overestimate my activity level on her calculator, since I have this little device telling me I didn't. :P
Sorry for the lengthy post--I tend toward written babbling. Since you and I have similar issues, I've been following your thread with interest, and I just wanted to let you know I have absolutely no regrets about getting the GWF before I "need" it.
Good luck with MRM!
