Newb question

[steve]

Hey Brian,

I am back in the gym after a couple years away.

I walked and ran about a mile on the treadmill this morning and the calorie counter said I only burned about 110 calories.

Probably would be more if I ran full out for the whole mile but I didn't.

Anyway, it didn't seem like a lot of calories. It felt like a lot of effort for such a low amount of calories.

Please explain to me the relationship between calories I burn at the gym and calories I eat.

If I want to burn fat and drop pounds, I obviously don't have to run four miles after every meal to burn up the calories I just ate. It sounds obvious to say that my body is using calories during my normal routine outside of the gym. But is burning only 110 calories on the treadmill even going to make a dent? I don't know how many calories I eat in a day, but it seems like running should burn a hell of a lot more than just doing whatever.

Let's say I eat 1500 calories. I run one mile. Is my body really going to use up the rest of the 1390 calories?

I think I am confusing myself. Just reassure me that running a mile is good for me and that if I keep it up I will actually lose some weight.

Thanks in advance.

Say hi to Jules and Mom for me. Oh....and your little dog too.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Hey Steve, great to hear from you. How've things been?

The relationship between the calories that you take in and how your body burns them is actually pretty complicated and it goes way beyond simply calories in vs calories out. What type of calories you take in, your current metobolic rate, what activities you do to burn calories, etc., all factor into the equation.

That being said, you have to start somewhere and getting back on the treadmill is definetly a step in the right direction. Don't pay too much attention to the number of calories burned on the machine. They aren't necessarily very acurate. Also, you really should include some strength training in your program to help boost your metabolism. That will ensure that you are burning more calories all day instead of just on the t-mill.

Its really all about increasing your activity and making good food choices. I have a whole weight loss series that covers the basics of getting started on my Examiner page. The link is in my signature at the bottom of this post. You should definetly check out the weight loss tip called , muscles, in which I discuss the metobolic benifits of strength training for weight loss.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

The other thing that you want to look at is making sure that your calories aren't too low. Its a common mistake for people starting a program to drasticly reduce their calorie intake while at the same time increasing their activity. The danger is that you end up creating too much of a deficit too quickly and your body reacts by slowing its metabolism, ultimately working against you. Instead of cutting calories, just change to healthier food choices and when starting a new exercise program so that your body can recover from the workouts.