Well, my trial is nearly up! It’s been quite an unusual week for me, including lots of sleeping early in the week, and then a drop in mileage at the end of the week (46 miles was my total, compared to a recent average of 56) – and a very late Saturday night!
The last three days, the calorie counting has gone out the window, but my average consumption is between 2,700 and 3,000. Here’s what I burned over the last week:
Day one – only measured half the day, 120pm to 10pm (and I was up at 530am); and missed out my two-hour run on the Downs. Burned, 2127. Judging by my other similar runs, later in the week, I would have burned around 1600 calories (1,100 for the run, and 500 for my circuits session).
Day two – Burned a wapping 3377 which included 10 miles of hot, sweaty, running on the Downs (850) and, then coaching in the evening (150) (a session I usually take part in!)
Day three – Only one training session, which was a 13 mile run, and burned 1140, with a total burn of 3251!
Day four – Ran for 50 minutes and burned 527, and again for 45 mins and burned406 – didn’t do circuits, but will wear the monitor tomorrow and see what it measures! My day’s total was 3039!
Day five and Six – Did a Running Inn training course so I didn’t run myself but whilst coaching I still managed to burn 2625. I took the monitor off when I arrived at a party in the evening, and at some p0int (after a few glasses of wine, put it back on again at 1230am!)
Then I stayed up very, very late! (3am)… and took it off on Sunday, as I wasn’t doing a great deal! I probably only burned around 2,000 on Sunday!
Day seven – back to normal day, I was up at 540am, and had a very ‘flat’ period on my calorie-burning graph as I was in the car for two hours. Things livened up as when I got home, I ran for two hours on the Downs (around 12 to 13 miles) and burned 1150 cals! The day’s not over, but I’ve apparently burned, 3000 so far!
My grand total calories burned averages out around 3,000 a day, on a week where I missed out on some running – in fact I only ran around 65 per cent of my the mileage I ran last summer (average of 70 for 10 weeks), when I was 7lb lighter, which means on the higher mileage weeks I could be burning around 4,000 calories a day. Last summer I was also personal training which probably added another 1,000 or so over the week.
So there’s the facts and figures… As a fairly heavy exerciser it’s easy to see why I don’t put on weight – and why, when I up the mileage, my weight drops and I can eat lots! It also has shown me how inactivity leads to blubber! Common sense, of course, but for those who might be in denial about what they eat, and how active they are, a week of monitoring what’s really going on could provide just the kick-start they need. My conclusion, however, is that any more than a week, and I’d become bored and unhealthily obsessive!
