Calories counting & burning

A nice thing about following the program is that you are not in the driver's seat. It's pretty much like being in the army: you just need to be disciplined enough to follow the orders and only worry about the executing them (and trying to survive).

As the end of my program was getting nearer, I started to wonder how I would manage my training schedule once left alone by myself. And more specifically, how frequently should I exercise per week?

My goal is not to look like a body builder or lose as much weight as possible. Rather, it is to find the right training routine. One that would become an integral part of my life and help me maintain a good physical condition. I was guessing that 3 sessions per week, plus my boxing training should be enough. But that was just a guess. So I decided to have a closer look at my lifestyle, to see how I could balance my physical activity and my diet.

By now, you have probably realized that I'm a bit of a data freak. I wondered if it was possible to gather actual data to fill the following equation:

Weight variation = Calories input (Food intake) - Calories output (Basal metabolic rate & physical activity)

• The basal metabolic rate is a black box. I have no way of knowing in details how much calories my body burns simply to ensure my basic life functions. It's not something that I can measure. But it doesn't really matter. As I'm not planning significant weight gain/loss, it's safe to assume that there is no reason for my metabolic rate to change dramatically.

• Physical activity: I have a very sedentary job and drive to work. As a result my overall level of physical activity is mostly driven by how much sport I do. 

• Food intake: I'm not intending to change my diet. I think that one of the main reason why people gain back the weight that they lost is because it's impossible on the long-run to stick to a diet that is too strict. You need to enjoy what's in your plate, otherwise you'll get depressed (I'm French, I have been brainwashed with that stuff!)

Over the past 4 months, I lost ~7kg without changing my calories input. Therefore the results were entirely driven by the "output" factor. My metabolism probably reacted to the training load impacting (positively or negatively) my results (positive or negative), but ultimately the biggest driver should have been the Freeletics training. So in theory, to stabilize my weight, I just need to find the right balance of training. At this point, I decided to quantify my calorie intake to compare it to my physical activity.

During the entire week #14 of my program, I wrote down everything that I ate. When eating at home, I weighted my food. When eating outside (lunch), I had to estimate quantities. Doing the exercise for a full week was intended to smooth out daily variations. Yet, the idea was not to get the most precise number, but a ball-park estimate to understand my diet better. Am I eating 3'000 Kcal per day or only 1'500 Kcal?

I counted 12'340 Kcal during that week (if you are interested the detailed log & calculation are at the bottom of this post). That's 1'763 Kcal/day. I was surprised to see such a low number (I read that sedentary adult men need 2'000-2'200 Kcal /day). This may be due to the experimenter bias: weighing every bite of food before eating it, I may have unconsciously reduced the size of my servings. Therefore I will assume that this measure is the low end of the range. My average intake is probably somewhere between 1'800 Kcal and 2'000 Kcal per day.

Then over the past few weeks, I trained while wearing a heart rate monitor and chest strap, to record my cardio during various workouts:

• Aphrodite in 19:43* = ~425 Kcal (500 Freeletics points)
• Apollon in 22:35* = ~475 Kcal (525 Freeletics points)
• Hades in 16:04* = ~350 Kcal (255 Freeletics points)
• Venus in 24:43* = ~375 Kcal (325 Freeletics points)
• Pushup Max 38* reps in 1:40 = ~60Kcal (28.5 Freeletics points)

(note: Pushup MAX measured just after Apollon, probably distorted as heart rate was already high)


Surprisingly I didn't find much clear-cut differences between Cardio versus Strength. Strength focused workouts have a slightly lower Kcal/minute ratio, but nothing major. During most workouts I burnt approximately 200 Kcal for every 10 minutes of training. I usually train for at least 25 to 30 minutes (I'm speaking actual exercise time; breaks are excluded), so each Freeletics session I easily burn 400 to 500 Kcal.

By the way, I added the value in Freeletics points for each workout. Notice the correlation between my measured calorie consumption (based on HRM) and the points. Of course, not everybody will consume the same amount of energy while doing Aphrodite. I probably burn less now that I do it in 20 mn instead of 30 mn. But looking at the point value seems a pretty good way to compare the caloric consumption of various workouts (i.e. regardless of your current physical condition, you'll probably burn double the caIories by doing Aphrodite instead of Hades).
Just keep in mind that your total Freeletics points is probably not representative of total calories burnt. For example, at the moment I have a total of 69'180 points, but once I exclude all the bonus points received for scoring 103 Personal  Bests & 147 Stars, this total drops to ~45'000 points. For the record, so far I have totaled 1'915 minutes of workouts (excluding MAX) and performed 6'181 MAX repetitions. Assuming 20 Kcal / minute (based on my HRM measures) and 0.75 per rep (ratio used to calculate Freeletics points), I estimate that I burnt ~43'000 Kcal while training. This is not including the time when the heart is still racing during cooldown periods or any afterburn effect.
See how close my bottom-up calorie count is from the points?


Anyway, this post is becoming my longest so far, so I'll try to wrap-up quickly.


I am perfectly aware that it's impossible to measure output & input with perfect accuracy. But it doesn't matter! The amount of calorie output generated by the program (4-5 sessions per week) results in 1'600-2'000 Kcal consumed each week. That's approximately the input you get in 1 full day! Even if you assumed a 10% or 25% margin of error, the balance remains largely in favor or output versus input.


So what does it means for me?


Well, it tells me that even if I reduce my training from 4-5 sessions to 3-4 sessions, or focus on strength only for a while, my level of activity should largely be enough to maintain/improve my physical condition. I just need to ensure that as I improve my completion times, I add short workouts or a few MAX so that each sessions includes at least 25-30 minutes of effective workout time.

As promised, below is my calorie input log of week #14.

Monday: 1'789 Kca

• Breakfast: 359Kca
• Tea, no milk, no sugar (300ml): 4Kca
• Orange juice (20 cl): 10Kca
• 2 toasts (~10g of salted butter and +~20g of jam each): (22+73+40)x2=270Kca
• Cereal bar: 75Kca

• Lunch: 605Kca
• Pork cutlet: ~370Kca
• Steamed carrots: ~30Kca 
• White rice: ~150Kca
• Apple: 55Kca

• Dinner: 825Kca
• Rice (170g) + shrimps (50g): (170+45)=215Kca
• White wine (15cl): 108Kca
• White bread (80g): 220Kca
• Cheese (various kinds 54g in total): ~162Kca
• Chocolate yogurt: 120Kca

 Tuesday: 1'479Kca

• Usual breakfast + plain yogurt (125g): (95+359)= 454Kca

• Lunch: 
• Beef noodles (~350g): 305 Kca

• Dinner: 720Kca
• Toasted ham & cheese: ~600Kca
• Chocolate yogurt: 120Kca

 Wednesday: 1'838Kca

• Breakfast: 359Kca

• Lunch: 752Kca
• Rump steak: 260Kca 
• Broccoli: 45Kca 
• Potato gratin: 125Kca
• Kiwi: 34Kca
• Strawberry pie: 288Kca

• Dinner: 727Kca
• Asparagus (40g) +French dressing: (8+59)= 67Kca
• Roast pork (55g): 135Kca
• White beans (150g): 180Kca
• White wine (5cl): 36Kca
• White bread (45g): 124Kca
• Cheese (various kinds 30g in total): ~90Kca
• Plain yogurt (125g): 95Kca

Thursday: 2'417Kca

• Breakfast: 359Kca

• Lunch: 509Kca
• Tartiflette (cheese and potato gratin): 275Kca 
• Letucce +French dressing: (15+59)= 74Kca 
• Hot chocolate: 160Kca

• Snack (~1 hour before sport): cereal bar (98Kca)

• Dinner: 1'549Kca
• Burger (280 pepper): 799Kca
• Cheeseburger: 305Kca
• Beer (25cl): 100Kca
• Chocolate Sundae: 345Kca

Friday: 1'413Kca

• Usual breakfast + plain yogurt (125g): (95+359)= 454Kca

• Lunch: 459Kca
• Veal flank: 275Kca 
• Zucchini: 50Kca
• Banana: 134Kca

• Dinner: 500Kca
• Creamed cucumber (~100g): 135Kca
• Mashed potatoes (~250g): 264 Kca
• Mashed pumpkins (~150g): 66Kca
• Grape (50g): 35Kca

Saturday: 1'724 Kca

• Breakfast: 359Kca

• Lunch: 686Kca
• Mashed potatoes (~200g): 176 Kca
• Mashed pumpkins (~100g): 44Kca
• Sausage (~55g): 147Kca 
• White bread (45g): 124Kca
• Cheese (various kinds 40g in total): ~120Kca
• Stewed apple (100g): 75Kca

• Dinner: 679 Kca
• Spaghetti (~300g) +Feta (~30g) +Tomato sauce: (474+80+30)= 584Kca
• Plain yogurt (125g): 95Kca

Sunday: 1'680 Kca

• Breakfast: 359Kca

• Lunch: 686Kca
• asperges
• filet mignon+carottes
• pain+fromage
• clementine

• Dinner: 605Kca
• Pasta soup: ~450Kca
• Chocolate dessert: 155Kca 

This week is fairly representative of my eating habits: no snacks (except before going to sport training). A decent amount of vegetables & fruits. A useful learning for me is that I tend to pack too many calories at dinner. I had a feeling that I probably should try to re-balance a bit (more at breakfast/lunch and less in the evening), but I had never actually quantify it. This clearly showed me that dinner really is my biggest meal of day.
Despite some rich foods (I love cheese!), my overall intake is reasonable. A diet would not really make much sense. It seems that increasing my physical activity instead, was the right to do.