Accurately Measuring Calorie Burn

[plateau_max]

I have a problem with accurately tracking my fitness. I have the motivation necessary to keep track of everything I do, but lack the tools.

The nutrition side is alright, as I can read food labels, and use databases (I use The Daily Plate) to accurately count how many kcals I'm consuming. Exercise is a whole other story.

My activities vary throughout the day so there's no way to give myself a flat rate for kcal burn and remain accurate, yet I am forced to do so. The cardio machines at the gym give a ballpark figure for kcal burn, and I am forced to estimate for weight lifting and outdoor exercise. Also I know that different sleep hours, and eating different types of food/taking stimulants all have an affect on how many kcals are expended in a 24 hour period.

I'm going to purchase an ActiTrainer to help, but that can't be my only option. If the ActiTrainer isn't good enough I'd like some other ideas to coincide. There must be a better way to track expenditure in this day and age without all the constant guessing, and ballpark estimations.

I've attached a fitness log I made for myself for use here in the middle east, which is just a basic "in and out" so I can make sure I don't eat to much or exercise too little. I am forced to eat a lot of garbage over here so I don't really bother with macros in the log, I just try and sway the balance when I'm pointing at stuff for them to put on my tray at chow.

Are there no algorithms that take into account many of the things we know are factors? I mean by now someone should have a calculator that takes in Lean muscle weight, fat weight, height, age, cholesterol, BF%, RMR, etc, and apply that to a list of activities.

I dunno I'm just frustrated at an inability to accurately control that aspect of fitness.

Ideas?

[zither]

You could try buying a Polar heart monitor and wearing it all the time. The calorie counts are supposed to be pretty accurate. In fact, i'm wearing one right now, just got back from the gym.

[mcFreid]

No method will give you perfect accuracy. In fact counting calories is actually quite variable despite how "perfect" you think the measurements are.

The best method is simply to be CONSISTENT and measure progress as after all that is what matters most.

[plateau_max]

Diet is the easy part, but as I said with my vastly differing daily activities (aside from the gym time) it's not possible for me to stay consistent.

After a couple months with the ActiTrainer I'll write a detailed review. I can only hope no matter what happens, that people will be able to benefit from my experience.

[aggieJedi]

The contestants on The Biggest Loser TV show all use the BodyBugg device to estimate their calorie burn. I believe it uses heart-rate, body temperature, and arm motion to calculate its estimate.

Personally, I think the estimating tools on calorie tracking web-sites like fitday.com are sufficient for tracking purposes. That's what I use and I've been really happy with it. My weight loss seems to track pretty well with what I would expect given the calorie estimates it is producing.