V02 test

I really should be doing my weights right now but I have to blog about this before I forget everything! I redid my V02 test this morning which is testing to find out how my body utilizes oxygen, fat and calories. It's done by a system called New Leaf which tracks your oxygen and C02 thru a mask that looks like this...

You also wear a heart rate chest strap and all of this information is sent to the computer. I did this test in June of 2009 and the results were definitely NOT what I would have expected. I workout 6 days a week doing what I would call pretty intense cardio at times, such as spinning, turbo kick and running.

Before I get into the results, I will say that I really don't remember this test being as stressful as it was for me this time. I do not drink caffeine during the day but wasn't allowed to drink caffeine the day before and I had a massive headache and was so sleepy yesterday! Then this morning, had to get up pretty early on a dark, rainy morning to be there for my test at 8AM. Thankfully, my wonderful husband got up to get Wes dressed for me. I dropped Wes off at the daycare and ran upstairs, I was a few minutes late because of traffic so my heart was already pumping, ha ha. Shaun put the mask on me and got me all hooked up to the machine. The first few minutes are very easy, walking on a treadmill at a very easy pace, every couple of minutes, Shaun increased the incline, when I reached about 80% of my max, I told him I was becoming quite claustrophobic as it's getting more and more difficult to breathe thru your mouth, with that mask on, your breathing is definitely challenged! I really didn't think I was going to make it but I focused and Shaun kept increasing the incline, after 80%, it felt like forever! I got up to a 15% incline and still walking but at 94% it seemed like I was stuck and it took forever but then I was finished! If I would have had to jog, I think I might have passed out but thankfully I didn't have to. So for anyone that thinks about doing this, just an FYI, it's not a walk in the park! :) Thankfully, it only lasts about 15 minutes!

Onto my test results, as I said, I did this test in June of 2009, at that time, Wes was 9 months old and I had only been working out at home and was still having a difficult time with weight loss which is why I did the test. Now, after having worked of consistently for 2 years, I would have thought my results would have greatly improved and they have NOT, in fact, they have gotten worse.

In 2009, in zone 1, I was burning 7.2 calories per minute and 59% fat per minute which should be 50% fat or above.

Now, I am burning 7.7 calories per minute and 63% fat per minute which is great, I have improved in zone 1 but who works out in zone 1? Right, no one! Well some do but not me!

In 2009 in zone 2, I was burning 8.3 calories per minute and 43% fat, not great since again, should be at 50% fat or above.

Now, I am burning 8.9 calories per minute BUT I am only burning 29% fat, that is NOT GOOD! Again, it should be at 50% or above and this should have increased, not decreased!

In 2009, in zone 3, I was burning 11.3 calories per minute and 20% fat which should be at 30% fat or above.

Now, I am burning 10.8 calories per minute and only 19% fat. Again, that is NOT GOOD at all!

I actually thought that doing the RMR test a few weeks ago was going to give me more insight as to why I'm not losing weight but I actually think that this has given me more insight. My RMR is lower than it used to be so I should be eating less but I'm not effectively burning fat like I should be. They give you a 6 week training plan to help your body improve this so I am definitely going to follow it this time, I didn't do that the last time.

My V02 threshold is at 60% compared to others my age and gender which is good, I suppose but it could be better. Your V02 for those of you that don't know what this is is how much oxygen your body needs to burn fat. V02 stands for the volume of oxygen your body absorbs per minute while at rest and when you move. We measure Peak V02, which is the maximum amount of oxygen you used during this assessment. Your Peak V02 measure your heart and lung fitness and is considered the gold standard for determining your exercise potential.

The last thing the test measures is your recovery heart rate. As you increase your level of fitness, your heart gets stronger and recovers faster from exercise. Your heart, being as a muscle does get stronger with exercise. A stronger heart pumps more blood to your body each beat with less effort, giving you a lower resting heart rate. Well my heart rate dropped 21 beats per minute in the first minute and 32 beats per minute in the 2nd minute which is a great recovery rate. The only bad thing about having a fast recovering heart rate is that I don't get to rest for as long as others when I'm doing intervals, ha ha.

So the workouts that they give me are basically alternating heart rate zones always between zones 1 and 2, zones 2 and 3 or all 3 zones. This morning, I went to strike class as I normally do, we did have a different instructor so class was different and I also had to leave for a few minutes to go change a poopy diaper and come back so I didn't burn as many calories as I might have but also attribute that to Shaun having reset my zones on my heart rate monitor and maybe I just don't burn as many calories as I think I do. I obviously don't burn much fat! My body tends to burn more carbs before it burns fat so I guess that right now, I should really, really be watching my fat and I have been.

Shaun is going to continue to keep checking my body fat every couple of weeks and he is also going to look at my food journals from http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ and I also plan to definitely back off of the workouts a bit and start following this heart rate training plan that they gave me to do.

If anyone has any other questions about this, feel free to let me know!

A few articles that I have not read yet but plan to that are included with my test results are...
A better way to burn fat http://tinyurl.com/2GTQ2D
Maximize your metabolism http://tinyurl.com/2PLRJQ
The AT factor http://tinyurl.com/YT36A7

new 21 day challenge

So today is the beginning of a new challenge, it's going to be really hard for me to track my workouts beginning on a Tuesday but I'm willing to go for it. Julie created a new 21 day spring break challenge. I have to replace 1 meal a day with a protein shake (which I already do, breakfast is a protein shake), I have to do 4 days a week of cardio, 3 days of strength training and 2 days of yoga/pilates.

Since I did weights on Monday, Julie said that I could count that as one of my strength training days so I am including that and today, I did ashtanga yoga for an hour and 15 minutes and I also ran for about 20 minutes.

My goal is going to be cardio on Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, strength training will be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and yoga will be on Tuesday, Wednesday and maybe even Saturday too.

I am still also tracking my calories for the week too but am still going to count them from Sunday to Saturday. This past Sunday, I took the day off, Monday I did turbo and weight training and burned 1050 calories. Today, yoga and running and I burned 750 calories

So starting the new challenge, into week 1 have burned 1800 calories this week!