Riddle me this: an exercise logging query

BadassBride

Hi all,
So I'm sure many of you have read about HIIT (high-intensity interval training). It's like packing an hour of cardio into 20 minutes, yadda yadda yadda.

I think I believe it for the most part. Sprinting burns a butt-ton of calories, and I'm sure making your heart rate yo-yo does too.

So here's my question: I did 20 minutes of HIIT today on the elliptical. Since there aren't any HIIT exercised in the database, I was pondering logging an hour on the elliptical because of said reasons above. But it feels like cheating...

Is it cheating?

Thanks,
Sarah

Kalikel

I'd just log the minutes and calories from the machine, then eat half of those back.

But if you want to log an hour, log an hour. It's your record, for yourself! Do it how you want.

BadassBride

Hmm...good call. I wish I could remember what it said! I think it was like 200 something....arg

TimothyFish

You can do what you want, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think you can do an hours worth of cardio in twenty minutes.

traceywoody

I don't know if I am doing it right either, but I log my HIIT by the minutes I do low impact, and the minutes I do high impact.

daweasel

I'd say traceywoody's approach is safest if you're planning to eat back all the calories. A lot of the time the estimates on the machines and this site are high anyway.

MeanderingMammal

GottaBeABride wrote: »

Hi all,
So here's my question: I did 20 minutes of HIIT today on the elliptical. Since there aren't any HIIT exercised in the database, I was pondering logging an hour on the elliptical because of said reasons above. But it feels like cheating...

Log 20 minutes of moderate intensity.

HIIT as you describe isn't going to burn a significantly higher volume of calories, the main benefit is improving your VO2Max over time.

Personally I don't drink the HIIT kool-aid that's peddled on here. It's one of three main modes of training that are all complementary to one another and have different effects.

About 150 calories would be about right.

Capt_Inzane

I did a lot of research on this and I know that incline = more calories burnt per hour than increasing the mph. I forget the exact numbers so please don't crucify me but I think it's a 12% increase per 1% incline maxing out at around 60% or a 5% incline. After that the numbers start to change.

I wish I could remember the increase in calories spent when going over 3-4mph but it was a very low increase percentage wise.

Something I do is 3.0-4.0 mph and do 5% incline but I log it as if it were flat. I only found 3.5 uphill so far in the database and I feel it's a bit too generous as many of the exercises are.


If I were you I'd take the 20 minutes at HIIT and just convert it to 20 minutes of flat X mph. As MFP over estimates to begin with you'll probably have a minor difference in the end result.

MeanderingMammal

Zeroaccess wrote: »

I wish I could remember the increase in calories spent when going over 3-4mph but it was a very low increase percentage wise.

Going from a slow walk to a walk isn't significant, going up to running will lead to somewhere between 160%-200% consumption.

That wouldn't be HIIT though.

michellemybelll

TimothyFish wrote: »

You can do what you want, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think you can do an hours worth of cardio in twenty minutes.

this. alternatively, you could switch to the TDEE method and not worry about logging calories burned, and just eat the same amount every day.

999tigger

TimothyFish wrote: »

You can do what you want, but I think you're kidding yourself if you think you can do an hours worth of cardio in twenty minutes.

+1. Distance and duration are more sustainable than intensity. Its highly unlikely its 3x more effective. If you overestimate what the burn is and eat back then you are affecting your deficit and overeating.

+1 imo to the person who said it was more about increasing fitness levels.

Do the hiit and just look at your results, then go by those. Alternatively you will find some hiit estimates somewhere, but again what you do varies.

coaoalo

I tend to find the calories of "aerobics: high impact" and half them. If you've got a way to make a more educated guess then go for it, but my method has led to me losing weight consistently

Wronkletoad

be conservative with the expenditure estimates. it's typically less than what people want to believe... HIIT is a good tool for the toolbox, for sure. but as others have said, there are other effective tools to use in combo too!
cheers

BadassBride

Thanks everybody!