Calories vs. Time Goal

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UndefinedLoser
UndefinedLoser Posts: 36 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey, this may be a weird question, but...do you have a Kcal goal you try to meet every day for every workout or are you big on how much time you spend for a workout?

Sometimes, I can burn up to 180 calories in a single 15 minute workout and I feel so burned out. However, I'm like well that's nowhere close to how many calories I need to burn if I want to seriously lose this weight.

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  • Robertus
    Robertus Posts: 558 Member
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    The amount of calories you eat is much more important for weight loss than the amount you can realistically burn while exercising on any given day, especially at the beginning, when you are just starting on the road to fitness and exercise endurance. Some say diet is 80% of the weight loss equation. I think exercise is more important than that in terms of becoming fit and enjoying fitness and exercise and permanent life-style changes. It is thus important to find an exercise or sport that you truly enjoy. Your current level of fitness will determine how many calories you can burn while exercising, and that will increase relatively slowly as you become more fit (remember to take days off so your body can rebuild), but you can much more directly affect your weight, especially at the beginning, by restricting your calorie intake and staying active.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited March 2015
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    I do the session that's in my plan. whether that's time based or distance based.

    That might be a 10 min warm up, 45 minute tempo pace, 10 minute cool down which will generally give me about 12km or it might be go out and run 15-25km.
  • MsBeverleyH
    MsBeverleyH Posts: 99 Member
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    It sort of depends on my mood that day, but the amount of time I do (30 minutes) tends to be roughly the amount of calories that I want to burn anyway (roughly 300).

    Just do what is right for you. :smile:
  • UndefinedLoser
    UndefinedLoser Posts: 36 Member
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    Okay, I will definately keep these notes in mind. I guess I need to focus on eating right and build up my work out regimen to something that won't cause me to become burn out so quickly. I go into a workout thinking I have to burn 300-400 calories every day, but realistically I can't reach 20 minutes. So I do need to build up to that momentum.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited March 2015
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    You might have better luck if you scale back the intensity, too. Those of us hitting 1-2 hr workouts are definitely not pushing our max possible effort (and resulting calorie burn) the entire time! An hour of walking doesn't burn 400 kcal for me, I'm on the smaller side, but it's a wonderful hour that is *great* for my long-term health. :)

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