Do you record calories you burn doing weights

davidmeans
davidmeans Posts: 2
edited November 14 in Fitness and Exercise
I am using a Nike Fuel Band+ and it tracks how many calories I burn through out the day, similar to a fit bit. I am curious if any of you are using a similar tool and if you are recording the calories you are burning when you are doing weights? Additionally do you record the total calories you are burning during the day.

Thanks,

David

Replies

  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
    Calories burned from weightlifting are almost impossible to accurately measure. That being said, I do use my Polar FT 7 HRM during my Stronglifts 5X5 workouts just as an estimate.
  • mrzeros3
    mrzeros3 Posts: 1 Member
    I hope that a link to the Nike fuel band is in the future of this app
  • GemmaC25
    GemmaC25 Posts: 3
    I just log whatever my heart rate monitor tells me. Especially when I'm doing body pump as that's lots of reps and really gets the heart rate up and the sweat dripping!
  • brandigyrl81
    brandigyrl81 Posts: 128 Member
    I do! I use my Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor for both my YMCA Body Pump and Sculpt classes. Both classes consist of weight training and last about an hour and I typically burn about 250 calories in each. I only count the calories I burn during exercise.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Why do people deliberately use the wrong tool for a job such as a HRM for calculating calories from lifting?
  • _whatsherface
    _whatsherface Posts: 1,235 Member
    Personally, I wear my HRM when I am working out. Usually that consists of weights and cardio. I log whatever my HRM says I've burned at the end of my workout.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.
  • brandigyrl81
    brandigyrl81 Posts: 128 Member
    Why do people deliberately use the wrong tool for a job such as a HRM for calculating calories from lifting?

    Please explain why a HRM is the wrong tool if someone specifically wants to know how many calories they've burned while weight training for an hour.
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.

    Heart and respiratory rate are raised during strength training.

    Strength training improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Calories are burned during strength training.

    There is a cardiovascular component to weight training, and eating more to fuel strength training is justified. Why not log?
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited March 2015
    Why do people deliberately use the wrong tool for a job such as a HRM for calculating calories from lifting?

    Please explain why a HRM is the wrong tool if someone specifically wants to know how many calories they've burned while weight training for an hour.

    @brianpperkins: And that's why they use it. Because they don't know it's the wrong tool.

    @brandigyrl: First, you need to know that heart rate does not indicate calories burned. So HRMs are taking a measurement and estimating calorie burn based on an estimate of increased effort. That works pretty well for steady state cardio. Does not work for weight lifting where the effort that increases your heart rate does not necessarily burn many more calories.

    Example: maximum effort bicep curls spike your heart rate into a high % of max heart rate, but you're only using a couple of muscles and expending little energy. Go run fast enough to get your heart rate equally as high and you're using many more muscles, doing more work, and burning a bunch more calories per minute. HRMs really overestimate calories burned during weight lifting.
  • brandigyrl81
    brandigyrl81 Posts: 128 Member
    kyta32 wrote: »
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.

    Heart and respiratory rate are raised during strength training.

    Strength training improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Calories are burned during strength training.

    There is a cardiovascular component to weight training, and eating more to fuel strength training is justified. Why not log?

    This ^^^ is why I use my HRM during weight training. It's simple.
  • loratliff
    loratliff Posts: 283 Member
    kyta32 wrote: »
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.

    Heart and respiratory rate are raised during strength training.

    Strength training improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Calories are burned during strength training.

    There is a cardiovascular component to weight training, and eating more to fuel strength training is justified. Why not log?

    This ^^^ is why I use my HRM during weight training. It's simple.

    Yep. I don't eat back those calories, so it doesn't matter if I log them or not, but I do like wearing my HRM because it gives me an idea of recovery time between sets. It's not steady-state cardio, but my HR definitely rises during a set.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    I do it so I can fuel myself more/better protein on the days I lift.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    kyta32 wrote: »
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.

    Heart and respiratory rate are raised during strength training.

    Strength training improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Calories are burned during strength training.

    There is a cardiovascular component to weight training, and eating more to fuel strength training is justified. Why not log?

    This ^^^ is why I use my HRM during weight training. It's simple.

    That person is wrong. Understanding that HRMs are only nearly accurate for aerobic events is simple ... but ... I'll stop there before I get categorized as mean.

    There are dozens, if not hundreds, of threads at this point that explain why HRMs are not accurate for lifting. MFPs help section explains why it does not calculate for lifting with reasons that fit why HRMs are not accurate.




  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited March 2015
    Why do people deliberately use the wrong tool for a job such as a HRM for calculating calories from lifting?

    Please explain why a HRM is the wrong tool if someone specifically wants to know how many calories they've burned while weight training for an hour.

    There are a billion threads on that. HRM burn estimates (because it's guessing, no consumer device out there actually counts calories) are only vaguely accurate for very specific types of exercise, under specific conditions.

    Weight training is about as far from meeting those conditions as you can get.

    Really, the better question is why you would think they are the right tool, when there are so many detailed explanations out there explaining they're not.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    kyta32 wrote: »
    Sharon_C wrote: »
    I'm a weirdo. I do count the calories burnt during weight lifting, however I underestimate them. So I take what MFP says I burned and subtract a goodly portion because I think MFP totals are too high. At the end of the day I take the number my FitBit says I burned, the number of calories I consumed (according to MFP) and I log it all in an Excel spreadsheet. I then closely watch my calories throughout the week rather than by the day. I told you. I'm a weirdo. :p

    MFP doesn't calculate lifting unless you lie to the system and call anaerobic activity a cardio workout.

    Heart and respiratory rate are raised during strength training.

    Strength training improves cardiovascular fitness.

    Calories are burned during strength training.

    There is a cardiovascular component to weight training, and eating more to fuel strength training is justified. Why not log?

    This ^^^ is why I use my HRM during weight training. It's simple.
    You might want to read the directions as they simply state to only use for "steady state of cardio". Not when your heart spikes and then goes back to near resting state as in weight training.

This discussion has been closed.