Crossfit Calories Burned?

bknopf001

Hi,

Been doing Crossfit for 10 months and using MyFitness Pal for 30 days now.

I am down 11 lbs in 30 days so psyched about that. (no weight loss before tracking)
Based on Body Fat % and Body Fat Weight on my bathroom Weight Watchers Scale I still have another 52 lbs of Body Fat or 27%.

Hope to get down to 15% by the end of the summer. Means losing another 32 lbs.(approx.)

Here is my question.

How many Calories do you track in My Fitness Pal for your CrossFit Work Out. I only track the WOD and the Warm up. So yesterday I did the WOD in 13:35. I tracked 20 minutes of "Crossfit" Activity in the My Fitness Pal Exercise. This translates into 161 calories. Seems low because the intensity of the WOD is high. So I usually round it up. In this Case 200 Calories.

Just wondering how you all track your calories for your Crossfit workouts.

LenoraElliot

I was wondering the same thing since the wods have so many different activities. I now track it with high intensity calisthenics. Probably not totally accurate but seems close.

MUALaurenClark

It's safe to assume you are burning, at your current weight, about 13 calories per minute *at a sprint pace*.
Though crossfit is intense, the majority is not sprint pace intense. Most people can only keep a sprint pace for 1-2 minutes then burn out and go slower. From there you can determine what you're burning. For a 20 minute wod, I think 10 calories per minute is a really safe guess, longer wods might be even less per minute because you're pacing yourself further.

Always guess low instead of high, otherwise it will be a lot harder to hit those weight loss goals.
Hope that helps

Aviation21

I have been on MyfitnessPal for many years and have been doing CF for almost 11 months. I base calories burned by how hard the CF class was compared to all the other workouts I use to do. For example, I use to run the stairs in my building for 30 minutes and use the app Cardio Trainer to track my exercise. At the end of the workout Cardio Trainer displays how many calories I burned. Running stairs is exhausting and according to the app 30 mins = about 400 Calories. Plus I use to run a ton for example the app told me when I ran 48 minutes I burned 682 calories. Bottomline, I am just guessing how many calories I burned compared to how I feel after the WOD(s). Not very scientific huh?

kozinskey

I track it as circuit training, and I only track the WOD + warmup. It's definitely on the low end, but I'd rather be low than high. I do make sure that any extra calories I get from Crossfit go towards more protein, both so I don't get snacky and so my baby muscles can grow.

I think it really comes down to what kind of deficit you're comfortable with. If the way you're tracking is working for your weight loss goal and you're not starving and cranky, I wouldn't change it. But, if you think you're undertracking your exercise calories and you might literally kill someone for a burger, then I'd recommend upping the exercise calories you give yourself.

bknopf001

Hope I don't ever commit homicide for a burger. Glad others are basically estimating like I am given calories burned for similar exercises at same intensity and duration. 200 per WOD seems a good average for me counting WOD and warm up.

Mummyadams

I use average 250 per WOD - some days it will be more, some less.

notyouraveragetalia

I've always been in the camp that crossfit doesn't burn a "ton" of calories, like those above I assumend around 200 calories per WOD on average. That's why it struck me as so odd when I was out to dinner with my Crossfit pals after doing Grace. The group was guessing how many calories they burned and people were saying upwards of 350! Now I did Grace RX in 3:37. Over 100 calories per minute!? I couldn't tell if this was just people not being aware of how many calories are truly burned while working out, or if I am missing out on something. Anywho It made me want to dust off my HRM and start doing some testing.

mccraee

I know I should eat a bit more on days that I've had a good workout. I count it as 200.

bostonwolf

Or you calculate your calories by TDEE, eat at a deficit to that and count exercise as 1 calorie (only because you can't put 0)

Leighkai76

I count it as 200-250. I give about 100 calories per every 10 minutes of a metcon and warm up.

bethlivi

Since I do eat to perform, I don't track calories...I just eat tdee on workout days and then cut that somewhat on non workout days if I can (to cut fat). The calories I cut come all from carbs on rest days--still try to hit my fats and proteins. That way I work the activity level overall into my daily estimates instead of estimated calorie burn. But I think you could wear a heart rate monitor too and see how you do regularly? And estimate from there. I've done that before.

FitnessasmyWitness

Best way is a high quality heart rate monitor. I can't say enough good things about them. I got the Polar v800 recently and haven't taken it off since. I got a super good deal on it, so I'm not suggesting you go out and pop $500 on a watch, but it reallllly helps to know accurately and does a better job of monitoring your daily activity in general and then synchs with my fitness pal flawlessly.