Strength training and burning calories

ahimsa1990

Hello guys!

I have just started logging food again here after re-gaining 10kgs in the past year. Some of that 10kgs will be muscle, but I can tell a lot of it is body fat.

Anyway, I am wondering how strength training will affect my calorie bank. I really love eating and tend to go over my 1800 calories that MFP allows me on days I don't train. Will this matter so much if I am probably still burning from previous days training? All of the food I eat is whole and nutritious... It just seems to average around 750 calories a meal (Is this high?)

Cheers!

TimothyFish

The additional calories burned aren't enough to be concerned about.

blankiefinder

ahimsa1990 wrote: »

Hello guys!

I have just started logging food again here after re-gaining 10kgs in the past year. Some of that 10kgs will be muscle, but I can tell a lot of it is body fat.

Anyway, I am wondering how strength training will affect my calorie bank. I really love eating and tend to go over my 1800 calories that MFP allows me on days I don't train. Will this matter so much if I am probably still burning from previous days training? All of the food I eat is whole and nutritious... It just seems to average around 750 calories a meal (Is this high?)

Cheers!

Still burning from the day before? Weight training burns minimal calories, I log 1 calorie for my strength training, just so I can track my time.

Yes, 750 calories per meal seems very high to me. My breakfast and lunch come in around 300 each, supper around 4-500, and snacks around 400.

minties82

I guess it would depend on what your training consists of? If you are doing weights for a couple of hours per day you would need to eat more.

Do people hear weights and think "bicep curls and bench press"? I sure feel like it's a lot of effort to snatch a heavy weight over and over again, or clean and jerk almost my body weight. It can take a good 2 hours to get through a proper work out.

SLLRunner

Log 1 calorie for weight training because it doesn't burn enough in a session to matter, but it does burn a bit more over the long term.

blankiefinder

I was very sad to run my maintenance numbers, and if I drop my body fat by 5%, it only raises my maintenance calories by 60 <devastated>

ahimsa1990

minties82 wrote: »

I guess it would depend on what your training consists of? If you are doing weights for a couple of hours per day you would need to eat more.

Do people hear weights and think "bicep curls and bench press"? I sure feel like it's a lot of effort to snatch a heavy weight over and over again, or clean and jerk almost my body weight. It can take a good 2 hours to get through a proper work out.

I train dominantly through a crossfit facility (4-5x/wk) so only one hour on those days, sometimes additional mountain biking or running. I definitely eat a lot, as far as MFP tells me (1600 - 2100 calories a day) I guess on non-exercise days I will just have to find a way to eat less.

ahimsa1990

Blankiefinder - You log 1 calorie for your strength training? Does this mean you get to eat one extra calorie on your day following?

Also, what kind of things do you eat for breakfast and lunch that will only add to 300?

blankiefinder

ahimsa1990 wrote: »

Blankiefinder - You log 1 calorie for your strength training? Does this mean you get to eat one extra calorie on your day following?

Also, what kind of things do you eat for breakfast and lunch that will only add to 300?

For strictly weights I log 1 calorie the day of training, and 0 the following day. You're not getting an 'after burn'.

For something like crossfit I would log anything like burpees, pull-ups etc as calisthenics. I still would not log any residual bonus calories the next day.

blankiefinder

Oh, and my 300 calorie breakfasts are typically:

200g of strawberries with milk and 2t sugar + a flavoured 5% greek yogurt

or a bowl of cereal (45g, 1.5 servings) with milk

Scrolling back, I see that one day I even had cereal with milk, plus a greek yogurt, and it was still only 364 calories.

A typical 300 calorie lunch would be usually be a smaller version of the previous night's supper, or if I need something easy, a flavoured can of tuna with some snacks, or a serving of 2% cottage cheese with fruit.

Wolfe1965

SO if I log my strenght training in MFP say seated Bicep curl, 3 sets 10 reps per set at weight 70, does MFP credit any thing for this entry or is it just there to show you did it.

NowyTends

How a few hours of sweating and grinding damn heavy stuff around equates to "not enough to matter" is astounding to me. Obviously the ST calorie burn is not as much as running for a few Km's, but any activity where your heart rate is up equates to something.

Although it is difficult to accurately log calories burned with cardio activities it is much harder to accurately calculate strength training, so if you are on a decent surplus, i'd just ignore it, and if you are on a deficit, just adjust accordingly over the weeks and months.

We will just have to guestimate and wait for tech like Hexoskin or future developments in the monitoring field.

39flavours

So what about body pump? I know this is cardio based resistance training, low on the cardio, MFP gives 323 for 60 mins. I know MFP activity burns are inaccurate but should I just log 0 cals for this too?

SezxyStef

ahimsa1990 wrote: »

minties82 wrote: »

I guess it would depend on what your training consists of? If you are doing weights for a couple of hours per day you would need to eat more.

Do people hear weights and think "bicep curls and bench press"? I sure feel like it's a lot of effort to snatch a heavy weight over and over again, or clean and jerk almost my body weight. It can take a good 2 hours to get through a proper work out.

I train dominantly through a crossfit facility (4-5x/wk) so only one hour on those days, sometimes additional mountain biking or running. I definitely eat a lot, as far as MFP tells me (1600 - 2100 calories a day) I guess on non-exercise days I will just have to find a way to eat less.

I strength train 4x a week, and do cardio 3x a week and I lose on 1800 easy.

weight lifting (heavy weights) burns calories...but the benefit to strength training is not the current calorie burn it's the muscle you are retaining.

If you are using MFP as designed you are following NEAT which means that the extra calories from exercise should be eaten back (at least a portion of them 50-75%).

I am currently at 1800 if you want ideas on what to eat have a look. My breakfast is pretty consistent with a fruit smoothie with protein powder with coffee (cream and sugar) in the morning with a greek yogurt about 11am...lunch at noon (varies) and a good dinner usually a large protein source, veggies and a starch...then I have a snack of chocolate at night...

Wolfe1965 wrote: »

SO if I log my strenght training in MFP say seated Bicep curl, 3 sets 10 reps per set at weight 70, does MFP credit any thing for this entry or is it just there to show you did it.

You have to log it under cardio (strength training) for the calories to show up.

blankiefinder wrote: »

Still burning from the day before? Weight training burns minimal calories, I log 1 calorie for my strength training, just so I can track my time.

Yes, 750 calories per meal seems very high to me. My breakfast and lunch come in around 300 each, supper around 4-500, and snacks around 400.

you are eating 1200 a day or less...wow...that is minimal for women...I do hope you are eating back your exercise calories....no wonder 700 a meal seems low to you. Mine are about 500 each with chocolate bar at night.

stevencloser

blankiefinder wrote: »

ahimsa1990 wrote: »

Blankiefinder - You log 1 calorie for your strength training? Does this mean you get to eat one extra calorie on your day following?

Also, what kind of things do you eat for breakfast and lunch that will only add to 300?

For strictly weights I log 1 calorie the day of training, and 0 the following day. You're not getting an 'after burn'.

For something like crossfit I would log anything like burpees, pull-ups etc as calisthenics. I still would not log any residual bonus calories the next day.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20703175
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20733523

These would suggest that at least immediately after strength training you're burning more calories than during strength strength training itself.
Also apparently 1 set of heavy bench press burns 10 Calories.

lexbubbles

SezxyStef wrote: »

blankiefinder wrote: »

Still burning from the day before? Weight training burns minimal calories, I log 1 calorie for my strength training, just so I can track my time.

Yes, 750 calories per meal seems very high to me. My breakfast and lunch come in around 300 each, supper around 4-500, and snacks around 400.

you are eating 1200 a day or less...wow...that is minimal for women...I do hope you are eating back your exercise calories....no wonder 700 a meal seems low to you. Mine are about 500 each with chocolate bar at night.

300 (breakfast) + 300 (lunch) + 400-500 (dinner) + 400 (snacks) = 1400-1500, not 1200 or less.

999tigger

Wolfe1965 wrote: »

SO if I log my strenght training in MFP say seated Bicep curl, 3 sets 10 reps per set at weight 70, does MFP credit any thing for this entry or is it just there to show you did it.

Short answer = yes.

You cna log it under cardio, but tbh not many people bother with strength training for calorie burn entries. MFP isnt very good at strength, so not many people use it. If you want to show you did it then log it. If you want some calories then put it under cardio, but I tend to put nothing. Your body still gets the benefit of whatever calories are burned.

For cross fit then the burn might be larger because its a mix/ hybrid of weight and cardio. The vurns are difficult to calculate so I would just moitor and adjust based on results. Some of the weights coul be ccounted as cardio if they arent significnat and have more akin to a cardio exercise.

jemhh

I use the cardio strength training entry. If you regularly lift weights you need the extra calories. There is no way on earth I could keep it up without eating those calories. Fuel your body.

999tigger

jemhh wrote: »

I use the cardio strength training entry. If you regularly lift weights you need the extra calories. There is no way on earth I could keep it up without eating those calories. Fuel your body.

It depends on the individual as well as how many weights you might be lifting and what else you might be doing. If you need them then log them and judge by results would be my approach. My cardio burns tend to give me enough.

blankiefinder

lexbubbles wrote: »

SezxyStef wrote: »

blankiefinder wrote: »

Still burning from the day before? Weight training burns minimal calories, I log 1 calorie for my strength training, just so I can track my time.

Yes, 750 calories per meal seems very high to me. My breakfast and lunch come in around 300 each, supper around 4-500, and snacks around 400.

you are eating 1200 a day or less...wow...that is minimal for women...I do hope you are eating back your exercise calories....no wonder 700 a meal seems low to you. Mine are about 500 each with chocolate bar at night.

300 (breakfast) + 300 (lunch) + 400-500 (dinner) + 400 (snacks) = 1400-1500, not 1200 or less.

She said in OP that she gets 1800 calories.

blankiefinder

By the way, I eat 200 over on strength days, 200 under on off days for a slow recomp right now at 2 lbs from goal