calories burned?

antennachick

Whats the best way to figure calories burned? For instance I take a 50 min. Insanity class...do I figure it as aerobics?
Also do you eat back all or just some of your calories?

WildePillar

The best way to track what you're burning is to wear a heart rate monitor. That's what works best for me. Then I plug the numbers into a heart rate calculator for additional assurance. Not sure about eating back the calories though!

cwolfman13

you'll want to make some allowance for estimation error anytime you are estimating your calorie burns to eat back...things like insanity are very difficult to determine calorie burn unfortunately and it's likely you'll just have to kind of play with your figures and make adjustments per your real world results.

you could start just logging it as aerobics and adjust the calories according to what's actually happening with yur weight loss.

kami3006

cwolfman13 wrote: »

you'll want to make some allowance for estimation error anytime you are estimating your calorie burns to eat back...things like insanity are very difficult to determine calorie burn unfortunately and it's likely you'll just have to kind of play with your figures and make adjustments per your real world results.

you could start just logging it as aerobics and adjust the calories according to what's actually happening with yur weight loss.

^ This and also I recommend reading the stickies at the top of the "Getting Started" forum. It will give you a clear picture of what to do and what to expect.

cwolfman13

WildePillar wrote: »

The best way to track what you're burning is to wear a heart rate monitor. That's what works best for me. Then I plug the numbers into a heart rate calculator for additional assurance. Not sure about eating back the calories though!

A HRM is relatively accurate for calories burned for steady state aerobic activities...i.e. running, cycling, etc...the further you get from that, the less accurate they are.

MFP gives you a calorie target based on ZERO exercise...with this particular method, the way you account for exercise activity is to log it which is why calorie allowances are increased when you log exercise...you get those to "eat back" in order to properly account for that activity.

it actually makes perfect sense when you get your head wrapped around fitness for the sake of fitness...I regularly get out and ride 30 - 50 miles or more on my bike...the purpose of that is not to burn calories (that's just a bi-product)...the purpose is fitness...and I'd be up *kitten* creek if I didn't know how to or understand the need to fuel that activity...major recovery issues would ensue.

exercise isn't just for burning calories or losing weight...try to start looking at fitness for the sake of fitness and general health.

antennachick

I should add I have tried numerous heart rate monitors and they dont seam to work for me except for certain cardio such as running or spinning.

cwolfman13

antennachick wrote: »

I should add I have tried numerous heart rate monitors and they dont seam to work for me except for certain cardio such as running or spinning.

yeah, the algorithms used in most HRMs to estimate calories burned assume a steady state aerobic event. they are pretty inaccurate outside of that.

antennachick

Yeah thats what I thought :P I just see people adding in calories for exercises and I thought maybe they knew a secret I didn't haha
But I have been losing with what I have been doing so I guess its working for me

middlehaitch

I tracked my intake, loss, and exercise for 2-3 weeks then worked out what my average burn per hour was.
Because I am small and old it ended up being 50 cal less than my TDEE. Or it could just be my logging errors.
Whichever, I now just use my own calculation for exercise calories.

Cheers, h.