Calories burnt resting vs. calories burnt exercising

silvercaster68
silvercaster68 Posts: 6 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Do I need to subtract calories that I would normally burn resting from the calories I burnt during exercising? I have a Polar heart monitor that tells me I burned 35 calories in 15 minutes of resting. Now, if I play tennis for 15 minutes and burn 100 calories, should I subtract the resting calories of 35 and enter 65 calories burned into MFP?

Replies

  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    The number of calories your HRM gave you resting is probably pretty inaccurate (based on that you need to consume 3360 cal per day just to maintain basic function) HRMs are not that useful except for tracking heart rate and their calorie estimates are only close for steady state aerobic exercise.

    While you're using the wrong tool you are on the right track. You've recognized the difference between gross calories expended (which is what many HRMs estimate) and net calories expended (those attributable to the exercise itself)

    There are some GPS/HRM devices that are quite good at estimating calories for things like running & cycling as they can also take into account distance and pace but I don't know of any that are really good for sports like tennis or soccer where your accelerating, turning, stopping etc etc etc constantly throughout a match.

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