Sweat as an indivation of calories burned?

derek1237654

I know it is said that sweat is not tied to calorie burn....that i think is only a half truth.
Its simple....given the same conditions (same excercise ,same person,same hydration, same temp and humidity ) that person will sweat more at an increased excercise intensity than at a lower one. So ya sweating is correlated with energy expenditure (calories burned). Of course if one of the other conditions (ambient temp , hydration etc) changes then the sweat rate may not be correlated with calories burned. I know
this from personal experience too. The harder i work the more i sweat in almost all cases. So who else thinks these kind of claims are half truths?

robertw486

For me usually true. Now and then I have workouts where it sways one way or another some though, for no logical reason.

Biking in the summer is the worst. The wind keeps the sweat buildup down....until you stop!

And for me personally it seems almost directly tied to HR / cardio base. With our elliptical indoors, I now have to be pushing some fairly solid pace/wattage to get the sweat going. With no wind it's easier to notice.

2011rocket3touring

Both today and yesterday I did 1 hour treadmill. Yesterday's caloric reading was 399 and today's 549. Only difference was yesterday I had a fan on and did not sweat nearly as much.

OfficialDSXIII

I think sweating has more to do with your body temperature. When you exercise harder you sweat more because your body is trying to cool down. For instance, imagine standing outside in 100 degree weather doing nothing vs stacking boxes in an air conditioned warehouse for hours. Which would burn more calories?

paulgads82

I sweat in the sauna. My friend sweats doing just about anything.

mkakids

Most of the time that 'sweat is not an indication of calories burned' is used around here it is when someone compairs their workout to another persons. We often see "why do they go to the gym if they don't work hard enough to sweat...Im always dripping with sweat and red after a workout."

If your compairing the same individual in highly controlled situations where things like hydration can be accurately measured? Then yes, sweat can be an indicator of intensity. Thats nearly impossible to do accurately though, and its not going to be a highly significant number of calories.

zoeysasha37

Let's go back to your original claims - you said you live in a warmer climate area of the US. You said you work in a non air conditioned factory or something of that nature.
If you really believe you are burning that much more because of those two factors then I would suggest adjusting your calories accordingly And see how it goes .
If your looking for a debate then I would find some studies to support your claims and post them. Without studies or proof to back up your claims, I doubt you will be taken seriously

snickerscharlie

paulgads82 wrote: »

I sweat in the sauna. My friend sweats doing just about anything.

I sweat while gardening on a hot summer's day. Burning calories? Not so much. Dehydration might be an issue, though.

zoeysasha37

I sweat a lot laying on the beach. Do you believe I'm burning a significant amount of calories because I'm sweating more ? I also sweat a lot while in a tanning bed. I will get out and the entire bed is soaked in puddles of sweat. I seriously doubt I am burning that much more because I'm hot. But like I said, please support your claims with some scientific backing and I would be glad to debate it.

zyxst

Sweating is an indication that your body is too hot and needs to cool down. I rarely sweat even during a workout and in hot weather. My mom would sweat buckets sitting at the table.

MommyL2015

2011rocket3touring wrote: »

Both today and yesterday I did 1 hour treadmill. Yesterday's caloric reading was 399 and today's 549. Only difference was yesterday I had a fan on and did not sweat nearly as much.

How did you determine your calorie burn for those? I have a step counter and a counter on my treadmill, and neither differentiate the calories based on how much I sweat.

queenliz99

My friend teaches spinning classes and I have never seen her sweat. Ever. She's a weirdo.

amusedmonkey

Not true for me if comparing different exercises. I sweat more during resistance training than I do during cardio, but I know for a fact I'm not burning even half the calories I burn on a run. For resistance training it's random and does not correlate with calorie burn. I know squats burn more calories than planks, but it's buckets for a 30 second plank and and only small droplets for 5 sets of squats. For the running specifically, it's kinda sorta true for me all other things equal, although time has more to do with it than intensity (I sweat more the longer I go even if I taper my intensity at the end). As soon as I stop running, I produce more sweat in 5 minutes than I did in my entire run!

stevencloser

My gym buddy is drenched after the warm up sets, I rarely break a sweat outside of running in 30+ degree heat.

rankinsect

Certain individuals sweat a lot less than others for the same intensity of exercise. It's a mixture of genetics, body size, and efficiency of sweating. Smaller people sweat less because they lose heat more efficiently by radiation than larger people since smaller people have a higher surface area to volume ratio, and because they have less fat as an insulator.

And, for heat exchange, a very thin layer of sweat is much more efficient than large beads of sweat. Some people tend to oversweat, while others don't. That seems to be genetic - there's a huge variability in how densely packed people's sweat glands are, and how much sweat each gland produces.

singingflutelady

I also have a friend who never sweats and she works out hard!

derek1237654

http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/sweating-exercising-burn-calories-17583.html

Check out this article. I guess the point i was making is that if you could accurately control for all other factors that contribute to degree of sweating and intensity of excercise was increased then you would sweat more at the higher intensity of the same excercise.
So if all factors where exactly equal in the same person then higher intensity excercise would produce more sweat because the body would have to cool itself more from the increased energy production. In this case higher intensity excercise would be directly related to energy expenditure. I guess my overall point is dumb though because its not practical.

ilex70

rankinsect wrote: »

Certain individuals sweat a lot less than others for the same intensity of exercise. It's a mixture of genetics, body size, and efficiency of sweating. Smaller people sweat less because they lose heat more efficiently by radiation than larger people since smaller people have a higher surface area to volume ratio, and because they have less fat as an insulator.

And, for heat exchange, a very thin layer of sweat is much more efficient than large beads of sweat. Some people tend to oversweat, while others don't. That seems to be genetic - there's a huge variability in how densely packed people's sweat glands are, and how much sweat each gland produces.

Ah, but insulation works both ways; to keep heat in and to keep heat out. I grew up in a hot climate and when I was obese I was less sweaty. Took longer for the external heat to penetrate is my theory.

paulgads82

derek1237654 wrote: »

http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/sweating-exercising-burn-calories-17583.html

Check out this article. I guess the point i was making is that if you could accurately control for all other factors that contribute to degree of sweating and intensity of excercise was increased then you would sweat more at the higher intensity of the same excercise.
So if all factors where exactly equal in the same person then higher intensity excercise would produce more sweat because the body would have to cool itself more from the increased energy production. In this case higher intensity excercise would be directly related to energy expenditure. I guess my overall point is dumb though because its not practical.

I think your example could only really apply in a lab setting. It's interesting but as an individual there are other ways to know how hard you've worked out.

lemurcat12

paulgads82 wrote: »

derek1237654 wrote: »

http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/sweating-exercising-burn-calories-17583.html

Check out this article. I guess the point i was making is that if you could accurately control for all other factors that contribute to degree of sweating and intensity of excercise was increased then you would sweat more at the higher intensity of the same excercise.
So if all factors where exactly equal in the same person then higher intensity excercise would produce more sweat because the body would have to cool itself more from the increased energy production. In this case higher intensity excercise would be directly related to energy expenditure. I guess my overall point is dumb though because its not practical.

I think your example could only really apply in a lab setting. It's interesting but as an individual there are other ways to know how hard you've worked out.

This is what I was thinking. It's never true that everything else is equal, and there are much easier ways to know how hard you've worked than sweat.

derek1237654

Yah i agree it is only relevant in the lab setting. But i have noticed that 9 times out of 10 i sweat a lot more as the intensity of my excercise increases . For example doing kettlebell swings with a 25lb kettlebell vs a 53 lb in the same environment. The only time i noticed less sweat with same intensity is when i was dehydrated.

cerise_noir

singingflutelady wrote: »

I also have a friend who never sweats and she works out hard!

Heck, I sweat in the middle of the winter -25c when I am walking outside. And then there is anxiety......

ninerbuff

derek1237654 wrote: »

Yah i agree it is only relevant in the lab setting. But i have noticed that 9 times out of 10 i sweat a lot more as the intensity of my excercise increases . For example doing kettlebell swings with a 25lb kettlebell vs a 53 lb in the same environment. The only time i noticed less sweat with same intensity is when i was dehydrated.

Well speed and tempo matter too. Swing the 25lb KB twice/three times as fast as the 53lbs one and your intensity could be higher.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Serah87

I live in Florida and it's already hit the 90's and very humid, I sweat just sitting outside, did I burn more calories?? Nope.

If sweat meant you burn more calories everybody would move to the south where it's hot and humid, so they can be skinny.

nutmegoreo

So if I can't determine how much sweat I am producing in the pool, does that mean I'm not working out? It's a little like leaving my FitBit at home. The day clearly didn't count. The day after a weight lifting session, I am constantly feeling warmer, regardless of air temperature, even when I'm spending all my time sitting around. Is this an accurate measure of effort?

OP, I think this is a situation of majoring in the minors. The amount of sweat you are producing is influenced by so many factors that it just isn't possible to control all variables for this to be an effective measure.

derek1237654

nutmegoreo wrote: »

So if I can't determine how much sweat I am producing in the pool, does that mean I'm not working out? It's a little like leaving my FitBit at home. The day clearly didn't count. The day after a weight lifting session, I am constantly feeling warmer, regardless of air temperature, even when I'm spending all my time sitting around. Is this an accurate measure of effort?

OP, I think this is a situation of majoring in the minors. The amount of sweat you are producing is influenced by so many factors that it just isn't possible to control all variables for this to be an effective measure.

Yes i agree its just a hypothetical that seems to have some relevancy to me specifically most of the time when doing kettlebell swings with different weights at the same tempo. Ive been doing it a while and i definately sweat more 9 out of 10 times when using the larger bell at the same rate at the same gym. Just an observation that seems to work for me because the heavier kettlebell for me is correlated with higher calories burned (weight loss) which is for me corellated with amount of sweat 9 out of 10 times which is very statistically significant.

nutmegoreo

derek1237654 wrote: »

nutmegoreo wrote: »

So if I can't determine how much sweat I am producing in the pool, does that mean I'm not working out? It's a little like leaving my FitBit at home. The day clearly didn't count. The day after a weight lifting session, I am constantly feeling warmer, regardless of air temperature, even when I'm spending all my time sitting around. Is this an accurate measure of effort?

OP, I think this is a situation of majoring in the minors. The amount of sweat you are producing is influenced by so many factors that it just isn't possible to control all variables for this to be an effective measure.

Yes i agree its just a hypothetical that seems to have some relevancy to me specifically most of the time when doing kettlebell swings with different weights at the same tempo. Ive been doing it a while and i definately sweat more 9 out of 10 times when using the larger bell at the same rate at the same gym. Just an observation that seems to work for me because the heavier kettlebell for me is correlated with higher calories burned (weight loss) which is for me corellated with amount of sweat 9 out of 10 times which is very statistically significant.

This is self-reported speculation, or are you wearing the same clothing and weighing them after your workout to determine the amount of sweat you produced?

Christine_72

I don't think so. I sweat buckets exercising outside in summer. Now that it's cold here I barely perspire doing the exact same exercise. My fitbit doesn't give me different readings, it is not however a HR monitor which could make a difference??

Sharon_C

I am not a sweat-er so I disagree with this

upoffthemat

I have always sweat a lot, even as a younger kid when I was in fantastic shape. Yes, I always played hard, but I also tended to sweat more than others my age. When I played baseball or hockey I sweat a lot even as a pre-teen and teenager. Now that I am way overweight I sweat a lot too,
I will actually find that I stop sweating as much at a certain point into my workout when I start hitting my stride. I am performing better and doing more, but sweating less. If I push harder still I will start sweating more I am sure, but that is usually hitting a point where I can't sustain it as long and it isn't as beneficial to me.

moe0303

For the love of all that is good, could somebody please fix the typo in the title? It's making my Agent Orange act up.