Tracking calories burned during workouts

Sarahb29

I have both a fitbit flex 2 and a Samsung gear S2. If I do a workout (for example, a half hour of an exercise DVD or YouTube video) will either watch accurately track my calories burned? I'm assuming no for the fitbit flex 2 since it doesn't measure heart rate, but the Samsung watch does.

Does anyone have any success with either of these tools? What does everyone else use? Thx in advance!

NorthCascades

Heart rate doesn't have much to do with how many calories you're burning. In general a higher heart rate implies that you're exercising harder, but that kind of goes out the window if you've had a lot of caffeine or are stressed or it's hot, or ...

Pick whichever one you like, keep good track of what you're eating, what you're burning through exercise, and what you weigh every day. After you've gathered all this data for a few weeks, go back and see if you're losing weight at the rate the numbers predict. If not, adjust accordingly.

TeaBea

A FitBit Flex is great. It's not that it's accurate for every type of exercise, nothing is. But wearing it consistently (over time) will help you develop good estimates. Compare the calorie burns against your expected and actual weight loss results. You will get a good feel for the numbers eventually.

A heart rate monitor is designed for steady state cardio (a formula basically). But like @NorthCascades said - it's still not an exact correlation. Heart rate monitors with chest straps are supposed to be more accurate than wrist only models also.

Check out the FitBit group - you might get more info
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

Sarahb29

NorthCascades wrote: »

Heart rate doesn't have much to do with how many calories you're burning. In general a higher heart rate implies that you're exercising harder, but that kind of goes out the window if you've had a lot of caffeine or are stressed or it's hot, or ...

Pick whichever one you like, keep good track of what you're eating, what you're burning through exercise, and what you weigh every day. After you've gathered all this data for a few weeks, go back and see if you're losing weight at the rate the numbers predict. If not, adjust accordingly.

This is where I'm lost, I don't know what I'm actually burning. Plus I'm assuming people who are working out that are much heavier than others are going to burn more, so I don't know how to calculate my calories burned during an at home workout.

MeanderingMammal

Sarahb29 wrote: »

...will either watch accurately track my calories burned?

Unlikely as there are too many variables, interpreting arm movement as step counts would give you a bit of a random number, and as above HR isn't all that reliable as a proxy for calories in the situation you identify.

I'd concur with just logging by time, track your progress and then adjust how much of the calorie burn that you eat back based on your success. If you're eating back say 50% of your expenditure and find you're not losing as fast as you'd plan then eat back less, or vice versa.

NorthCascades

Sarahb29 wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

Heart rate doesn't have much to do with how many calories you're burning. In general a higher heart rate implies that you're exercising harder, but that kind of goes out the window if you've had a lot of caffeine or are stressed or it's hot, or ...

Pick whichever one you like, keep good track of what you're eating, what you're burning through exercise, and what you weigh every day. After you've gathered all this data for a few weeks, go back and see if you're losing weight at the rate the numbers predict. If not, adjust accordingly.

This is where I'm lost, I don't know what I'm actually burning. Plus I'm assuming people who are working out that are much heavier than others are going to burn more, so I don't know how to calculate my calories burned during an at home workout.

Use your Samsung, or your Fitbit, or the MFP database. Don't put too much thought into it, just pick one, whichever is most convenient or looks best on you. Then track (your food intake plus estimates for energy spent on exercise, and weight) for a month.