I see people buring over 1000 cals at the gym

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  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    When I started in the gym weighing 267lb I could easily burn 700 Calories in a hour with a little bit of stationary bike, some light weight work, the rowing machine and then the treadmill. A year on and 87lb down it takes a lot more work, running intervals instead of straight walking, time on the elliptical, rowing full out intervals, lifting heavy weights and I'll maybe burn 500 Calories in an hour.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited December 2016
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    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    Am i doing something wrong because i usually only born 300-400 and i feel i work hard.

    For one thing, people often overestimate their energy expenditure and take the readouts on various machines, etc as gospel. For two, how long are they training and at what intensity? How big are they?

    I'm a 190 Lb male...I can burn 1,000 calories on a tempo ride in about 75 minutes or so...my 125 Lb wife can't.

    Stop comparing yourself to others...
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    These people could be doing extreme cardio, spend a long time at the gym (liek 3-4 hours which isn't really suggested) or are very large people (if you are 300 lbs. you will burn more in a given time than someone who is 100 lbs.) Also a lot of people overestimate.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited December 2016
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    peaceout_aly wrote: »
    ....or are very large people (if you are 300 lbs. you will burn more in a given time than someone who is 100 lbs.

    Maybe, but you're assuming sustainable effort comparison.

    While for me 1000 calories is ten miles, for someone twice my weight that would take 5 miles. For me walking at 5mph is a little faster than my normal walking pace, but I walk fast. I'd be surprised if someone twice my weight could walk at 5mph for an hour.

    Whilst weight is probably the most significant contributor to calorie expenditure, stamina is key and being able to sustain the effort is much harder for someone who is significantly overweight.

    I'd add that personally running that 10 miles will take me between 80 and 90 minutes, not 60.
  • JoRolleNola
    JoRolleNola Posts: 152 Member
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    When I go to the gym I stay for 1 1/2 to 2 hours to burn 500-600 calories. I'll do 45 minutes of cardio which usually nets me about 350-400 burned. The rest is all about controlled weight lifting machines. So I guess it depends on what u are doing and for how long.
  • joemac1988
    joemac1988 Posts: 1,021 Member
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    I use 10 cals per minute as a measure of working out with good intensity. If I workout hard for 60 minutes, that should be about 600 cals. 1000 cal workout? Yeah, I do that on Saturday but it takes about 2+ hours. They're either:
    1. Overestimating
    2. Working out INSANELY intense
    3. Working out for over 2 hours

    Hope that helps.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    KANGOOJUMPS wrote: »
    I do not do gym at all, I do it all on my own, I easily can do 1000 a day, cardio rocks! outside only

    Same here but in the winter I tend to stay inside. My workouts are usually around 90 minutes long and tend to average 1000+ cals. Full disclosure though, part of it is done at aerobic-anaerobic heart rates for a bit over 500 cals, then I slow down a bit and transition into circuit training for up to an hour to burn another 500. No rest in-between sets/circuits/cardio so my HR stays above 120 the whole time during circuit training, and during the cardio I average high 140's to mid 150's. I eat back I'd say about 800 of those calories and tend to slowly lose weight so I have to go over a few days to stay at my current weight. So I wouldn't say the burn rate is 100% accurate, but it's close. It's really all about heart rate, whether or not you're resting or just doing a lot of cardio. In the spring/summer I will speed walk through our park (many hills) as fast as I can go, and sprint up hills, and it takes me somewhere around 6-7 miles of that to net 1000 calories but I can still get it done.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,449 Member
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    I think you are looking at this wrong. You don't go to the gym to see how many calories you can burn. You go to the gym for physical fitness. It is very hard to burn a significant number of calories on typical gym machines without spending a large portion of you day doing it (unless you are very obese).

    Use the gym to make yourself stronger and feel better. To lose weight, focus more on your calorie intake.

    FWIW, I have to run 10 miles to burn 1000 calories. At a normal (non race) pace that is nearly 2 hours of running.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    A lot of people have no idea how the body works and assume they are burning many many many more calories than they actually are. All these ridiculous fitness magazine articles that tell them they can burn 100s of calories in just 10 minutes a day don't help.

    Based on your other posts about what others are doing I will say what i've said before - just focus on what you are doing. Don't worry so much about everyone else and what you perceive they are doing. It likely isn't actually happening and you're wasting energy on nonsense.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    edited December 2016
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    Definitely possible. I have a picture of my polar HRM watch somewhere telling me I burned over 2k calories in one session. It was close to 3 hours, I'd ran over 8 miles, and done a ton of exercises in between 1/2 mile laps. It was a brutal intense endurance workout that I had built up to and was training for a 9 mile mountain race with obstacles.

    Don't compare yourself to others. If you don't want to workout any harder to burn more calories - then don't. Just keep working towards your goals at your own pace. Some people may be lying about their burns, others may not. So as you should always do - you do you ;)
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,163 Member
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    I did over 1000 today, but that was 76 minutes of fairly intense cycling. Depending on how I feel later today, I might do some more for a higher daily burn. However, I don't do that every day. Usually 400 to 500 calories is a workout for me, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. I wanted to get in enough time to make my goal of 800 minutes cycling for the month, so I went longer today.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    A lot of people have no idea how the body works and assume they are burning many many many more calories than they actually are.

    And the marketing around HRMs which suggests that they're reliable for coming up with calorie estimations, as we're seeing in this thread.
  • mojo75
    mojo75 Posts: 314 Member
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    i've gotten my Polar HRM over 1000 once. granted I was on a treadmill for about an hour and a half. Not getting in the argument of HRM's being accurate or not but i know I was sweating my guts out and it helped me break through a weight i was stuck at.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,163 Member
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    rileysowner wrote: »
    I did over 1000 today, but that was 76 minutes of fairly intense cycling. Depending on how I feel later today, I might do some more for a higher daily burn. However, I don't do that every day. Usually 400 to 500 calories is a workout for me, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. I wanted to get in enough time to make my goal of 800 minutes cycling for the month, so I went longer today.

    Just to be clear this is not based on my HRM but on speed and cadence. I have the HR data and having used it to calculate the calories from this same sort of workout the number come out much higher probably largely due to HR drift over time. Based on my results the numbers derived from my current setup are pretty close as results match up fairly well with consuming food based on them. I would still much rather have a power meter, but they are simply out of my price range.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    rileysowner wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    I did over 1000 today, but that was 76 minutes of fairly intense cycling. Depending on how I feel later today, I might do some more for a higher daily burn. However, I don't do that every day. Usually 400 to 500 calories is a workout for me, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. I wanted to get in enough time to make my goal of 800 minutes cycling for the month, so I went longer today.

    Just to be clear this is not based on my HRM but on speed and cadence. I have the HR data and having used it to calculate the calories from this same sort of workout the number come out much higher probably largely due to HR drift over time. Based on my results the numbers derived from my current setup are pretty close as results match up fairly well with consuming food based on them. I would still much rather have a power meter, but they are simply out of my price range.

    I just did a quick google of power metres here in Aus, and wow! $800-$1500. You'd want to be a serious cyclist to fork out for one of those.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Christine_72 wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    I did over 1000 today, but that was 76 minutes of fairly intense cycling. Depending on how I feel later today, I might do some more for a higher daily burn. However, I don't do that every day. Usually 400 to 500 calories is a workout for me, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. I wanted to get in enough time to make my goal of 800 minutes cycling for the month, so I went longer today.

    Just to be clear this is not based on my HRM but on speed and cadence. I have the HR data and having used it to calculate the calories from this same sort of workout the number come out much higher probably largely due to HR drift over time. Based on my results the numbers derived from my current setup are pretty close as results match up fairly well with consuming food based on them. I would still much rather have a power meter, but they are simply out of my price range.

    I just did a quick google of power metres here in Aus, and wow! $800-$1500. You'd want to be a serious cyclist to fork out for one of those.

    Indeed...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    dewd2 wrote: »
    I think you are looking at this wrong. You don't go to the gym to see how many calories you can burn. You go to the gym for physical fitness...

    Also this ^^^

    I stopped worrying about how many calories I burned in a session a long time ago. I follow my training program...some rides are longer than others...some are more intense than others...sometimes I'm doing a tempo ride at around 18-20 MPH...sometimes I'm cruising at 15 or 16 MPH...sometimes I'm doing hill repeats...sometimes I'm doing interval training...depends on what's on the agenda for the day...energy expenditure doesn't factor into my training protocol.
  • shanae727
    shanae727 Posts: 546 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    TerryMyfitbitsnbobs wrote: »
    Nobody burns over 1000 calories at the gym. I used to be ultra fit. I taught boxing too. When you are extremely fit, your body can do extremely challenging exercise with great economy and without raising your pulse as highly as a big fat guy like me walking to the corner shop. I will be more tired by walking a half a mile than Mo Farah running quicker than most hobby cyclists for a few thousand meters. So the paradox is, if you're fit enough to burn 1000 calories in a gym, you most probably won't. Maybe a triathlon or marathon, but not in the gym.

    "Nobody" is nonsensical. The range of fitness is huge.

    For me 1000 calories is about 75 minutes as I'm very fit. That's measured on a professional standard power meter cycle trainer by the way.
    A friend of mine (elite national level for his age group) can cycle at my maximal hourly rate for four hours - and does that indoors too. He can also exceed my power output by 30%.

    The gym is packed at this time of year with serious athletes working hard, it's not all about fat people trying to lose weight.

    Yessss!!!
  • imgritz
    imgritz Posts: 47 Member
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    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    Am i doing something wrong because i usually only born 300-400 and i feel i work hard.
    300 calories is normal. I do CrossFit 5 days a week. One CrossFit routine (warmup, strength, cardio) is around 300-400 calories.


    People under estimate their food calories and over estimate their physical activity.

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