I was wayyyyyyy off! LoL.

xX_Samantha_Xx

Hey guys!

So, I've been crossfitting for a few months now. Since you cannot really track calories in a crossfit workout, I would always estimate around 400 to be safe and not overestimate..
WELL, I finally got to use my new Polar FT40 heart rate monitor during my workout last night. I started it during the warm up and left it running until a little after the workout was done. When I finally stopped it and looked at what I burned, my mouth was wide open. 766 calories! I was way UNDER-estimating my workout. This also made merealize I hadn't been eating enough, either. I have lost weight steadily.. but I'm sure I would have plateaued at this rate after I kept not eating enough back.
I follow the 1200/day cal, but I always ate back my workout calories. At the end of this workout, I was able to eat more than 1200/cal that I had for the whole day (what I had left from the day before my workout/dinner (around 500) + workout cals burned.) I was shocked. So I had some yummy tacos for dinner. I deserved it. LoL.

Has anyone else underestimated this much and not realized how much you were actually burning until you had proof? LoL.

_HeartsOnFire_

This is kind why I do the TDEE-10-20% method so I don't have to stress or figure out how many calories I burned. I track my exercise and just use 1 calorie burned.

xX_Samantha_Xx

Yeah, I've been successful this way so far. I might eventually try that.. but it kind of works out the same way on the days I exercise. So I'll see how it goes.

Shari325

Samantha,
I don't want to burst your bubble, but your HRM could be wayyyy off too. Heart rate monitors only estimate the number of calories burned as well. They are much better at estimating the burn from steady state cardio, such as running. Crossfit, although it gets your heart rate up, is not steady state, thus leading the heart rate monitor to be less accurate in its estimations. Not to mention any calculation of calories burned is an estimation of averages. If you are above or below average, your burn will be different.

The only way you will know if it is accurate for you, is to try it. Eat back the calories the HRM says you burned for several weeks and see how you do. Personally, I would stall (or possibly gain) if I ate back all the calories my HRM says I burn - even the steady state cardio calories.

My son is in the Coast Guard. Semper Paratus! Thank your boyfriend for his service!!

_HeartsOnFire_

Yeah, I've been successful this way so far. I might eventually try that.. but it kind of works out the same way on the days I exercise. So I'll see how it goes.

Stick with doing what works for you! They do both almost equal the same way, I just always hated MFP telling me I would burn 562 calories for 40 minutes of kickboxing. While I had worked my *kitten* off, I never felt like that was correct. I got a HRM, but couldn't figure it out...I used to think I was smart! :P