Calories burned/Donating Blood?

misspenny762

I gave blood today and was told you burn 650 calories giving blood... Although I think "lose" is a better term than "burn" in this case.

Just wondering if this is true, how it works, if I should log it, and if I should eat those calories back.

bluiz13

While its true that you it will "cost" your body 600 calories worth of energy to re-make the blood that you gave... its not like that all counts for today. That is why you aren't allowed to "re-give" blood for the next 6 weeks-- because it will take that long for your body to "remake" all those RBCs (and other cells) that you gave today.

So, logging that you burned 600 calories by giving blood-- all in one day-- is inaccurate and would lead you to believe that you burned more calories today than you really did-- a LOT more than you really did.

Really, those 600 calories should be spread over the next 6 weeks, (42 days), meaning that in actuality, you only "burned" an extra 14 calories per day for giving blood over the next 6 weeks until your body replenishes itself.

If it was 600 calories all in one day, the blood banks would never have a shortage! People would be begging them to take their blood-- 600 calories is a solid hour long jog on a treadmill, heck I'd rather give blood then jog for an hour!

misspenny762

While its true that you it will "cost" your body 600 calories worth of energy to re-make the blood that you gave... its not like that all counts for today. That is why you aren't allowed to "re-give" blood for the next 6 weeks-- because it will take that long for your body to "remake" all those RBCs (and other cells) that you gave today.

So, logging that you burned 600 calories by giving blood-- all in one day-- is inaccurate and would lead you to believe that you burned more calories today than you really did-- a LOT more than you really did.

Really, those 600 calories should be spread over the next 6 weeks, (42 days), meaning that in actuality, you only "burned" an extra 14 calories per day for giving blood over the next 6 weeks until your body replenishes itself.

If it was 600 calories all in one day, the blood banks would never have a shortage! People would be begging them to take their blood-- 600 calories is a solid hour long jog on a treadmill, heck I'd rather give blood then jog for an hour!

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it :]

Mindful_Trent

I don't have a medical background... but here's my opinon: I did this last week - didn't change my eating for the day and felt fine. If you feel hungry or weak, don't be afraid to eat a little extra. If you normally eat less than MFP tells you, you may want to consider eating as close to your goal as possible for a day or two. (So don't undereat after giving blood - they tell you not to miss meals in the literature I've seen) However, from what I've read (and the pamphlets they give you), I think it's probably more imporant that you drink more water than usual to help keep your fluids up.

DJH510

I gave blood today and was told you burn 650 calories giving blood... Although I think "lose" is a better term than "burn" in this case.

Just wondering if this is true, how it works, if I should log it, and if I should eat those calories back.

Azdak will have a field day if he reads this!

SB1166

Check out this link though
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=463638
It says FOUR to six weeks so by eating healthy you can replace the red blood cells in 4 weeks verses 6. So if it is 4 weeks then that would still only be 23 calories per day. However I think there would be a sort of tapering of the calories over that period because of the way it is described in what is replaced and how it is replaced. The platelets, white cells and plasma are replaced within about 72 hours. It is the red blood cells that take that 4 to 6 weeks.

and here is this link
http://www.cleveland.com/pdq/index.ssf/2012/03/calories_and_donating_blood_ma.html
which says about 350-400 calories to replace.

SO... since I donated blood today I think I will log about 250 calories burned today and not log the rest of it that would be burned over the next 4 to 6 weeks. I feel like that would be a safe bet for me. I mean I FEEL like I just worked out. It took more out of me physically this time than it has in the past but, I think it's because I weigh less than the last times I've given (which I've never logged as burning calories). That's just what I'm going to do. I'm not saying it is correct or good for anyone else.

pinuplove

I have donated a LOT of blood over the years and never considered this I say make sure you drink enough water today and don't eat under your calories, but I wouldn't necessarily eat more. I've never had an issue with feeling weak or tired after giving, though.

SB1166

I just found another article that is excellent and provides the science and math behind the reasoning and numbers....

http://www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com/2010/09/calories-in-human-blood_15.html

About 425 calories for women and 460 for men are LOST by giving blood. The calories burned replacing the red blood cells over the next 4 to 6 weeks is actually minimal according to this article.

I'm changing my log to reflect this..... however I will likely NOT be eating it back... just in case its wrong and besides I want to have a deficit but, I also know my body and I really needed the snacks they provided this time.

Crossett54

I see lots of posts on the internet claiming the amount is 600-650 calories. None of those posts are from sites I would consider authoritative. I did find an interesting approach to calculating the calories in the blood donation itself that calculation gave 425 for women and 460 for men. So I'm going to use 500 for my calorie count .

I'm going to donate today so I'll look through their literature while I'm there.

LadyL2012

While its true that you it will "cost" your body 600 calories worth of energy to re-make the blood that you gave... its not like that all counts for today. That is why you aren't allowed to "re-give" blood for the next 6 weeks-- because it will take that long for your body to "remake" all those RBCs (and other cells) that you gave today.

So, logging that you burned 600 calories by giving blood-- all in one day-- is inaccurate and would lead you to believe that you burned more calories today than you really did-- a LOT more than you really did.

Really, those 600 calories should be spread over the next 6 weeks, (42 days), meaning that in actuality, you only "burned" an extra 14 calories per day for giving blood over the next 6 weeks until your body replenishes itself.

If it was 600 calories all in one day, the blood banks would never have a shortage! People would be begging them to take their blood-- 600 calories is a solid hour long jog on a treadmill, heck I'd rather give blood then jog for an hour!

This is absolutely correct. The 600 is the energy used to remake the blood so to speak, spread over several weeks.

However, DO make sure you eat well for the next 24hours. Lots of protein and vitamins to replenish.