Question on weight training and how it is tabulated here

ladybugdoctor

Hi- Just started my fitness pal today. Just wondering how exercise calories are added onto your goal if they are coming from weight training? There doesn't seem to be a conversion tool for cals burned when the number of reps, etc are entered onto the exercise diary. I cannot use a HRM to calculate as I am on high blood pressure meds that completely mess up my heart rate and I have found the monitor to be unreliable. Does this program only count cals burned from cardiovascular exercise? Thanks for your help!

rachaelleBS

I had the same problem when I first started. Myfitnesspal only counts the calories burned from cardiovascular......but you can enter strength training under cardio with the total amount of time, to get a cals burned. So you can keep track of your weight workouts (amount, reps, etc) with under the weights area, but keep track of cals under cardio. Of course your cardio is going to vary with how close together your sets are, and if you break.......but its a good start!

lilchino4af

Log it under the Cardio section as Strength Training. That's where your cals will be added. The strength training section is to help you keep track of what exercises you do and how many sets/reps/weight you did for each exercise. Hope this helps!

ladybugdoctor

Thanks so much for your helpful replies. I keep the rest times 45 seconds so that I keep my heart rate up as best as I can (based on advice from personal training session I had once). I will log it under the cardio section under strength training then.

Azdak

I would strongly caution people about using ANY calorie calculator for strength training or adding too much on to your total.

Strength training is essential for fitness, for health, for losing weight and changing your body composition. So this is in no way meant to discourage anyone from aggressively including strength training in a routine.

It's more of an "accounting" issue. There is so much variability--not only in individual response to resistance exercise, but in the makeup of resistance exercise routines themselves, that no general table can give you a reliable number. There is also the fact that the total effect of a resistance exercise workout often occurs after the actual workout itself. Once again, individual response is so variable that there is no way to quantify that number.

HRMs are useless as well. HRM calorie counts are only remotely accurate during steady-state aerobic exercise. Often the HR increase that is observed during strength training results from a completely different physiologic response than during cardio. So the HR cannot be used as an indicator of either cardio training or of calories burned.

Many people who decrease their recovery time between sets to "keep the heart rate elevated" are just reducing the quality of their strength workouts, not improving their cardio fitness (again, it all depends on resistance levels and structure of the workout).

I follow appropriate guidelines for post-workout fuel replacement, so I do know that the "calorie expenditure" is there, but I have never logged a strength workout. Most of the time, you are really just making up a number out of thin air.

ladybugdoctor

Interesting about what you say re: HRM and weight training. I have never heard that, but I suppose it could make sense. Before being on atenolol I used my HRM as an indicator of cals burned for my entire workout, including time spent in resistance exercise and used that for my Weight watchers exercise points. I did lose 40 lbs on WW doing it that way, but I don't feel like I must include all exercise in this program. I do know that I need to lift weights to lose weight- just going on our elliptical in the basement and doing exercise videos just doesn't cut it for me for whatever reason. One good thing about including it, even if somewhat unreliable, is that it could motivate people to lift those weights! I don't necessarily need that motivation right now, as I know I need to, and I enjoy it.

Got tired of counting points and paying for it- I think this program will be fantastic- and I WILL lose those last 10 lbs!!!

Azdak

Interesting about what you say re: HRM and weight training. I have never heard that, but I suppose it could make sense. Before being on atenolol I used my HRM as an indicator of cals burned for my entire workout, including time spent in resistance exercise and used that for my Weight watchers exercise points. I did lose 40 lbs on WW doing it that way, but I don't feel like I must include all exercise in this program. I do know that I need to lift weights to lose weight- just going on our elliptical in the basement and doing exercise videos just doesn't cut it for me for whatever reason. One good thing about including it, even if somewhat unreliable, is that it could motivate people to lift those weights! I don't necessarily need that motivation right now, as I know I need to, and I enjoy it.

Got tired of counting points and paying for it- I think this program will be fantastic- and I WILL lose those last 10 lbs!!!

It's not a question of "making sense" -- it's basic exercise physiology. And the reason you might not have heard it before is because 95% of all the information on the internet is just people copying the same information over and over again.

It's possible that the numbers you recorded on your HRM corresponded more closely with what was actually going on. But it was random coincidence, nothing more. My main point is not to discourage people from lifting weights or to imply that it is not important. It's just that you cannot reliably quantify that calorie burn--esp with an HRM. And my main goal is to give people the facts they need to make effective choices.

Sometimes it doesn't make a difference, because many people will get a lower reading on their HRMs during strength training than their actual total calorie "burn". However, there are plenty of folks out there who are deconditioned or who have significantly higher than average heart rates and these people will significantly overestimate calories burned during strength training if they take numbers off a HRM.