Do you burn more calories when you eat more?

Tanya949
Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
This may sound like a silly question, but here's what happened. Normally I eat about a 20% cut (2185) cals per day. An average calorie burn for one of my exercise sessions is about 550-600 calories via HRM. This week I'm not cutting, but eating at maintenance (2800) cals per day. Today my calorie burn for the same type of exercise session (same time on bike, same body group) was 821 cals. That's over 200 calorie difference for one hour. I always check burn after doing the bike, and they were the same... 220 cals for 20 min. So the strength training portion burned much more today. My weight was pretty much the same for both sessions (216 lb). My max HR's were comparable, as was time spent in each zone.

So could you burn more calories at higher food intake, or was maybe my HRM acting up?

Replies

  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
    Well, I just found my answer... I did the fit test on my HRM 2 weeks ago. After doing so, my calorie burns were higher, to reflect the result. :blushing:
  • ars1300
    ars1300 Posts: 159 Member
    Many say that HRM are not accurate for weightlifting sessions or how much "afterburn" you may get thru the day. So many things can come into play such as if you are more active that day.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    Actually HRM really aren't meant for strength training, just steady cardio. That's why your bike burn was the same. When you strength train your HR goes up and down all the time and it can and does mess with the HRM calculations
  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
    My bike burns before the fit test were 115, and 220 after fit test. I always check the calorie total after the bike so I know the burn for it. I just leave it on afterwards while I'm doing my strength training. Just for numbers'sake, my ST burns before fit test were about 400, after the fit test 600. It was just that the number 821 jumped out at me today, and I forgot when I had done the fit test, which changed the calculations for my calorie burn.
  • Brooke4206
    Brooke4206 Posts: 140 Member
    This exact thing happened to me too. I used to eat at 1200 calories a day and only burned about 300 calories with insanity. I upped my calories and my burn increased to roughly 400. It's great!

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