heart rate based vs activity based calculators

MaxVonMagnus
MaxVonMagnus Posts: 10
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everybody!

New member here. I created my account to ask this question and top keep track of my weight/health goals. I would like to know about the accuracy of calculations that show calories burned based on heart rate during exercise and duration of exercise.

My workout for today was 4 hours of walking at 2.8 mph. I've got a lot of time on my hands for the next month. A little about me: I'm male 5 foot 10 and 230 pounds. My body fat percentage is 28ish. It might be lower but I'm erring on the side of caution since I haven't had it tested.

When using a calorie calculator, should I enter my lean weight or my total weight? Based on 28% fat my lean weight would be a little over 165 lb.

I'm pretty out of shape as you can guess from the fat percentage. What I want to know is which figure should I believe for calories burned? An online calorie calculator said around 1300 calories for walking 11 miles in 234 minutes. But if I use an online heart rate based calorie calculator, it gives me a figure over 2000 calories. Which one is right?

My health goal is to decrease my fat percentage to below 12 or hopefully even 10. And to maintain a lean muscle weight over 210 lb.

Help?
Max.

Replies

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single



    When using online calculators you have to use your total weight. It really is a mass over distance matter for walking. Realistically you netted closer to 750-800 calories from that 11 mile walk with a 1300-1500 total burn. Most HRMs and online calculators provide gross (total including BMR) caloric burns rather than calories netted from only the exercise itself.
  • MaxVonMagnus
    MaxVonMagnus Posts: 10
    I see. Do I run the risk of losing a lot of muscle with these long walks? I'm planning to aatep up my walks 10 15 miles by next week.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    I see. Do I run the risk of losing a lot of muscle with these long walks? I'm planning to aatep up my walks 10 15 miles by next week.

    You won't lose muscle. The point where the body turns to muscle for energy is far beyond where you'll hit on a slow long walk. You'll get a net burn of several hundred calories per walk, some fresh air, and the initial steps towards improving your cardio vascular health at a relatively low impact on the body. Stay hydrated, don't use a long walk as an excuse to overeat, and make sure you have good shoes and socks.
  • MaxVonMagnus
    MaxVonMagnus Posts: 10
    Another question, do I need to use my lean muscle mass or total weight for calculating calories burned in other exercises like rowing, burpees, bicep curls etc? And I used an online vo2max calculator and got a value of 30ml/kg (I forget the last unit) based on my rating heart rate (96). Is it worth estimating calories burned using this information in conjunction with my heart rate? Or will it be so inaccurate that I shouldn't even bother?

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