Massage Therapy calories burned....help!

anakinlover

Hey everyone...as a massage therapist, I am curious as to how many calories are burned per hour of massage. I have checked multiple sites and their numbers seem extremely high...Is anyone out there a therapist, too? or does anyone know where I can find a trusted site on calorie burning? Thanks for the help! :flowerforyou:

girlruns

Is massage therapy your full time job?

jonsie3488

I am an LMT as well, and I always wonder this too! It's a pretty strenuous job, but I've never logged any cals burned for it because I figure it can just be extra help to my calories I burn in workouts. I don't want to overestimate the burn and eat it back.

anakinlover

I am a therapist, however; I also teach massage therapy at a local business and technical school. I would not say I do it full time, but I do it often.

anakinlover

Me, too. I know it depends on the length and depth of the massage...not to mention the amount of work that needs to be done...Sometimes it is very rigorous..

Bearface115

I ama Massage Therapist in training and i calclated it. for a 1 hr massage it's 244 calories (from my HRM) BUT im a traveling massage therapist in training, so my friends nad family who want it, i lugg around my table and with my HRM dragging it back and forth it was close to 400 calories lost, i was suprised, but ya know, it's a strenuous job which means more on ur feel and better workout for us :-)

anakinlover

Thank you very much!

VialOfDreams

I ama Massage Therapist in training and i calclated it. for a 1 hr massage it's 244 calories (from my HRM) BUT im a traveling massage therapist in training, so my friends nad family who want it, i lugg around my table and with my HRM dragging it back and forth it was close to 400 calories lost, i was suprised, but ya know, it's a strenuous job which means more on ur feel and better workout for us :-)

Oh wow! That is amazing!

TrainingWithTonya

I use the following METs compendium to do calorie burns.

http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/docs/documents_compendium.pdf

Multiply the MET level (4.0 for massage) by your weight in kilograms and you get a calorie burn per hour.

gillleeman

I'll look at that Tonya thanks. I've been estimating about 300 cals for 45 mins massage.

hannahderr

awesome!! can i now count these calories on this site??! bc that would give me so many more calories that i can eat lol!! you know me- anakinlover :0)

Therapist_mama

I too am a Massage Therapist and I so appreciate you posting this question, cause I had the question run across my mind today and because I found your post I know have my answer! I do not work very often as I am an independent contractor and a stay at home mom.....so when I get a client and I work I feel the burn for sure....so I figured for me since it is not a daily thing I can count it as exercise. I have to say though that when I calculated the MET by my weight in kilograms I was surprised to see how high the calorie expenditure was. I decided to only eat back 1/2 of those calories.

Again thanks for posting this question!

Best to you in your journey,:flowerforyou:
Ruth

STARG1RL

Google: "calories burned doing massage" Several different links...

deadstarsunburn

If it's your regular everyday job than I would suggest you simply up your activity level. That would probably be most beneficial to your weight loss.

will010574

Can I get a massage?

STARG1RL

Can I get a massage?

Lol! Me next... I haven't had a massage in months :frown:

rachldee

I too am an LMT, and from what I've read I've figured 200 calories per hour as a loose figure between my deep tissue and relaxation sessions. But it's SO FREAKIN' HARD to figure out if we are eating too few vs. too many calories! THIS part of it has been very frustrating. So this week I've started adding massage to cardio and see what happens. I have a feeling that 1200 calories per day for my height and weight just isn't enough???

Flygirl214

This is awesome info! I'm a massage therapist too. I know it is work and I do 6 hours per day sometimes. That is lovely! I think this is a good thing for me! Whoot Whoot

GiiaSoCrazii

Thanks so much for this post. I am currently in school to become a LMT and I was wondering how I should calculate that in..or if I should at all...very helpful info

NicoleThomas77

I'm a licensed massage therapist, of 12 yrs. I've always wondered how many calories I burn while giving massages, but every site I check gives me different answers. Kind of frustrating!

anakinlover

It truly is. I understand that the calorie burn may be hard to pinpoint to an exact measurement. The burn would depend on technique, pace, depth, client...etc. Yet just a loose guestimate would be great. I doubt anyone who is not an MT realizes how physically demanding it really is.

tumblebumble

I wore a calorie counter/heart monitor for a week while in my clinic. I found that it fluctuated a great deal not only from type of massage but to the client I was working on as well. (some people are less work then other I guess) Some 60 minute massages burned more then a 90 minute. It went from 42 cals to 600 cals a session. with an ave of 48 for a typical relaxation massage.

Jynus

don't forget though that 120-180 of those calories are your BMR, and woulda been burned had you just stood around doing nothing. So that 300 burned from your heart rate monitor means the burn from doing massage is only 80-20.

for reference, sitting doing nothing is about 120ish calories and standing is about 180 calories an hour.

funkyspunky872

Extra calories burned if it's me whom you're massaging.

True story.

duhblond

When you first start doing massage you burn alot more as your body is unaccustomed to the movement and stress on it, but after that I do not think you burn hardly any.
Especially for something basic like S.A. If you are doing deep tissue with lots of stretching on your client you could probably say you burned more, but honestly even if you are doing 8 a day, I would just consider it a job and part of life... I would not consider logging the calories burned. but that's just me. =/

AiimeeDee

Hey everyone...as a massage therapist, I am curious as to how many calories are burned per hour of massage. I have checked multiple sites and their numbers seem extremely high...Is anyone out there a therapist, too? or does anyone know where I can find a trusted site on calorie burning? Thanks for the help! :flowerforyou:

When I was a therapist I looked and looked and also could not get a good answer. I was a LMT for eight years and during that time is when I packed on the pounds. Working as much as I did, mostly deep tissue, I was always hungry and figured I would burn the calories my next sessions..not so much. I really wish someone would have told me that besides wrist injuries, you can gain weight. Good luck finding out!

BeautifulEnctr

This is what I just found!!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp?exercise=117

Hope it helps!! I was in the same boat!

Katie

DANIELLE0815

I am LMT also was wondering about this, thank you for all the helpful info!

autumn229

No wonder I am always so hungry when I massage!! Thanks for posting the helpful info

kenalucy

What about for an 80 or 90m massage?

mthabetz

I have been an LMT for 2 years, and I typically do @ 6 50 minute sessions per day, 5 days per week. (Guess where I work?) By the most conservative estimates here, that should mean I burn @ 1,000 calories per day, and based on my myfitnesspal numbers, I should be able to eat @ 3,000 calories per day and lose weight. I'm here to tell ya, it ain't true. This has been the source of some frustration for me, as it was among my motives for choosing massage as a profession that I thought it would help me lose weight. I suppose the fact that many of my teachers struggled with their weight might have been a clue. In my experience, most therapists actually gain weight when they start, and the only exceptions I can think of pursue some course of rigorous exercise outside of work. I am really at a loss as to why this would be true, as I have recently been going to the KoKo Fit Club, which calculates calories burned during my 40 minute strength training session, and it's typically @ 300 calories, and doesn't seem significantly more strenuous than giving a massage, particularly if it's deep tissue. But, although it's baffling and frustrating, I've stopped counting any calotie burn whatsoever for my work.