Curious about the body's decreased ability to burn calories

unicornassassin

I'm curious about this. I do the elliptical every day for an hour. I try to always burn 800 calories. I wonder how long it's possible to maintain it the same amount of calories burned per hour as you lose weight?

At 220 it was pretty hard because I was so out of shape. At 210 it was easier because I was a little fitter. Now at 190 it's getting harder again because I have to keep tabs on my heart rate to make sure it's not getting too high.

I'm assuming I'm not going to be 130 and still able to burn 800 calories on the elliptical, or will I, due to being able significantly increase the resistance and speed (as I already am beginning to do) and as my heart continues to get stronger?

Anyone have any personal experience with this? I'm not dying to know, or anything.. just idly curious, and putting off my Friday night cleaning... ha.

KaleidoscopeEyes1056

I'm not sure why this is, but when you lose weight it's harder for you to burn calories. I just know this because when I lost weight, it was really hard for me to burn the same amount of calories by doing the same activities on my Zumba fitness game.

AZKristi

If you are losing weight and getting stronger you should be able to intensify your workout. Increase speed and resistance and you should definitely be able to get your heart rate up. As your fitness level improves, you will actually have to work much harder to get your heart rate up. So yes, you will continue to burn lots of calories if you continue working at your peak. Also, the more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you tend to burn in a workout. So you can even increase the burn as your fitness level increases.

Also, consider trying other cardio workouts to work other muscles and work them in different ways!

fteale

I am 130, or a little less and burn around 500 cals an hour running outdoors. I don't know how that relates to an elliptical. I run quite fast.

p0stdramatic

I now have to work very hard to get my heart rate up. No matter how hard I work, I can't burn the same 1200 calories in my cardio kickboxing class that I did when I first started. It's a VERY high intensity 75 minute class. The best I've done in the past month was 893, and we went for an extra 15 minutes. I'm almost 50 pounds lighter, and of course my HRM only gives an estimate so I can't really be sure what I'm burning. I do that class 3 times a week, but I work out 6-7 days a week.

fastbelly

It is about the same, it all depends on your heart rate and oxygen intake or VO2Max.

When you get slimmer you obviously won't burn the same calories at the same speed, but you still have the same Max Heart Rate, so if you work at a % of your HRMax you will have the same burn.
Usually what happens is as you get fitter you also increase the load or the speed of your workouts and that makes for a similar burn.

AZTrailRunner

There are a few factors at play; body weight, cardio conditioning, age, and intensity being the prime players. The more you perform a movement, the more efficient you become at it, and therefore your are able to complete said task requiring just a tad less fuel as before. I can relate this to my running. My HR beats a lot lower at the same speed as it did a few months ago (150bpm @ 6.0mph 'then', and 130bpm @ 6.0mph 'Now'). I also weigh less, and run with better form. So if I want the same calorie burns I achieved months ago at my slower, heavier weight, I have to find ways to increase my intensity (hills, tempo runs, sprints).

Not sure if that answers your question.

Jeff92se

wear a weighted backpack

unicornassassin

I'm not sure why this is, but when you lose weight it's harder for you to burn calories. I just know this because when I lost weight, it was really hard for me to burn the same amount of calories by doing the same activities on my Zumba fitness game.

It's because when you weigh less you're doing less work, basically. If you're 130 pounds and doing Zumba, and I'm 200 pounds doing Zumba, I might as well be a 130 pound person doing Zumba while holding 70 pound weights.

KaleidoscopeEyes1056

I'm not sure why this is, but when you lose weight it's harder for you to burn calories. I just know this because when I lost weight, it was really hard for me to burn the same amount of calories by doing the same activities on my Zumba fitness game.

It's because when you weigh less you're doing less work, basically. If you're 130 pounds and doing Zumba, and I'm 200 pounds doing Zumba, I might as well be a 130 pound person doing Zumba while holding 70 pound weights.

Haha, I wish I was 130!!

unicornassassin

wear a weighted backpack

I will probably do this

Thanks everyone for the input and suggestions!

fteale

It's also that as you become fitter your heart becomes stronger and is able to pump more blood per beat, and HRMs measure heart rate, which will change the stronger you get.