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    Over thinking calories for the fun of it.

    Posts: 83 Member
    edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
    So I am sure this has been discussed before, but I find fun to beat dead horses.

    Considering my current BMR is 1648 I burn 1.15 calories every minute just being alive.

    Now let's consider that I run for 1 hour. In that hour I burn 500 calories on my HRM.

    That is 1 hour that I am not resting. If I am thinking this through logically I need to subtract 69 calories from that work out.

    Otherwise I am double dipping. I am getting credit from MFP for being alive that hour and then on top of that I am getting credit for working out.

    I can't have both. Either I am resting or I am working out.


    Thoughts?

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    Replies

    • Posts: 319 Member
      Exactly!!!! You are 100% right! No double dipping in the calorie bucket!
    • Posts: 932 Member
      My thoughts exactly.
    • Posts: 442 Member
      hmmmmm...never thought about that, that is very true!
    • Posts: 1,844 Member
      My BMR is only about 55 calories an hour. I just figure that it's offset by the metabolic "afterburn" from exercising that continues after you're done running or whatever. It doesn't seem to have affected me personally, but I guess it could if you're working out a ton.
    • Posts: 2,380 Member
      LOL I totally posted almost this exact same post a couple of days ago. My BMR breaks down to me burning 57 calories per hour just to stay alive. So as of a couple of days ago, I take my HRM calorie burn and subtract 1 calorie for each minute that I exercised. Seems more accurate since like you said, why get credit for being alive twice?
    • Posts: 396 Member
      If you're going to split hairs (i.e. calories) you would also have to take into account anything you do besides staying alive, meaning, walking to the mailbox, typing, bending over to life up boxes, and lifting your water bottle. These activities are not technically working out, but those are things we do every day other than just "staying alive", but are also not "working out" that also in theory burn (minimal) calories. I see your point on double-dipping, but if you're going to over think, go the distance man! :happy:
    • Posts: 83 Member
      @Agthorn

      I agree with you, I don't think it's enough over the course of a day to matter. Even a 1 hour workout is only going to be off by a minimal amount. I just find the numbers interesting.
    • Posts: 2,794 Member
      Hmmm....now you've done it! You got me thinking!
    • Posts: 83 Member
      If you're going to split hairs (i.e. calories) you would also have to take into account anything you do besides staying alive, meaning, walking to the mailbox, typing, bending over to life up boxes, and lifting your water bottle. These activities are not technically working out, but those are things we do every day other than just "staying alive", but are also not "working out" that also in theory burn (minimal) calories. I see your point on double-dipping, but if you're going to over think, go the distance man! :happy:


      Only if I am logging this stuff which I never do. all that is just gravy for me. :happy:
    • Posts: 436 Member
      The question is whether the calories shown by your HRM are the total calories you've burnt or just the "extra" calories you've burnt during exercise. Try putting it on while you're sitting at your desk, when you've been sitting for a while, and see how many calories it indicates in an hour.
    • Posts: 6,423 Member
      It's a fair point, but I work on the theory that all the food/exercise cals I enter are just estimates anyway, so im not going to bother splitting hairs over less than one calorie a minute. And not subtracting these cals hasn't hindered my weight loss at all, so I'm glad I didn't read this in January!
      It's kind of cool to have an idea of how many cals I need per minute just to stay alive though... Thanks!
    • Posts: 83 Member
      The question is whether the calories shown by your HRM are the total calories you've burnt or just the "extra" calories you've burnt during exercise. Try putting it on while you're sitting at your desk, when you've been sitting for a while, and see how many calories it indicates in an hour.


      That would be very cool if the HRM took that into consideration and automatically adjusted the calories based on BMR. Something to look into!
    • Posts: 333 Member
      If you're going to split hairs (i.e. calories) you would also have to take into account anything you do besides staying alive, meaning, walking to the mailbox, typing, bending over to life up boxes, and lifting your water bottle. These activities are not technically working out, but those are things we do every day other than just "staying alive", but are also not "working out" that also in theory burn (minimal) calories. I see your point on double-dipping, but if you're going to over think, go the distance man! :happy:

      That activity is normally accounted for in your activity level settings, so it is already factored in to your caloric deficit whereas exercise that you log is not.
    • Posts: 2,380 Member
      show previous quotes


      Only if I am logging this stuff which I never do. all that is just gravy for me. :happy:

      I think the issue here is not wanting to OVERestimate calories burned. If you're walking to the mailbox etc but not logging those activities, there's no worry of overestimating burn since you're not estimating at all.

      Significance - HRMs are not designed to be used when you're just sitting around. They are only supposed to be used while you're actually exercising.
    • Posts: 83 Member
      It's a fair point, but I work on the theory that all the food/exercise cals I enter are just estimates anyway, so im not going to bother splitting hairs over less than one calorie a minute. And not subtracting these cals hasn't hindered my weight loss at all, so I'm glad I didn't read this in January!
      It's kind of cool to have an idea of how many cals I need per minute just to stay alive though... Thanks!

      Yeah, I by no means want anyone to think I am looking for cracks in the armor. I think MFP is an amazing site. It has worked wonders for me and I haven't been subtracting those calories either. This just peeked my curiosity.
    • Posts: 1,844 Member
      If you're going to split hairs (i.e. calories) you would also have to take into account anything you do besides staying alive, meaning, walking to the mailbox, typing, bending over to life up boxes, and lifting your water bottle. These activities are not technically working out, but those are things we do every day other than just "staying alive", but are also not "working out" that also in theory burn (minimal) calories. I see your point on double-dipping, but if you're going to over think, go the distance man! :happy:

      Well, MFP already takes into account some of that - your maintenance cals are your BMR multiplied by an activity factor that accounts for all those things (if you're 'sedentary' the multiplier is 1.25).
      why get credit for being alive twice?

      I dunno, some days I'm pretty awesome... :bigsmile:
    • Posts: 83 Member
      why get credit for being alive twice?


      I dunno, some days I'm pretty awesome... :bigsmile:

      I think this comment wins.
    • Posts: 2,380 Member
      show previous quotes

      I dunno, some days I'm pretty awesome... :bigsmile:

      That is a valid point...
    • Posts: 396 Member
      I didn't really see it as much an "issue" per se, but more of playful banter, since the topic indicated for the fun of it. However, if the concern is ultimately over estimating when workouts are logged without account for X calorie/BMR burned there are other (non-logged) activities one completes during the day that could quite potentially counter balance the X calorie/BMR burned that is not being included in the "working-out" calories burned. I believe this could really go either way and primarily depends upon the individual, their logging and activities.

      ~Thanks.
    • Posts: 83 Member
      I didn't really see it as much an "issue" per se, but more of playful banter, since the topic indicated for the fun of it. However, if the concern is ultimately over estimating when workouts are logged without account for X calorie/BMR burned there are other (non-logged) activities one completes during the day that could quite potentially counter balance the X calorie/BMR burned that is not being included in the "working-out" calories burned. I believe this could really go either way and primarily depends upon the individual, their logging and activities.

      ~Thanks.

      That is a very good point! I am sure that's how it all balances out in the end.
    This discussion has been closed.

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