How to work out calories from weights?

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hbunting86
hbunting86 Posts: 952 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi

I've recently started doing weights at the gym - and I'm wondering how people work out how many calories are burned through doing lifting etc?

Thanks!

Replies

  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
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    I use a heart rate monitor to give a rough estimate of calories burned, but it's nowhere near as useful as it is for estimating calories burned for cardio. Cnd calorie burn for weights is notoriously difficult to estimate as there are so many variables.

    Generally, it burns far fewer calories than I expected, around half the amount for a cardio session, but that makes sense because I'm not lifting heavy yet and there's a lot of doing nothing between the sets. If you look at my exercise diary for last Mon / Wed / Fri you'll see the actual figures but I do dance / move around a lot / jump on a stepper for a minute between sets so they're higher than they would be for straight weights.

    Still strongly believe that weights are better for weight loss and health than endless cardio though, don't think that because for me it burns fewer calories, I'm suggesting that it's not a fantastic exercise! :)
  • ken1994
    ken1994 Posts: 495 Member
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    There is a generic stregth training under cardiovascular, but it is very difficult to quantify the effort I found this article online. Take it for what it is worth: http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/, good luck!
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
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    i think there is an entry in cardio database for 'strength training', but it will only be an estimate as so much can vary with weight training. best way would be a HRM.
  • 3shirts
    3shirts Posts: 294 Member
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    I want a way to calculate the calories roughly just to make sure I don't under-eat on the days I do weights. Should I go with my HRM estimate, the one on here or something else.
  • SteveJWatson
    SteveJWatson Posts: 1,225 Member
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    I'm not sure about this either, because weights burn calories after the gym as your muscles repair themselves....
  • DonC2013
    DonC2013 Posts: 27
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    There is a weight training category under cardio on the MFP exercise tab. Just enter weight training as a cardio exercise and it pops up. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it is something to go on if you are interested in adding back calories gained from exercise.
  • debi_f
    debi_f Posts: 330 Member
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    There is a generic stregth training under cardiovascular, but it is very difficult to quantify the effort I found this article online. Take it for what it is worth: http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/, good luck!

    This article is very interesting! The least effort formula calculates to almost twice the calories MFP gives under strength training in the cardio section! I wonder how accurate it is.

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