NROLFW did I do it wrong?

vicmonster

Today was my first day doing NROLFW. According to my HRM I only burned 97 calories; could that be right? I am 5'1" and close to goal weight so I know I don't burn as much as most people. I thought I worked out hard on each of the exercises though it didn't seem like a long enough workout (30 minutes or less) so I did some intervals on the treadmill.

jallen1955

Yes, that could be right. Weights don't burn many calories during the actual workout, it is the gain of muscle that impacts your BMR that provides the increased fat loss.

Sassy_Cass

I would say your heart rate monitor may not have been working especially if you did intervals afterward. Try again tomorrow in 30 minutes you should be burning at least 200 cal... give or take

douglasmobbs

Weight lifting does not burn that many calories directly, but a greater % muscle will mean that you will burn more calories doing activities (or so I have been told)

rudegyal_b

hrms are better for cardio based activities. if im not mistaken, nrolfw is strength training, so unless youre lifting super heavy, your heart rate will stay low and you will only register a small calorie burn.

Sassy_Cass

Even though weight lifting does not burn as many calories, 3 cal a min approximately is way too low - she should have been sleeping for that LoL not to mention se said she did treadmill intervals.

Give it another go and check the placement of your monitor

cannonsky

HRMS are not accurate during lifting.. they are meant for cardio only.

paeli

Strength training generally burns less during the activity, but your body burns more afterwards and throughout the day. So that may explain the low reading. I burned twice as much as you doing about the same workout but I am 5'10" and have more to lose - so I probably tend to burn more as I have a larger body.

beezbee

I don't have a HRM and use the MFP estimate. I, too, was really surprised in the beginning by how few calories I was apparently burning while workin like a dog. But as other posters have stated, it's a burn that keeps on burning ;-) congratulations on getting started! Looking forward to hearing about your progress.

rudegyal_b

Even though weight lifting does not burn as many calories, 3 cal a min approximately is way too low - she should have been sleeping for that LoL not to mention se said she did treadmill intervals.

Give it another go and check the placement of your monitor

3 cal a min seems right to me, i get 4.4 while walking, and 0.9 while sleeping...i wish i burned 3cal/min sleeping lol!! im around 3.5 while strength training

3dogsrunning

HRMS are not accurate during lifting.. they are meant for cardio only.

This.

mes1119

Yea, they aren't accurate for weight lifting. And you can't expect to burn much during lifting anyways. I think it depends on how much you exert yourself and how good of shape you are in. If you're in great shape your heart rate will lower faster after exerting yourself.

SLambertAlaska

lots of good advice here. one more: be sure you're wetting the leads on your hrm so that it will pick up your hr well.
Good luck! and good job weight training!!

CarolynB38

After lifting you continue to burn more calories for a while which is why, in the book, they recommend you eat more on your lifting days. Use the calculations in the book to determine how much you should be eating on a workout day and how much on a non-workout day if you wish to follow the programme as it is written.

As mentioned above, HRMs are not accurate for lifting and they don't take into account the extra calories you burn in the hours after lifting. I would suggest following the calorie intake the programme recommends, at least for the first few weeks, then you will be able to see if you need more or fewer calories to lose weight.

jnh17

It's probably right. The first workouts are pretty easy. I finished stage 1 Monday and it gets much harder!

vicmonster

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

LastTenPoundsGodDamnYou

It's probably right. The first workouts are pretty easy. I finished stage 1 Monday and it gets much harder!

Please can I have your thighs! Lucky you!!

erickirb

Today was my first day doing NROLFW. According to my HRM I only burned 97 calories; could that be right? I am 5'1" and close to goal weight so I know I don't burn as much as most people. I thought I worked out hard on each of the exercises though it didn't seem like a long enough workout (30 minutes or less) so I did some intervals on the treadmill.

97 cal in 30 min seems very reasonable for strength training. That being said HRMs are not accurate for non-cardio activity and will overestimate your burn as the calculation they use assumes a certain oxygen uptake based on an estimated intensity. This oxygen uptake does not occur from anaerobic activity and therefore the calculation will be wrong.

Caloric burn is not the benefit of strength training, gaining or retain lean muscle is.

30 min/workout is plenty long as long as you push yourself. I only lit 4 days/week 30 min/session, with one cardio day and have been having great results.

Rae6503

HRM don't really work for lifting.

But yes, weight lifting for a half hour burns about the same calories as a slow half hour walk. But we don't do it to burn calories. We do it to look awesome.

meshashesha2012

if the exercises are easy then add more weight. i've never found my NROL4W workouts to easy, some have been incredibly short (like in stage 1) but I always choose weights that made those 20-25 minute workouts pretty darn tough.

aj_31

So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.

meshashesha2012

i go by my HRM. i know it's not accurate but since my workouts have been factored into my TDEE, I dont eat my exercise calories back so it doesnt really matter

erickirb

So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.

400 is probably too high. Just log strength training on MFP or estimate 3-5 cals/min (180-300/hr).

aj_31

So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.

400 is probably too high. Just log strength training on MFP or estimate 3-5 cals/min (180-300/hr).

Thanks for the feedback.

TheFunBun

....But when your HRM is inaccurate, it's inaccurate upwards because if you're heavy lifting your heartrate is elevated in spurts, and depending on your health may take longer to come down after, so it gives you a high burn even though you weren't really burning the entire time. I think it just must have gone out of range and displayed a zero for a portion of your workout.

erickirb

....But when your HRM is inaccurate, it's inaccurate upwards because if you're heavy lifting your heartrate is elevated in spurts, and depending on your health may take longer to come down after, so it gives you a high burn even though you weren't really burning the entire time. I think it just must have gone out of range and displayed a zero for a portion of your workout.

The rest has little to do with why it is off, but will make some difference.

The main reason is the calculation in the HRM assumes a certain oxygen uptake based on intensity (intensity is estimate by using your HR). With strength training your elevated HR happens due to different physiological responses then is done with cardio, and the oxygen uptake is not the same as with cardio leaving that portion of the question over estimating the burn based on HR, as the HRM assumes your HR is elevated due to cardio, which requires higher intake of oxygen over a given period of time.

jnh17

I thought about this question at the gym today.

I usually log 330 calories for my new rules workouts. Walking at 4.0 for 5 minutes burns about 25 calories (for me) so 90 calories doing 20 minutes of new rules vs 100 calories for walking for 20 minutes is just not right. My heart rate gets WAY up there during the lifting (step ups/lunges especially). Plus, during the 60 second breaks I walk to the other side of the gym and back. I did stage 2 A1 today and was soaked about 8 minutes in. When I got to the pushups, i finally had to lay a towel down because my hands were slipping.

TheFunBun

Yeah, I use some calculation I found on livestrong for weightlifting calorie burns and found that most of the time it was what my HRM read divided by two, pretty much. So I just use that.

I once used this calculator that you entered in your rest times and set amounts and heart rate, but I can't find it. I would totally use that one all the time, though.

mmapags

Here is a formula that was posted by TrainingwithTonya for calculating burn during strength training. She is a very well educated proffesional trainer.

220 pound person / 2.2 = 100 Kilogram person

Vigorous free weight training = 6 METs

100 x 6 x 0.0175 = 10.5 Calories per minute

60 minute workout = 10.5 x 60 = 630 Calories burned

Note: this is for vigorous training. If the training is not vigorous, use 3 METS.

Also, as others have alluded to, the key benefit of strength training is not the burn while doing it but the Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This increases metabolism for a period of time following the workout and results in additional calories consumption. Here is an article that explains how that works. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/epoc.html

susieq101178

I use this formula for calculating my strength-training calories.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/

erickirb

Here is a formula that was posted by TrainingwithTonya for calculating burn during strength training. She is a very well educated proffesional trainer.

220 pound person / 2.2 = 100 Kilogram person

Vigorous free weight training = 6 METs

100 x 6 x 0.0175 = 10.5 Calories per minute

60 minute workout = 10.5 x 60 = 630 Calories burned

Note: this is for vigorous training. If the training is not vigorous, use 3 METS.

Also, as others have alluded to, the key benefit of strength training is not the burn while doing it but the Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This increases metabolism for a period of time following the workout and results in additional calories consumption. Here is an article that explains how that works. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/epoc.html

The MET calc may be correct, but how much time are you actually lifting in that 60 min window (20??) should you not use the 20 minutes instead?