Calories burned exaggerations

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  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
    Its so crazy to see this thread is still going. Hehe
  • SteveO5198
    SteveO5198 Posts: 16
    I weigh 280 lbs. and I knock out around 700 calories on the eliptical in about half an hour!
  • ThePhoenixRose
    ThePhoenixRose Posts: 1,978 Member
    i thought this might have been aimed at my most recent "burn" but i'm glad to see that's not the case... 128,649 is a perfectly reasonable number of calories to have burned in 360 minutes of pedaling 4 kids around the lake on a paddle boat, right?!

    i mean, i don't have a HRM, so i'm just ball parking, but it's gotta be somewhere close to that...
  • SteveO5198
    SteveO5198 Posts: 16
    And as long as you are losing weight and feeling good about yourself, who really cares about a number?!
  • TheAncientMariner
    TheAncientMariner Posts: 444 Member
    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

    How does it hurt you?

    Ahhhh, the old "Hey, you shouldn't post these things because someone else might be butthurt poster!" Listen, if you don't like the topic, then keep it moving. She had a legitimate concern and is soliciting the advice of like minded people. Does she not have a right to question when she feels like someone is cheating themselves or BSing numbers? She sure does. People can do what they want, certainly, but isn't that already implied time and time again in these forums. So now, you have made me commit the same sin that you have just committed. We both have responded to a thread while contributing absolutely nothing of value to it. I would tell you to stay in your lane, but you'd just get butthurt by that too and tell me that I can't tell people what to do... There is nothing like spewing forth common sense and making it sound like timeless wisdom. NEXT!
  • hulkklogan
    hulkklogan Posts: 77 Member
    I don't keep track of how many calories I burned through exercise - I just exercise. I walk 2 miles 4 days a week, and the other 3 consist of 2 lifting sessions and a sprinting + plyometrics session. None of my workouts last over 45 minutes, but lifting and plyo can burn a ton. I lose weight without losing lean body mass by taking in at least .7g of protein for each lb of lean body mass. I'd rather not know what I have in 'exercise calories' and then eat and waste the deficit.

    ETA:
    Everyone has their personal preferences, also. I am on a paleo/primal diet and love it. I don't foresee myself going back to eating grains on a daily basis.
  • olymp1a
    olymp1a Posts: 1,766 Member
    It depends on the person!

    I am 66 kilos (145.5lbs) and when I do 60 minutes of a Zumba DVD I burn 600 calories. And that's according to my HRM. Now I am in healthy BMI, so I guess a person who is overweight or obese definitely burns a lot more calories!
  • peles_fire
    peles_fire Posts: 501
    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    This is an interesting post. I really think it is hard to judge calorie burn. I do a walking paper route every morning, and according to MFP routinely burn 600 plus calories (according to a 3.5 speed and hefting about a 258 pound load!) But I don't necessarily think the numbers are set in stone. I don't look at that and think Whoopee! I can eat that many more calories! But at the same time, I am fairly certain that it takes more energy to haul my big *kitten* about than it would a more "normal sized" person. I tend to think of these things as guidelines and not hard numbers. There are just too many variables in people's metabolisms alone to call it an exact science. I do believe it is possible though to get a higher calorie burn than you may think. Unfortunately, you would have to weigh as much as I do to get there, and I am not sure you would want that! Haha! Talk about counter productive :D

    Any statistics geeks out there happen to know how this stuff is calculated? I'd be curious to find out.
  • itsme_timd
    itsme_timd Posts: 59
    I wondered about that. I did a 1 1/2 hour hike this weekend and MFP said I burned 2,176 calories. Last night I did 45 minutes on my stationary bike and it said I'd burned 1007 calories. Now I'm a really big guy (422) but if I take my heart rate and use that data in a calorie burn calculator the numbers come up at 1,330 and 623, respectively. I'd definitely rather see the lower number as I'd rather underestimate than over estimate. I mean on my 1 1/2 hour hike that's a difference of over 800 calories - quite substantial.

    Perhaps the good folks that built MFP can add the ability to enter heart rate and reformulate the calculations?
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    There are just too many variables in people's metabolisms alone to call it an exact science. I do believe it is possible though to get a higher calorie burn than you may think. Unfortunately, you would have to weigh as much as I do to get there, and I am not sure you would want that! Haha! Talk about counter productive :D

    Any statistics geeks out there happen to know how this stuff is calculated? I'd be curious to find out.

    I read an article yesterday that said BMR across people (of the same age, gender, height, weight) was actually not very variable, and that the BMR calculators were very good indicators across the board.

    I don't know this but I imagine how the activity databases get the calorie burn values is they have test subjects do the activity with an oximeter(?, not sure the tool) to measure their respiration which tells them their calorie burn. I don't know if they actually test people of varying ages, sizes, genders, etc. or if they just know the general multipliers to use to translate them to each.

    There are some govt databases that have calorie counts for stuff like milking a cow, driving a tractor, weaving. I laugh at the thought of the poor subject stuck milking a cow with an oxygen hose in his mouth. And our tax dollars paying for it.
  • floppybackend
    floppybackend Posts: 52 Member
    Brilliant thread and think the OP is spot on - I have leant lots. For people like more me who are a few stone over-weight this is very important.

    When doing a DVD I only calculate the main workout (exclude warmup and cool down) then take out say 10 mins for slow downs/water breaks - say 10 mins - so 25 mins not 50 mins!!!!
    I assume calories consumed are under estimated. I should be consuming 1200 but will try to cut to 1100
    I assume calorie burned are over estimated
    Therefore in relation to exercise, at my starting stage, I will not eat back my spent calories as I only actually be burning 120 - 150 very much off what I had before 400!!!

    I still query someone very obese being able to sustain 100% high intensity for 1hr against more what I have seen its more light to moderate.
  • nouranfayed
    nouranfayed Posts: 7
    Hi all i have a question that i hope one of you would help me figure out.. I walk daily on the treadmill on 2 mph speed (slow pace) the the treadmill says i burned 41 calories yet when i log it on my fitness pal it says i burned 80 calories? Which one is right
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