Zumba Calories accurate?

aniko27
aniko27 Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
OK, I can find a ton of hits on Zumba when I search the forums, but I am really wondering how accurate are websites like http://www.caloriesburnedhq.com/zumba-calories-burned/ ? Today just for fun I wore my Heart Rate Monitor. I really worked up a sweat, I actually felt like I burned a ton of calories, but then when I got my average heart rate after a 60 minute class it was "only" 127. I am 40 years old, I'm in pretty good cardiovascular shape so my heart rate recovers pretty quickly between songs and is usually around 135-145 during the song.

When I put 60 minutes of Zumba at moderate intensity it says 700 calories. Seriously? That just seems way high? What should I trust? My heart rate calculation or the Zumba Calculator? And yes, I eat every single one of my calories if possible. And I am worried that if I estimate too low then I am not eating enough and then I go into starvation mode, blah, blah, blah. And I'm still trying to play with my calories to come up with my "magic" number that is not too low and not too many.

So confusing!

Replies

  • WhatitisLiz
    WhatitisLiz Posts: 26 Member
    I am wondering how accurate the Zumba calculation is too. I am posting on this thread so I can come back to see if anyone has anything to say about this topic. :-)
  • mrsnathanandrew
    mrsnathanandrew Posts: 631 Member
    I wore my hrm when I did 60 minutes, and I got just over 800 cals burned, but I'm also very overweight.
  • aniko27
    aniko27 Posts: 3
    That's kind of what I am thinking too - the calories would vary depending on your weight (and I'm about 50 pounds overweight), cardiovascular level, etc. I really think I am going to keep wearing my HRM and see what I get. My HRM is actually my running watch, so it doesn't really compute calories, but I can get my Average Heart Rate, then plugged it into the formula
    (0.074 * age in years - 0.05741 x weight in pounds + 0.4472 x average heart rate - 20.4022) x time elapsed / 4.184

    I was a bit bummed at the "only" 400 calories!
  • jinren
    jinren Posts: 7
    That's kind of what I am thinking too - the calories would vary depending on your weight (and I'm about 50 pounds overweight), cardiovascular level, etc. I really think I am going to keep wearing my HRM and see what I get. My HRM is actually my running watch, so it doesn't really compute calories, but I can get my Average Heart Rate, then plugged it into the formula
    (0.074 * age in years - 0.05741 x weight in pounds + 0.4472 x average heart rate - 20.4022) x time elapsed / 4.184

    I was a bit bummed at the "only" 400 calories!

    whoa where did you get that formula from?
  • aniko27
    aniko27 Posts: 3
    A couple of different places - Livestrong has it, and I think some people on here have posted it as well - that's the one for Females, males are a bit different. I just Googled it.
  • MsBallerinaBody
    MsBallerinaBody Posts: 32
    i know, i usually enjoy my time when doing zumba, but i recently i feel like it's not enough to count as a "great" workout.
    it sure is fun, but you wheat they say, "no pain, no gain"

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