How many burnt calories make a great workout?

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Replies

  • jlapey
    jlapey Posts: 1,850 Member
    If I do 30-day shred (level one), I burn between 160-180 calories on average. Doesn't sound like much, but I promise, it's a good workout for toning your body. I can burn close to 400 if I go for 4-mile walk. That's good too, I stay in fat-burning mode but I'm not really toning anything. I can burn close to (if not over) 1000 calories by raking my front yard. Wonderful for strengthening my heart. Calorie burn is not what indicates the effectiveness of your workout. Different exercises are good for different reasons and each will yield a different calorie burn based on intensity, speed, and length of time. Log them for the sake of knowing but just eating healthy and exercising regularly will get you results regardless.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Calories burned during workouts is the equivalent to scale weight in terms of fitness and progression metrics. Go by things such as: can I run longer at a higher VO2max; can I lift heavier than four weeks ago; am I recovering between workouts; is my body composition improving over a 3 month period; is my waistline getting smaller each month; etc.

    Exercise is not meant to be a major component to your deficit - it should be from eating less. Exercise's role during a deficit is to maintain or improve one's level of fitness and body composition (when including strength training). Let the diet portion do the fat loss work for you. Besides, its far more economical in terms of time to burn 250, 500, etc by just eating less than it is living on a treadmill.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Erm.....you're doing it wrong. Workout to get fit. For the sport of it. Almost any reason other than to burn calories.


    Unless, of course, there's a 700 calorie pizza dinner you want and you need to earn it. In that case, it's allowable.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    Zero. 0.00. Nada. I don't work out to get a "great burn". I don't work out so that I can eat more food.

    I work out to accomplish a fitness goal. To lift a certain weight a certain number of times. To run a certain distance. To do something in a shorter amount of time that I did it before. To do more reps in a set amount of time.

    Did I do one or more of those things? Yes? Then I had a great workout

    Absofckinglutely this.

    My workout goals are established before I do them. If I'm running then I have set either a distance or a time or a number of intervals I am going to run at a given pace. When I have accomplished or exceeded that I'm done. If I burned 200 calories or 2000 is secondary to the workout itself. If I'm lifting I have a list of lifts I'm going to do and the weight and reps and sets I am going to use for those lifts. When I've accomplished that I'm done.

    ETA: and this:
    Unless, of course, there's a 700 calorie pizza dinner you want and you need to earn it. In that case, it's allowable.
  • lasmit4477
    lasmit4477 Posts: 308 Member
    Calories burned during workouts is the equivalent to scale weight in terms of fitness and progression metrics. Go by things such as: can I run longer at a higher VO2max; can I lift heavier than four weeks ago; am I recovering between workouts; is my body composition improving over a 3 month period; is my waistline getting smaller each month; etc.

    Exercise is not meant to be a major component to your deficit - it should be from eating less. Exercise's role during a deficit is to maintain or improve one's level of fitness and body composition (when including strength training). Let the diet portion do the fat loss work for you. Besides, its far more economical in terms of time to burn 250, 500, etc by just eating less than it is living on a treadmill.

    :flowerforyou:
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member

    Unless, of course, there's a 700 calorie pizza dinner you want and you need to earn it. In that case, it's allowable.

    700? Friggin amateur. Aim higher.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member

    Unless, of course, there's a 700 calorie pizza dinner you want and you need to earn it. In that case, it's allowable.

    700? Friggin amateur. Aim higher.

    Obviously I was trying to be relatable to the gen pop here....my regular dinners are over 1k!!! I didn't want to obscure my point with my own calories. lol!
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member

    Unless, of course, there's a 700 calorie pizza dinner you want and you need to earn it. In that case, it's allowable.

    700? Friggin amateur. Aim higher.

    Obviously I was trying to be relatable to the gen pop here....my regular dinners are over 1k!!! I didn't want to obscure my point with my own calories. lol!

    And I figured she just pulled that number out of her *kitten* so I wasn't going to argue about the accuracy of it.
  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
    Zero. 0.00. Nada. I don't work out to get a "great burn". I don't work out so that I can eat more food.

    I work out to accomplish a fitness goal. To lift a certain weight a certain number of times. To run a certain distance. To do something in a shorter amount of time that I did it before. To do more reps in a set amount of time.

    Did I do one or more of those things? Yes? Then I had a great workout

    :drinker:

    If I based strength training's merit on on how many calories it burns, I'd be pretty disappointed. I want to be able to lift more, run farther, and have my HR return to normal quicker.
  • cboutin89
    cboutin89 Posts: 79 Member
    Like many of you said it depends on your fitness level and what feels great to you. I would say for beginner 300 and above. For myself I get a good 700 on most days.
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    When you said "burnt calories" I thought you meant burnt dinners. Do calories in burnt meals count? :laugh:
  • ClairBears84
    ClairBears84 Posts: 531 Member
    I gotcha. I'm really strapped for time during the week so I try to get as high a calorie burn as I can in like 30 minutes, which is usually around 300-350. As long as I'm huffing and puffing and dripping with sweat for a while I feel like I got a good workout. During the weekends I have more time so I try to go for 600-700 and add more variety.

    ^^^^^^ This is me too!^^^ I started at a goal of 300 and now its 400
  • gregarybrown72
    gregarybrown72 Posts: 25 Member
    Do whatever keeps you inspired. When i'm feeling good and have 2-3 hours , I try to burn 2000-2500. but when i have only 45 minutes then 500-600 is a great goal.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    My calorie burn is what motivates me when I work out, so I prefer to count mine and I don't see anything wrong with using calories as a guide at the gym.

    A "great workout" depends on the type of exercise you're doing and what your weight is. For example a 250 pound person would burn more calories than a 120 pound person would doing the same 30 minute exercise. So calories are not the final decision maker as to whether you had a great workout or not, but knowing helps. We just can't tell you what your number is because that's up to you.

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