How are people burning such high calories

Nicks_scotland

I use my HRM and for 45 mins of spin class I burn between 600 - 700 calories.

I don't stick to the whole "fat burning" zone - in my opinion it's pish. I'm just out to burn as many calories as I can, so I'm working at 80-90% max heart rate most of the time.

glitteredgrave

I suspect they are using the inflated numbers given by MFP.

I agree with this. I don't trust a lot of what I see on MFP or online. For example, using a gazelle for 20 minutes supposedly burns 170ish cals. I seriously don't even sweat so I highly doubt that. The days that I use the gazelle instead of running or doing anything else, I usually don't eat back those calories just in case.

I need to get a heart rate monitor. OOOOh valentines day present!

Simone_King

The only way I burn a 1000 cals in a sitting is if I work out over two hours. So, no clue but I don't use a heart rate thing. (Maybe I should?)

I know I can burn a lot of calories when I do one machine at the gym. Or it says I am.

letjog

it's very unlikely they are burning 1000 calories per hour.

kennethmgreen

irrelevant. who cares?

questions you should be asking yourself are things like "what sort of exercise regimen can I commit to doing regularly?", "how should i structure my diet in a way that will keep me satiated?", "what are my fitness goals?"

Good advice there.

Even with a HRM, you are still only getting estimates of a calorie burn. The estimates are better than some one-size-fits-many calculation from a website, but it's all just estimates. Speaking very generally, burning too much over a calorie per minute is often inflated figures.

Also, someone who weighs 250 lbs will burn more calories than someone who weighs 125, doing the same activity for the same length of time.

But ultimately, what Taso posted is better info. A HRM is good for getting calorie burn estimates when calculating target calorie goals and such. But really, for long term fitness goals, consistency, gradual improvement, more strength/flexibility/heart health are way more important than the numbers.

Lytherinz

Per hour of course not. unless your doing an hour of total body work with no rest then I can see that happening

jsd_135

I was wondering this today, as my HRM registered 357 cals. for 35 minutes on the treadmill (before subtracting my BMR). My previous 35 minute workout was 295 cals. I checked my heartrate stats: today, the average heartrate was a lot higher 155 versus 138. I had intended to increase the intensity. I guess it worked. Anyway, the HRM seems pretty accurate to me.

Railr0aderTony

as someone who has lost over 100 pounds i will say this, I used to be able to burn a whole lot more calories per hour than i can now. When I was 350+ I could have burned 1000 per hour but I could never do an hour of exercise solid. now that i have lost some weight I can burn 1000 calories and do on a regular basis and NO I DONT USE MFP NUMBERS, I use my Ft7 HRM. it takes me roughly 90 min on the elliptical to burn 1000 calories or about 2 hours on a treadmill. But I suggest you worry about your burn, if people are overestimating their burns it is only hurting themselves.

Jacquiesteer

People only cheat themselves when they rely on the excessively high calorie burns - I use the opposite approach. My treadmill has a generic calorie counter and I believe that it is well below what I have actually burnt due to the fact that I am well above average weight but I use those figures to post on mfp anyway. The way I see it is if you've actually burnt more but don't know it then that can only benefit you in the long run.

ambervaldez79

I agree with you, Taso! Does it matter? Some of my friends will have high numbers and usually these are the ppl that are 200+ with a reliable Hrm. Good for them! They are pushing themselves harder for longer periods of time!
:glasses:

hazelovesfood

Higher intensity workouts might be the answer. I know I burn a ridiculously higher number of calories doing an hour of kickboxing. I don't burn nearly that running for the same amount of time.

this is right, you dont burn as much running, unless its flat out.

hazelovesfood

People only cheat themselves when they rely on the excessively high calorie burns - I use the opposite approach. My treadmill has a generic calorie counter and I believe that it is well below what I have actually burnt due to the fact that I am well above average weight but I use those figures to post on mfp anyway. The way I see it is if you've actually burnt more but don't know it then that can only benefit you in the long run.

the heavier you are the more you burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

april_mesk

irrelevant. who cares?

questions you should be asking yourself are things like "what sort of exercise regimen can I commit to doing regularly?", "how should i structure my diet in a way that will keep me satiated?", "what are my fitness goals?"

Agreed. Not everyone should be burning this in one sitting depending on your fitness level. The most I ever burned (and I do use a hrm) is 750. This is doing Body Combat and is way over my intensity level and overexerting. Feel like I could have a heart attack. Will not go back to that again without gaining much more endurance. Heart rate through roof for about 40 of the 50 mins of that class. Body Attack, I would be dead. Body Pump more like my style.

biscuitwelsh

For myself, the intensity of my exercise has gotten much higher over the last 8 months.

My 80% HR is 143, but today I worked at a sustained 150BPM and a cadence of 160-200 strides per minute for an hour and HRM says I burned 830.

On the Precor elliptical machines I use, I started at resistance setting 3 as my base, now it's 12 with intervals to 16.

On the spinning bikes I use, my average sustained watts were around 120 per minute when I started and now are well over 200 with intervals over 300 wpm. Calories are harder to figure on these because I don't like to wear HRM when spinning, but the navigator always gives me at least 600.

Tabata's, interval training and building up your ability to work really hard seems to be the key. So far I've dropped ~68 lbs with ~20 to go

underwater77

People only cheat themselves when they rely on the excessively high calorie burns - I use the opposite approach. My treadmill has a generic calorie counter and I believe that it is well below what I have actually burnt due to the fact that I am well above average weight but I use those figures to post on mfp anyway. The way I see it is if you've actually burnt more but don't know it then that can only benefit you in the long run.

I still try to eat at TDEE - 20% regardless of what I burn. I do like to wear my HRM, though, to keep me honest and so I have a pretty good idea of how hard I worked out. I know there are days that I don't feel strong, and it always shows in the calorie burn per HRM. I think I would be cheating myself if I didn't have some way to gauge my workouts other than how I felt (which is fine, by I am a numbers oriented/scientific person).

Cyclink

I just got a heart rate monitor a couple of weeks ago.

the charts say my 80% should be 140, and my target range 140-156, max (100%) 175.

when I run I have been having to do intervals to keep it below 165, and still in 35 min I only burn 350 calories. swimming is much the same.

So my question is how are people burning 1,000 calories in an hour, without going over heart rate recommendations, an I missing something?

Most likely, they are not. Heart rate monitors tend to exaggerate a bit. 1000 calories per hour is completely possible, but it's a pretty high level of athletic accomplishment (no, being highly inefficient/out of shape will not make up for it).

To give you a decent comparison of what a 1000 calorie/hour workout for 140 pound woman looks like:
- run a 7 minute mile for an hour.
- cycle at 21 mph for an hour over rolling terrain

Neither of these is something your average person can do. You're not missing anything. 10 calories per minute (600 per hour) is a perfectly logical burn.

Capt_Apollo

it depends on size, height, weight, intensity, and a number of different factors.


btw, you shouldn't be using your hrm for swimming. not only is it not accurate, it's not made for it.

raeleek

Like others have mentioned, I'm guessing weight.

When I started I had really high burns. Now that I've lost weight and gotten stronger they are getting less and less.

I also change it up throughout the week so that I have lower burn days and really high burn days. That way I don't get bored and it still provides challenge!

ambervaldez79

I can burn a ton of calories on the Arc trainer in just 20 minutes. I set the level high and just go. I have a Polar Ft4.

adry20

I do Zumba 5-6 days a week and have been for almost 2 months and haven't lost much weight. So I ordered a HRM and I was surprised at how bad MFP and other sites were estimating my calories. I thought I was burning around 600+ every day but my HRM shows that some days I burn 450 others 550 but never over 600. My point is, they are probably not getting a very accurate number.