Not your typical calorie burn question

tobejune
tobejune Posts: 177
in Fitness and Exercise
This is sort of confusing to think about so I'm just going to try to be as clear as possible and break it down into parts using a hypothetical situation.

Point #1: All day long my body is using calories, even when I'm not specifically exercising. These are my "BMR calories", I think it's about 1450. I burn this many calories every 24 hours, no matter what. That's about 60 calories/ hr on average, though I'd guess maybe 70/ hr during the day and less at night.


Point #2: I go to the gym for an hour and burn 500 "extra calories" according to my HR monitor.

Point #3: If I HADN'T gone to the gym for that hour, I still would have burned 70 calories so technically, I only burned 430 "extra calories" as 70 were "BMR calories."

I know, with just a one hour workout, 70ish calories doesn't really amount to much. But, my workouts are usually 2-3 hours a day and being 150-200 calories off every day could make a big difference in the long run, right?

Am I being ridiculous and over thinking this? Do people subtract the BMR calories burned during a workout and only log the "extra" calories?

Ahhhhhhh hellllpppppp

Replies

  • tobejune
    tobejune Posts: 177
    drowning amidst all the dating posts, it seems... hahaha come on people, I can't be the only one who has agonized over this detail of my fitness and eating!
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    I do subtract my BMR calories from my HRM readings. If you're using an HRM for your calorie counts then subtract. If you're using another method for calorie counts you need to understand if it does or doesn't include your BMR.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
    Depends on your HRM, some are able to account for BMR in the calculation.
  • wikitbikit
    wikitbikit Posts: 518 Member
    I think I would subtract them. I would imagine that the HRM is counting all the calories you're burning at a given time, unless you have some specific way to input the data that would tell it to subtract them. If that makes sense.

    Confusing things like this are why I chose a BodyMedia Fit when I was buying my weight loss gadgets! I need things spelled out for me. :)
  • tifftheneutron
    tifftheneutron Posts: 20

    Confusing things like this are why I chose a BodyMedia Fit when I was buying my weight loss gadgets! I need things spelled out for me. :)

    This. No thinking required on my part! I love my BodyMedia Fit for this very reason, so I will be no help to you :(

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