How do you do it?

MamaBear05

I often read posts from people who burn anywhere from 600-1000 (and more) calories per day when they exercise. How do you do that? Are you doing cardio for 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day? Or is whatever exercise you are doing really intense? Even in an hour I can only burn about 350 or so calories at a moderately intense pace. I guess I can get up to about 450 calories doing a high intensity class. Or maybe my HRM is very conservative and I am really burning more calories than it says.

Anyways, any suggestions on how I can increase my daily burn? I do both cardio and strength training.

Sebastiansmommy

It depends on how much you weigh and what workouts you choose and the intensity of them. I try to aim for burning 800 to 1000 cals at least twice a week and it usually takes me about 2 to 3 hours depending on what exercises I do and the intensity, but I spread it out. A little aerobics in the morning or maybe an intense run on the treadmill and then later something else. Go to the exercise database and check out the different exercises and find out how much you would burn doing them. Hope that helps.

Good luck ~ jess:bigsmile:

aareeyesee

I do weights with 30s-60s between sets and superset things when reasonable, it speeds up the workout greatly as well as greatly increasing EPOC., Then I do 25mins of exerbike or running at 135bpm for a even 60mins of exercise 4 times a week in the mornings. Thats easily 500 calories. Then in the afternoons I do 30 mins of running or exerbike in the afternoons and thats between 250 and 500 cals according to how I feel that day. Thats 700-1000 cal in 90mins 4 times a week, too easy! And 1-2 days a week I do a long cardio session of 60mins@150-160bpm and thats basically 1000cal in 1hr. Also too easy. Thats (with ghetto math) 6000 cal a week in exercise in about 8 hours per week or about 5% of the hours in 1 week. 5%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption

beccasetsfire

I will burn anywhere from 1500-1700 calories riding a stationary bike for an hour set to the highest level... the higher the resistance the more calories burned...

lulabellewoowoo

I notice you have very little weight to lose. I notice on my HRM that when my weight decreases, it seems like the classes where I could burn 600 calories have gone down to 450 calories in an hour. I guess it just means your body is more efficient in using the energy? Doesn't seem like a fair reward for achieving your goal, that's for sure.

cmw72

I burned 1400 calories last night by spending two hours at the gym.

I'll gladly trade you BMI's so you can burn more calories working out! :laugh:

Amy_B

The only thing I have done to ever burn that many calories per hour is running. I average 11 calories burnt/minute when I'm running outside.

TCASMEY

I get mine in 2-3, 300-400 calorie workouts per day. I try to get in 300-400 calories before breakfast. When I take the kids outside I run and move around the yard with them. At nap time I jump on the bike and pedal until someone wakes up. After dinner I take the dog for a walk. To burn 1000+ calories a day you do not need to go to the gym and workout for 2-4 hours. It is adding more movement to all aspects of your life. Instead of just watching tv march in place or do step areobics. Get down on the floor during commercials and do push-ups or curl-ups....better yet, turn off the tv and go for a walk. Move...move...move!

They have even done studies to shoe and that people who fidget all the time burn more calories than people who do not. Tap your toes while you are on the phone. Keep your body moving. Those extra calories you burn add up! It is hard to measure those calories but they count as much as the ones you burn while exercising!

questionablemethods

As others have said, a lot of how much you burn is going to depend upon your weight. I'm short and on the lighter side (5'3 and 128) and I typically only burn 200-300 calories/day through exercise. I could workout for hours and hours a day to burn more, but I simply haven't found it to be necessary. I've been losing just under a pound a week.

MamaBear05

Thank you all so much for your input. I think I am going to try to add little things in throughout the day and also try to lengthen my walk/jog twice a week. I'm still pretty new to regular cardio so I am slowly building up the intensity. I'll try to push the intensity a little more each time I work out.

Georg

When I first started here, I thought walking for 30 minutes, burning around 200 calories was great. :drinker:
Then I was impressed by the folks here who REALLY work out & burn a LOT of calories on a regular basis. That was a completely new concept for me. So I started reading the fitness posts & was so inspired.
I can walk fast for an hour & burn around 400, or I can ride a stationery bike for a lot more - maybe twice as many.
Those BL exercise videos burn a lot, but I'm not sure how much since I don't have a HRM.
What was a revelation to me is that I can find an hour to walk or ride or do a video or a combination, & I feel so much stronger!

kwardklinck

I think it must be size plus intensity. I never burn more than 300 cals but then I never work out more than 40 minutes per day. I'm at my goal weight so I just figure I'm not going to burn as much the smaller and fitter I get.

questionablemethods

Another thing is that you have to know what you are able/willing to sustain. At one point in time, I would spend hours in the gym. Partially because I was exciting to be losing weight and partially because I had a job that I hated and I needed to work through my stress/depression. I would definitely burn 600+ calories most days of the week. It was great because I could eat a lot more. However, when I changed jobs, I found that I was no longer able to spend hours in the gym each day (nor did I really want to anymore). Since I have such an "all or nothing" personality, I suddenly felt like if I couldn't burn at least 600 calories in a workout, then it "wasn't worth it". I realize this isn't logical, but that's where my mind goes. So, I gained some weight. Now I am trying to get to a healthy weight by exercising an amount that I will be able to keep up for the rest of my life (~30 minutes/day) so that I don't find myself falling off the wagon so easily.

Azdak

Calories burned are a function of intensity x body weight. Heavy, fit people can burn a lot more calories than either heavy, unfit people or fit people who are not that heavy.

I had the advantage when I started my wt loss program of being reasonably fit along with being fat. After I lost some weight, down to about 105 kg, I had built up my fitness so that I could run for an hour at an average of 6.3 mph or so. So I could burn 1000+ calories in an hour.

A lighter person--say 70kg or 80kg--would have a much more difficult time expending that much energy, unless they were very fit and could run 7+ min miles for an hour.

A lot of people use HRM readings from strength workouts to count their total workout calories. These numbers are substantially overestimated, since the HR response during strength training does not reflect the same level of calorie burn as during cardio.

Bottom line: while it is not extraordinary to burn 1000 Calories/hour with exercise, only a relatively small number of people can do it.

Azdak

I notice you have very little weight to lose. I notice on my HRM that when my weight decreases, it seems like the classes where I could burn 600 calories have gone down to 450 calories in an hour. I guess it just means your body is more efficient in using the energy? Doesn't seem like a fair reward for achieving your goal, that's for sure.

Yes, your Cal/hour will decrease as weight decreases--it's a matter of decreased mass rather than increased "efficiency". However, that should be offset somewhat by a corresponding increase in fitness level and workout intensity. For example, you start out at 90kg running at 6.0 mph. That's 900 Cal/hr approx. You are able to lose 10kg. Now, at 80 kg, you will only burn 800 Cal/hr running at 6.0 mph. However, the training and the weight loss should increase your fitness level. So now, you should be able to run, say, 7.0 mph at the same effort % of maximum. Since 7.0 mph is more intense, you can still burn approx the same 900 Cal/hr that you did before when at the higher weight.

The problem with most people and their HRMs is that they do not change the VO2 max setting on the watch (or they have a cheaper model that doesn't allow it to be individually set). If you are doing a class, it may be that you haven't increased your intensity, or don't know how.

Since most people don't understand the basic physiology underlying HRMs, they just accept without question the (often) bogus information they receive.

Azdak

As others have said, a lot of how much you burn is going to depend upon your weight. I'm short and on the lighter side (5'3 and 128) and I typically only burn 200-300 calories/day through exercise. I could workout for hours and hours a day to burn more, but I simply haven't found it to be necessary. I've been losing just under a pound a week.

You can also make the point, that it is all relevant. For someone at 128 pounds, losing a pound a week is pretty impressive. It's the equivalent of 2.5-3.0 lbs a week for a heavier person. The percentages are probably very similar--it's just different scaling.