Entering Calories on weight training days?

libertychoury
libertychoury Posts: 57 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all! Just wondering. I used to enter my exercises on days where I do exclusive weight training, but it gave no calorie allotment. I find that a little discouraging since I know I am burning on those days, so I am wondering what you all do, if you do weight training and want to enter a burn. I just bought a HRM yesterday and did leg day today. I forgot to actually record the session, so I don't know how many calories I burned but I am thinking around 200. I am probably underestimating. But I would like to add things like this in to know if I can eat back extra calories. I have had a serious stall in my weight loss because I wasn't eating enough calories I am pretty sure.
In a related question, to those who have a HRM and have seen what you burn on leg day, what kind of burns do you get? (It would be pretty awesome if you can answer this and fit my stats; I'm 35, 5'2" and weigh 168.)

Replies

  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    Enter it under cardiovascular, there is a weightlifting entry. Then it will give you calories. be aware though, the weight lifting calories burned are probably the least accurate of all.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Log it under cardio. Note that the numbers in the data base can be wildly off. Also, a HRM is not going to give you an accurate calorie burn either as resistance training is a bad indicator of VO2 max...it's not your actual HR that is burning the calories. In all honesty, you don't burn that many calories actually performing the exercise...but you burn more calories throughout the next 48 hours than you otherwise would and you maintain/build lean body mass which also requires more energy (calories).

    There are a few different formulas out there for estimating calories burned during weight training, but really, there are so many variables...how much weight you're putting up, how many reps, are you doing strength, BB, or endurance? Just too many variables to have any kind of accuracy.

    When I was doing MFP method for a calorie deficit I used to just throw down about 150 calories for a good 30-45 minute strength session and call it good and eat those calories back. Now I just eat and lift.
  • jenniferrusso7393
    jenniferrusso7393 Posts: 189 Member
    THere is a cardio category where it says cardio-- strength training, weight lifting, you can log it there, although really, their numbersare not very accurate-- enter the amount your HRM says.
  • mdcoug
    mdcoug Posts: 397 Member
    I enter it under cardio, with my own amounts. The program I do has calculations for calorie intake on lifting and non-lifting days. The difference between the two is around 250. I have my calories set to the non-lifting-day amount. On lifting days I enter 225 workout cals.

    Oh, and I've read time and time again here that HRMs are NOT accurate for strength training, so I would not recommend using that number.
  • libertychoury
    libertychoury Posts: 57 Member
    Thanks guys, this is all really helpful! I am glad to know that I might not be able to totally trust what my HRM says, since I was going by some people posting pics on instagram with these big burns for training, and thinking maybe I was missing something. For cardio I was going by what the machine says, not what MFP says, since it is usually wildly off. But I am also aware that the machine could be off, so that's why I bought the HRM.
    200 sounds about right, I will make sure to check out what yall are saying!

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