Question about calorie burn

castelluzzo99

Okay, I know MFP doesn't give you calories burned for strength training, which is okay. But I'm just wondering...

For 4 weeks, I was doing a mostly cardio-based workout with a little strength in between high intensity bursts of cardio. Today I started a strength routine. First day took the same amount of time as the previous workout (half an hour). However, previously I would work up a sweat that was kind of equivalent to being sprayed with a mist squirt bottle. Today, after my first circuit (of 3), I had sweat dripping off my chin, and it never got any less the whole way through. I didn't feel like I overdid it, but I really sweat.

So my question is, do you think that sweating more equals more calories burned in the same period of time? I'm thinking it might, because I ate more for breakfast than usual (partly because I finished the workout with a protein shake that I wasn't having before), and at the time I would usually be starting to get hungry, I was so hungry I was ready to bite heads off and dove into the salad before the entre was out of the oven!

Any thoughts?

Azdak

Weather changes will have much more effect on sweating than anything else. Other than that, you cannot draw any useful conclusions from one workout.

Sweating and "feelings of hunger" are two of the least reliable indicators of either exercise intensity or exercise quality.

Which is not a value statement on your effort before, your effort today, the quality of your program before, or the quality of your program today.

castelluzzo99

I was inside my house, about the same time of day, and the temperature was about the same as usual (it's been much warmer in the past month than it was today, yet I sweat less). I guess I'm going to have to give it a few days to see how it goes. If I'm consistently extra hungry after doing that workout (as opposed to anything else), then I guess I'll up my calories on that day. In the mean time, I'll do my best to listen to my body. I've learned so far that if I pay attention to when I'm full or hungry, it pretty much matches what MFP says. For instance, if I have 300 or 400 calories left at the end of the day, I usually get hungry, but 3-400 calories satisfies me. But if I have eaten my allotment in 2 meals, I usually am not hungry by 9:00 pm. Of course, I have to think about it to make sure it's hunger and not psychological hunger or possibly thirst, but I've been doing pretty well with it lately. I guess we'll just see how it goes.

DavPul

sweating means nothing about nothing. it will tell you more about the humidity or your hydration level than it will tell you about your workout. i wouldn't use extra sweat as a reason to eat extra calories.

now, extra sweat would be a reason to drink extra water......or whatever one chooses to log as water

ernestbecker

I recommend you buy an inexpensive heart rate monitor that shows calories burned. Use that figure.

Ninguneado73

sweating is your body cooling you and maintaining an adequate temperature

castelluzzo99

I'm getting a HRM (and not the cheapest one), but I've been told it's not accurate for strength training. All I know is, all things being equal, extra exertion seems like it would equal more sweat. And now I'm getting hungry, even though I met my calorie goal for the day. I've been drinking water to see if that was the issue, but the hunger keeps growing. So I think my body must really have used more calories this morning. When all's said and done, I'll probably make a fruit smoothie, well planned to not go too much over my already-met goal, and then I'll watch how my appetite is over the next week. If I consistently notice more hunger on days when I strength train, then I'll eat more, maybe even adjust my goals. And I'll keep an eye on the tape measure, for sure! I'm hiding the scales, because they lie to me. I mean, they go up and down, while the tape measure goes down consistently. If I stop losing inches, or (God forbid!) gain a fraction, I'll adjust. But so far I've been losing inches nicely while eating an amount that satisfies me so that I'm never hungry outside of meal times. This new workout has really thrown me!

castelluzzo99

And just for the record, I wouldn't use sweat to justify eating more. I would use legitimate hunger (the kind that a glass of water and half an hour won't cure) to justify extra calories. I ate lunch so late, and more than usual (and plenty high in protein, too), but now I'm starving! If I weren't hungry, I would just skip supper. But I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat. I'll plan what I eat very carefully see how little it will take to satisfy my appetite (I'm not going to eat another 500 calories just because I'm hungry!). And I'll compare how I feel on days that I do this workout vs. when I do another workout (especially one that I CAN use a heart rate monitor for), and hopefully over time I'll be able to figure out exactly what my body needs. :happy:

castelluzzo99

Also, for the record, I'm eating at TDEE -20%, and not counting exercise calories. I'm also adding in an extra 300 for breastfeeding, and that hasn't changed significantly in the last day or two. So really a HRM will be nice, but it really isn't necessary for me at this point. I may change, but for now, it's not.

DavPul

i can't speak for anyone else, but satisfying my feelings of legitimate hunger is how i ended up here

castelluzzo99

It's not why I'm here. I'm here because I ate when I wasn't hungry, either because other people were eating, or when I was satisfied but psychologically wanted more (or you know, the "too little to save, to much to dump" thing). Any diet where I have to starve myself--especially if that feeling of hunger is so intense that I start snapping at people--is not practical for me and it's not going to work.

For what it's worth, I asked my husband about sweat and calorie burn, and he agreed with the rest of you. Obviously, if you are comparing the same exercise under the same conditions (walking slow vs. walking fast on a treadmill in an air-conditioned gym, for instance), you would sweat more with more intensity. However, comparing cardio to strength is probably a stretch. They are so different! Also, comparing HIIT cardio to non-HIIT cardio (in the latter case, I'm thinking of a steady jog) probably isn't helpful either.

Anyhow, I'm back on track today. Was not starving or anything this morning. Had a good cardio workout. Just finished a super healthy breakfast. Have enough calories left over that I can have a good lunch and a small supper if I need it. I only eat in the evenings if I'm truly hungry. All I know is, I'm breastfeeding a baby, so I afford to maintain my weight if I must, but I can't afford to not get enough to supply the baby. :happy: