calories burned

enickbrook
enickbrook Posts: 6 Member
in Motivation and Support
Being 53 years of age and weighing approx 322 pounds mfp gives me rather a lot of calories for my daily swim. I log 75 minutes of breaststroke and according to the plan "earn well over 1'100 calories .
Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining , I just find it hard to believe I can burn so many calories by doing something so enjoyable.
What do others feel about calories burned, do members feel the info is accurate.

I have started to see a small difference i e I can get back into my tightest jeans again and my BP is getting near normal so I have no intention of giving up !!

Replies

  • WickedPixie1
    WickedPixie1 Posts: 111 Member
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/

    I use this to figure out what my calories burned are. I also use the NET calorie total.
    I use 2 or 3 of the calculators...HR calculator, Activity based calculator and either the walking or running one. I just use the average of these calculators.
    The numbers are kind of low at times, very different from what my treadmill or MFP says, but personally, I feel better using these numbers since there is a lot of debate about the MFP calculations and home fitness equipment is based on someone about 150lbs...which I am not.
  • leannehoggdodd
    leannehoggdodd Posts: 59
    Im sure it must be pretty accurate, 75mins is alot and swimming breast stroke is one of the best excersizes you can do as it works all your muscles - if your worried its too much, lower it to say 750 and see how you get on - if your loosing weight with how your already logging it though you must be doing something right!
  • mom2dms
    mom2dms Posts: 152 Member
    Being 53 years of age and weighing approx 322 pounds mfp gives me rather a lot of calories for my daily swim. I log 75 minutes of breaststroke and according to the plan "earn well over 1'100 calories .
    Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining , I just find it hard to believe I can burn so many calories by doing something so enjoyable.
    What do others feel about calories burned, do members feel the info is accurate.

    I have started to see a small difference i e I can get back into my tightest jeans again and my BP is getting near normal so I have no intention of giving up !!


    I wear a heart rate monitor because I have a very low heart rate and know that I am not burning the calories that my friends are when we are working out. I have discovered that what my HRM says I burned and MFP says, are generally WAY off. MFP is much higher. I'd suggest wearing a HRM if you are concerned.
  • leannehoggdodd
    leannehoggdodd Posts: 59
    As wickedpixi says its really hard to judge as it is all about fitness, I weigh 145 pounds but I am so unfit- when I run on a treadmill for 20mins I only burn about 200 cals- I think not as I am almost dead after 20 mins so I pressume this calorie loss is for some.kind of fit person!!

    I try to stick to 1200 cals every day - if I do excersize I count it.as a bonus and dont eat the calories burnt in excersize... It.seems to work for me!
  • sempertracy
    sempertracy Posts: 50 Member
    Heart rate monitors are the way to go. MFP is generally off in calories for exercises I do, usually higher than what I burnt. Swimming is an all body workout but I would ask if you are swimming for 75 minutes straight or do you take water/rest breaks? MFP doesn't take into account any rest breaks as it calculates calories burnt for the full 75 minutes of swimming.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    MFP can be inaccurate for some people, but 75 mins is alot, you're male and the more you weigh the more you burn doing the same effort as a smaller person, I'd say 1100 cals is fairly reasonable but as a previous poster said perhaps just eat back 75% of those calories if you don't feel like that's what you've burned, also it may depend alot on your level of exertion whether it's a leisurely swim or a red faced all for nothing swim MFP probably figures you're doing something in the middle.
  • enickbrook
    enickbrook Posts: 6 Member
    Good point .
    I swim for 75 minutes non stop if the pool is not too busy, but if there are loads of people and I can't swim in a straight line I tend to take a break (stopping the clock) and then carry on later.
    I am very lucky , my leisure club has both indoor and outdoor pools so I tend to choose the pool which is less busy or has less children present. Our club is part of a hotel complex so you never know how busy the pool will be. On days when we stay longer ( my wife is also on mfp) we can sometimes do up to 3 hours swimming spread out over say 5 hours. I am aware that you burn more calories if you are slightly out of breath so the ideal for us is get it over in one go and then chill out on the sun loungers !!

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