Figuring cals burned

we3k05
we3k05 Posts: 6
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm having a hard time figuring out how to calculate cals burned via exercise.

I do a class that is half cardio and half body/light weight cross-fit type of stuff. They issue a HR monitor to know what your HR is throughout class so you can adjust your effort to fit into a desired zone (HR is broken into zones: 71-83%max=Green zone, 84-91%max=Orange zone).

This am I did 26min alternating jogging and sprinting on a treadmill and the machine read out says I burned 380 cals. The majority of the time I was at 85% max HR (Orange). Then I did the gym portion of class where the majority of the time I was in upper 70's (Green). At the end, you can see your total minutes (53) and average HR (156) as well as the time in each zone (32 Green, 21 Orange).

Any ideas on how to accurately reflect the cals expended? Do I take the machine's number (380) and minutes (26) as one expenditure, and then use the average (156) for the remaining total time (27) even thought that average is bumped up by the treadmill effort? And yes, I do the gross-to-net conversions...

Replies

  • JoolieW68
    JoolieW68 Posts: 1,879 Member
    The best way to do it is buy an HRM (heart rate monitor) and it will tell you how many you burn base on your gender, age, and current weight.
  • quietcoral
    quietcoral Posts: 64 Member
    I am not sure of the website, but there are probably others who do know of this website where you can plug in your heart rates and time exercised in and it will give you approximate calories burned. hopefully someone will pipe in with the website....
  • Growtinymusclesgrow
    Growtinymusclesgrow Posts: 152 Member
    You need a HRM (with a chest strap), that will be the best way to accurately tell calories burned. I would suggest the Polaris FT4! I love mine. The machine is not connected to you, so there is about a 25% error rate on machines. They are set up at the manufacturer's with a generic "person", so they are not very reliable! Hope this helped you a bit
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    You need a HRM (with a chest strap), that will be the best way to accurately tell calories burned. I would suggest the Polaris FT4! I love mine. The machine is not connected to you, so there is about a 25% error rate on machines. They are set up at the manufacturer's with a generic "person", so they are not very reliable! Hope this helped you a bit

    Ditto!
  • babyblake11
    babyblake11 Posts: 1,107 Member
    As said above, there are websites can you can plug this info to.
  • we3k05
    we3k05 Posts: 6
    Thank you all for the input. Let me clarify a few things....

    1) Yes, my own personal FitBit/BodyBugg/whatever dealie would be the most accurate. Haven't got one at the moment and not sure when/if I'll get around to getting one. I don't need EXACT numbers, just a darn good guess. ;-)

    2) The HR monitor you are issued is set with your age, sex, weight, height, VO2max (if known), and max HR based on those stats. The zones and %max are then calculated off that info and projected onto a screen in class so you can self-adjust your efforts.

    3) When I am on the treadmill, it correctly reflects the same HR # as the chest strap monitor. The cals it reads out are based on that particular info. Granted, it doesn't know all the other stats involved and gives a generic number - but at least it read the HR correctly! ;-)

    Not sure if this makes any difference...

    Also, I have the HR-to-cals site bookmarked but for others...
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx
    And the gross-to-net site:
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx
  • bdrhoa
    bdrhoa Posts: 1
    Just got a Polaris FT4 on eBay for $40 (slightly used). Thanks for the recomendation.
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