this has got to be the most stupid question but..

NWCountryGal
NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
..I have to ask because my brain won't figure it out.

When we use an hrm and get a total calories burned at the end of our workout, do we need to subtract the amount of calories from that amount that we would have burned laying in bed (alone by the way):laugh:

give me all the grief you want but it is worth it to figure this out:blushing: Denise
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Replies

  • cristeberga
    cristeberga Posts: 251 Member
    I don't know the answer myself, but after reading YAYOG book, I started thinking the same thing. I am even thinking that we should eat SOME of our exercise calories back, but not ALL of them for this particular reason.

    It will be interesting to hear what others say.
  • gayje
    gayje Posts: 230 Member
    Nope. What you read is what you burned. A HRM tallies your movements according to your heart rate so whether you lie in bed or run around the room, the count is as accurate as you can get.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    That's where I saw it, yayog. Mark mentions it when he talks about aerobic. Geesh, so much to learn and figure out. I wonder if my brain is burning any cals :laugh:
    I don't know the answer myself, but after reading YAYOG book, I started thinking the same thing. I am even thinking that we should eat SOME of our exercise calories back, but not ALL of them for this particular reason.

    It will be interesting to hear what others say.
  • redhousecat
    redhousecat Posts: 584 Member
    do you wear your hrm all day or just during workout?
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    Just during workouts. But if I sat on my but for that 40 minute workout I would burn say 100 (just guessing)so it seems logical that should not be counted in the final hrm reading. Like if it says 296, I should put I burned 196??
    do you wear your hrm all day or just during workout?
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    So I would enter the full 296? The reason I asked is I have always entered the full amount but have not lost much weight so, I thought maybe I was overestimating my calories burned so I got an HRM because I figured most accurate, even checked my heart rate manually to make sure it was with the hrm and it was give or take a couple beats.
    It's not a stupid question, It's a good one actually.

    The answer to your question is no. You're talking about taking away normal activity level calories from exercise calories. So you get "net" exercise calories.

    I wrote a formula that did this. The results were very insignificant.
  • redhousecat
    redhousecat Posts: 584 Member
    to me, the logic is simply log 296 because that is what the HRM logged DURING the workout. It didn't log calories burned during a long rest.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    I don't know, I am not getting anything that will explain this to my thick head, no one's fault.
    to me, the logic is simply log 296 because that is what the HRM logged DURING the workout. It didn't log calories burned during a long rest.
  • rompers16
    rompers16 Posts: 5,404 Member
    If you only use your HRM during a workout, you should log the calories it calculates you burn. No need to really wear it all day.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    I only wear it when I am exercising but thank you:) denise
    If you only use your HRM during a workout, you should log the calories it calculates you burn. No need to really wear it all day.
  • kls13la
    kls13la Posts: 380 Member
    I subtract one calorie for each minute of the workout. (I just randomly came up with this formula and have no idea if it is accurate or close, but it seemed reasonable to me.) Since the entire reason I log my exercise on here is to keep track of how many calories I can eat back, it does not seem accurate to me to log calories that I would have burned even if I hadn't worked out.

    So, if I work out for an hour and my HRM says I burned 460 calories, I only log 400 calories.
  • camiah
    camiah Posts: 146
    I get what you mean. The is a possibility of double-counting your calories. I would find a website that does the Mifflin-St. Jeor basal metabolic rate test, find out your BMR, and account for what you would have burned just lying around. Say your BMR is 1500, and you burned 300 calories working out for half an hour. Divide 1500 by 48 (to get the amount of calories burned just laying around for half an hour), and subtract that from your 300 calorie burn. That will give you an approximate value for your actual burn, that doesn't double count the calories you would have used by just lying around during that same period of time.
  • wgn4166
    wgn4166 Posts: 771 Member
    I put my HRM on before I work out. I log the total of calories burned during my workout.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    I shave 15% off the reading from my HRM just to be safe.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    no. you are over-thinking it.
  • nene01pop
    nene01pop Posts: 80 Member
    Only wear the HRM when exericising and log the calories burned. You shouldn't have to add or subtract anything from the HRM.... But the MFP tallies all the calories you burn in just a normal day that is where the different amounts of calories people can eat comes from. Yes, breathing... eye blinking, and such using energy so it burns calories... just super slowly
  • krisntraining
    krisntraining Posts: 201 Member
    Not stupid at all! I researched this to make sure I was as accurate as you can be with calorie burns. So, this is my opinion - If you are planning to eat the exercise calories back, yes you have to subtract those calories. A great website to determine your actual burn instead of gross...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx

    And this one describes the difference between net and gross calorie burns...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx
  • MummaSue
    MummaSue Posts: 242 Member
    I just get so confused so I set my activity level to sedentary when working out my BMR/TDEE so I then log all exercise (rather than have to do the sum between what exercise is included and any extra I've done beyond what's accounted for) and I think that works out ok. Happy to be corrected though - I'm no expert!
  • cristeberga
    cristeberga Posts: 251 Member
    Not stupid at all! I researched this to make sure I was as accurate as you can be with calorie burns. So, this is my opinion - If you are planning to eat the exercise calories back, yes you have to subtract those calories. A great website to determine your actual burn instead of gross...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx

    And this one describes the difference between net and gross calorie burns...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

    This is great!! Thanks for doing the research. I guess we have to be cautious when eating ALL our exercise calories back.
  • EricNCSU
    EricNCSU Posts: 699 Member
    Just during workouts. But if I sat on my but for that 40 minute workout I would burn say 100 (just guessing)so it seems logical that should not be counted in the final hrm reading. Like if it says 296, I should put I burned 196??
    do you wear your hrm all day or just during workout?

    This is an ok example but you're numbers are way off... the difference is essentially negligible. If you're only burning 296 cals during 40 minutes of exercise you're not gonna burn 100 sitting doing nothing.. you're gonna burn like 20..... so 296 to 276 is no difference.

    A variance of even up to 100 calories is not gonna mess you up. Your defecit is set to 1000 or even more... 20-40 calories makes no difference.
  • emacb123
    emacb123 Posts: 254 Member
    Not stupid at all! I researched this to make sure I was as accurate as you can be with calorie burns. So, this is my opinion - If you are planning to eat the exercise calories back, yes you have to subtract those calories. A great website to determine your actual burn instead of gross...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx

    And this one describes the difference between net and gross calorie burns...

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

    Yayyy! Thank you! I just got my HRM the other week and agonized over this. I've been subtracting my BMR calories from my calorie burn but this makes things so much easier.

    See, not a stupid question at all!
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    thanks Kls, I'm gonna keep researching this, I think there is something to it and yes, I want to know if I am eating too many cals because of logging to many burned;) denise
    I subtract one calorie for each minute of the workout. (I just randomly came up with this formula and have no idea if it is accurate or close, but it seemed reasonable to me.) Since the entire reason I log my exercise on here is to keep track of how many calories I can eat back, it does not seem accurate to me to log calories that I would have burned even if I hadn't worked out.

    So, if I work out for an hour and my HRM says I burned 460 calories, I only log 400 calories.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    oops wrong post, I replied to this one, sorry;)
    I get what you mean. The is a possibility of double-counting your calories. I would find a website that does the Mifflin-St. Jeor basal metabolic rate test, find out your BMR, and account for what you would have burned just lying around. Say your BMR is 1500, and you burned 300 calories working out for half an hour. Divide 1500 by 48 (to get the amount of calories burned just laying around for half an hour), and subtract that from your 300 calorie burn. That will give you an approximate value for your actual burn, that doesn't double count the calories you would have used by just lying around during that same period of time.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    That's what I've been doing but if I wouldn't have worked out, would I log the calories that appear on my hrm and eat them back?
    I put my HRM on before I work out. I log the total of calories burned during my workout.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    Yes, but if I layed down for a nap instead would I log the number of cals I burned during that nap? I'm with the gal above that says she wants to know because of "eating our exercise cals" that's why I am concerned. Am I eating too many cals back? denise
    I put my HRM on before I work out. I log the total of calories burned during my workout.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    Not a bad plan. I'm thinking just to figure how many I would burn sitting around literally in a 50 or so minute period and subtract that from my total number. Lots of people don't eat their calories (exercise)so this doesn't really affect them. I eat my ex. cals, or most of them.
    I shave 15% off the reading from my HRM just to be safe.
  • TriggerStorm1309
    TriggerStorm1309 Posts: 82 Member
    For everyone who has a HRM do you find the calories burned on there is about the same number that MFP would have put for the same workout?
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    I totally understand your question and I have wondered the same! I think a lot of people replying here don't get what you're asking...

    But yeah I've thought about the same thing. My BMR is about 1400 calories a day - I'd burn that in a coma. That means my body burns about 58 calories an hour, just by existing. MFP has already included this in my calorie allowance! So if I work out for an hour and my HRM says I burned 400 calories, shouldn't I only enter 342 burned because I would've burned the other 58 anyway, and MFP already included those? So confusing...
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    Can you explain it in simple terms then? Those calories are going to add up no matter what I am doing, even if I am in bed. So there are calories already figured into my net, those are my bmr calories. So if I burn 500 exercising, some of those are already calculated in my bmr right? And if I'm wrong, tell me how you see it, you may be right. denise
    no. you are over-thinking it.
  • porcelain_doll
    porcelain_doll Posts: 1,005 Member
    For everyone who has a HRM do you find the calories burned on there is about the same number that MFP would have put for the same workout?

    NO WAY! MFP over-estimates big-time!

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