Things that make you go...Hmmmm....(outrageous calorie burn)

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  • Restybaby2012
    Restybaby2012 Posts: 568 Member
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    I get scolded and reprimanded here if I log that I burned 1099 calories in 3 HOURS of some activity. The problem as I see it..........NO one here knows what I weigh or what my fitness level is...or how intense what Im doing is for ME..........FOR ME.

    NOT someone else. Not someone maybe half my weight or height or someone more fit than I am.

    Im the first to admit Im not fit. I have horrendous physical limitations and most days I give this healthy lifestyle journey and activity level / workout every single damn thing I have. I cant work out like most of you but please, dont dis me for what I can do just because it's different than you. Im trying. Im losing. Im determined. Im motivated. Im progressing. Im learning. Judging me wont help me, Ridiculing or teasing or tormenting wont help either.

    Better to help me learn, or to encourage me, or offer solid advice, advice I can implement or learn from. Im open to it, I really am. At the very least...just ignore me and get on with your badself and let others be what they will.

    Im not necessarily speaking JUST FOR ME BUT FOR ALL OF US who have the physical limitations that I do and cant do the intense work outs the majority of you do. And for gawd sake DONT PITY ME

    catexercisetodaymovetolefttommovetoright.jpg
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I can burn 1,000 in an hour and I usually do it once a week as a tempo/steady state run by running 8 miles @ ~ 7:30 pace. That is pretty much my half marathon pace. It is a tough workout for sure.

    Here is the trick, you have to be pretty heavy and pretty fast. I'm probably ~ 175 lbs (or so) right now, I think a burn of 125 per mile is reasonable for somebody my size - HRM & MFP agree.

    You can call BS if you want, but the race results don't lie. http://athlinks.com/racer/results/35543525
    you're prob forgetting to subtract your BMR. your actual number would be closer to 800.

    I'm not a science guy, but I assume MFP is already considering that. In the context of this site, I do not believe people need to adjust burns for BMR.

    The number is not included, but it is also usually insignificant unless you are doing a low-level activity. My BMR is 72 cals/min. So if I burn 1000-1100 in a 1-hr run, it doesn't really mean anything--esp since the numbers aren't precise anyhow. But there are always BMR-Nazis out there waiting to nitpick.
  • RobynLB
    RobynLB Posts: 617 Member
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    I can burn 1,000 in an hour and I usually do it once a week as a tempo/steady state run by running 8 miles @ ~ 7:30 pace. That is pretty much my half marathon pace. It is a tough workout for sure.

    Here is the trick, you have to be pretty heavy and pretty fast. I'm probably ~ 175 lbs (or so) right now, I think a burn of 125 per mile is reasonable for somebody my size - HRM & MFP agree.

    You can call BS if you want, but the race results don't lie. http://athlinks.com/racer/results/35543525

    A 7:30 pace is pretty freakin' fast, and you've got almost 50 lbs on me, I buy it. I wish I could sustain 7:30 for 8 miles! That's killer.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I had some crazy high calorie burns when I first started working out because I went by the machine numbers and the MFP numbers for my elliptical workouts. Back then I was often posting 800-900 calorie burns for an hour or so on the elliptical, because that's what I had to go off of and I trusted it.

    Then I got an HRM and discovered that I was actually burning about 400-500 calories during that time, nowhere near what the machine or MFP was telling me. Thankfully I wasn't eating back hardly any of the calories back then so it didn't have a negative effect on my weight loss, but I could have been in trouble if I'd been eating them.

    Nowadays I have a much idea of what I actually burn. it's about 600 calories per hour for running, ARC trainer, stair mill, or roller blading (I'm fast, I grew up on skates, literally, from the time I was 10 months old). And it's about 400 calories per hour for elliptical and stationary bike. Race days I tend to go out a bit faster and burn closer to 650 an hour instead of 600 an hour while running races.

    But I got on an elliptical at the gym once that I worked out on for one hour. I'd entered my weight and age when I started and didn't do anything differently than I had on other machines. This one actually counted all the way to 999 calories on the counter and reset back to 0 to continue counting more. Luckily I knew better than that, but other people may not, so they trust what's in front of them and go with that.
  • Cougar7279
    Cougar7279 Posts: 18
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    This is all pretty subjective... There are many factors that come into play for calorie burning... It's all best guess based on some criteria. Like age, weight, basic lifestyle, muscle mass, current fitness level, and most importantly, what percentage of your maximum HR you're utilizing and for how long etc... Sometimes people with really high calorie burns stop losing because they don't eat enough... And even high burn people can plateau because their bodies become accustomed to what they're doing.....so they need to change up their routines and "trick" their bodies through the plateau!!! While I don't know BigCed personally, I know of him here on MFP... I can promise you that he is Mr. Intensity himself... I have people who are pretty good road runners who completely fall apart and can't hang with me on my very hilly trail runs... The intensity demand for the distance run is greatly increased! We each need to be as accurate as we can be when reporting what we do... Then, tweak our own lifestyles based on whether or not we're achieving our desired goals...
    Anyone is welcome to come on one of my 5 hour to all day workouts to see how many calories you burn... (think Ironman triathlon)
  • jenniferinfl
    jenniferinfl Posts: 456 Member
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    My burns are high, I go by what Endomondo posts for me. The route I do is over 3 miles with 378 feet of ascent and 368 feet of descent. I'm female, 212 lbs, and my heart rate is 170+ when I exceed 4 mph.
  • _LilPowerHouse
    _LilPowerHouse Posts: 365 Member
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    I think i just burn 1550 calories just reading this CRAP!!!!
  • johnpangan
    johnpangan Posts: 47 Member
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    I don't pay attention to the amt of calories I burn. I just work my *kitten* off in the gym. So far, I think I get good results. :wink:
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Sometimes. But you gotta remember that someone who is 350lbs or more is going to burn a metric craptonne of calories even just walking on a treadmill for half an hour.

    I'm 245 and if I go 4.0mph on a slightly inclined treadmill for 30 mins my HRM registers a near 400 cal burn. So if I had the time to just walk and watch a movie I could feasibly hit 1200 cals or more.

    Wow, your HRM is actually registering about right for calorie burn. At current fitness level anyway.

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html

    Many don't at all.
  • ahviendha
    ahviendha Posts: 1,291 Member
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    when i burn over 1500 cals for 3-4 hours of uphill hiking, i freaking earned it!

    but then i pass out for a 3 hour nap and binge eat because i'm starving. but i guess it's not binge eating if you eat 1k calories cause you're 2k in the hole.
  • Amandamaslin
    Amandamaslin Posts: 7
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    I only go with either the readings of the machines in the gym or the calculations from the app. but swimming appears to burn huge calories, apparently due to the resistance of the water and the fact you are using the whole of your core. I do however take it with a pinch of salt and am very careful of my calorie intake. I would eat an extra 1000 calories cause it says I have burned that many. so far the weight loss going well so we'll see how accurate the predictions are.
  • jcstanton
    jcstanton Posts: 1,849 Member
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    I don't pay attention to the amt of calories I burn. I just work my *kitten* off in the gym. So far, I think I get good results. :wink:

    ^^^THIS!!! When I'm at the gym, I pay less attention to how many calories I'm burning and pay closer attention to my HR, respiration, and perspiration. If I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, my HR will peak at around 170BPM, my lungs feel like they're going to collapse (may be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but you get the picture), and fifteen or twenty minutes in, I'm beginning to look like I jumped in a swimming pool.
  • Cougar7279
    Cougar7279 Posts: 18
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    I don't pay much attention to mine either... I stopped logging burns months ago because the numbers almost seemed like bragging....and all that's important to me is performance... And i tweak what i eat based on how i feel and how i perform...
  • samlankford
    samlankford Posts: 334
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    I go by what the HRM tells me that I burn.... even then I don't fully belileve it you know? it is afterall just a machine right? Only reason I am keeping track is for my own information... Now the days that I had 1700 calorie burn, was when I was completly out of my freaking mind and did 3 workout dvd's in a row (insanity and the asylum)... I was in the mood to workout and got REALLY aggirvated at work... will I ever do that again? doubtful, but cannot make any promises :bigsmile:
  • OMGSugarOHNOS
    OMGSugarOHNOS Posts: 204 Member
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    I use what the Strava run app gives me for my burns. i know it's not 100% accurate but I don't eat back calories. My calorie intake is set to 500 below my TDEE. i just log my workouts to keep track.

    Hopefully i get a HRM for Xmas :)
  • TheCaren
    TheCaren Posts: 894 Member
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    I see some crazy calorie burn stuff and I think to myself "no way Jose". And when I use those same MFP exercise stats, I just shorten my time to make the total calorie count burned more realistic. But in the end, they are just cheating themselves. And I don't say a word about it. If I see them post "why am I not losing weight, I'm doing everything right", then that's an invitation to butt in. Otherwise, I butt out.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    This is all pretty subjective... There are many factors that come into play for calorie burning... It's all best guess based on some criteria. Like age, weight, basic lifestyle, muscle mass, current fitness level, and most importantly, what percentage of your maximum HR you're utilizing and for how long etc... Sometimes people with really high calorie burns stop losing because they don't eat enough... And even high burn people can plateau because their bodies become accustomed to what they're doing.....so they need to change up their routines and "trick" their bodies through the plateau!!! While I don't know BigCed personally, I know of him here on MFP... I can promise you that he is Mr. Intensity himself... I have people who are pretty good road runners who completely fall apart and can't hang with me on my very hilly trail runs... The intensity demand for the distance run is greatly increased! We each need to be as accurate as we can be when reporting what we do... Then, tweak our own lifestyles based on whether or not we're achieving our desired goals...
    Anyone is welcome to come on one of my 5 hour to all day workouts to see how many calories you burn... (think Ironman triathlon)

    There are primarily two factors--intensity(VO2) x weight--that determine calories burned during a workout. What happens afterwards (afterburn) depends on different factors and is not really quantifiable on a consistent basis.

    This only appears complicated because of the imperfect and imprecise methods we have commonly available to estimate calorie expenditure during exercise. People put way too much faith in the accuracy of HRMs and data tables--and the plethora of inconsistent and inaccurate data that comes from these sources does more to obfuscate than to illuminate.

    So I would disagree--it's not subjective at all. It only appears "subjective" because of all of the BS.
  • Chinadorian
    Chinadorian Posts: 200 Member
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    bump. MFP calculator for alot of exercises is whack.
  • happycauseIride
    happycauseIride Posts: 536 Member
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    I can program my weight into my treadmill and it was telling me I would burn like 600 calories walking 3.5 - 4.0 on different inclines in 35 minutes. I got all excited. Then I got a HRM and found out it wasn't even close to that. You never know how many calories you are burning unless you use a HRM. Those outrageous numbers could be coming from the machine that doesn't know Jack from Jane. IMO.
  • TubbsMcGee
    TubbsMcGee Posts: 1,058 Member
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    I used to use another website to track my calories in and burned.
    I recently just deactivated that account, after not using it for a full year. Just for giggles, I checked out my exercise history.
    Turns out I was logging "8 hours of desk work," "2 hours of standing", "20 minutes of driving", "60 minutes of cooking and cleaning", and "45 minutes of shopping" EVERY SINGLE DAY for a daily calorie burn of 1876.

    THAT'S outrageous. I would have been doing those "exercises" if I was fat, anyway!
    Buying a HRM changed everything, I only log my exercises when I wear it and I find that when it's on, I push myself harder to burn as much as I can and really break a sweat

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