Why no calories calc'd for weight lifting?

jdlifsey
jdlifsey Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious why MFP doesn't calculate calories burned for weight lifting as it does for cardio workouts?


My workouts are:
Monday - Walk the treadmill for ~15 minutes and then do 30 to 45 sets of upper body
Tuesday - Walk the treadmill for ~15 minutes and then do 30-45 sets of lower body
Wednesday - Walk the treadmill for ~15 minutes and then do 25-30 sets of midsection/core
Thursday - Run >3 miles on the treadmill and then do 12-15 sets of shoulders (had shoulder surgery in August)
Friday - Run 5 miles on the treadmill and/or ride bike for ~2 hours
Saturday - Ride bike >2 hours
Sunday - Run 5 miles on the treadmill

Replies

  • Sweetfi
    Sweetfi Posts: 59 Member
    I think it's because unless you hit it really hard, cals burned can be pretty low. There is a strength training option under cardio. It will give u 175 cals burned for 45 mins. I try to estimate low. If I am there for an hour, I put in for 35 mins to account for swapping weights , drinking water and resting etc. hope this helps.
  • Bowtieguy3
    Bowtieguy3 Posts: 13 Member
    Plus it's highly variant depending on the individual, being that muscle mass, muscle strength and metabolism play a huge part in what's burned in lifting... Runtastic Pro has a weight lifting option, and, the nice part, is they allow you to pause the workout time, which is nice because I will let the timer run for exercises and rests between sets, but I pause it when I change the exercise I'm doing... I'm not sure if it's available on the free one, but it's worth checking out...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You just don't burn a ton of calories lifting...the true benefits of lifting are preserving/building lean body mass which burns more calories over extended time. Conversely, cardio burns a lot more calories during the actual exercise, but very after the exercise has been accomplished...essentially, lifting will ultimately increase your overall calorie burn during a given day...it's pretty difficult to get a real accurate estimate though. I don't give myself anymore than 100 calories if I give myself anything at all.
  • DawnMichelle68
    DawnMichelle68 Posts: 38 Member
    I wear my HR monitor during my cardio warm up... during my lifting session..and m half hour cardio after lifting... I log my strength training as a measurable tool for performance and growth. I log my total calories burned in an exercise I create with total minutes and total calories burned and a description of what I did, Today I entered all my arm, back and chest strength them created my total workout as Polar HRM elliptical / arms / racquetball for 619 calories.. Maybe that might help you... It works for me.
  • jdlifsey
    jdlifsey Posts: 22 Member
    I'll wear my HRM during strength days to get an idea what my calories burned might be. Thanks.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    Just curious why MFP doesn't calculate calories burned for weight lifting as it does for cardio workouts?

    Enter all the exercises on the strength training area, then in the cardio entery area type "strength training" and add in the minutes. There ya go.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    I'm pretty sure that HRMs aren't very accurate for ST because it's not a cardio.

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