Burning calories in a band?

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irvinbl97
irvinbl97 Posts: 15 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I play alto sax in my local community band. Just out of curiosity, I typed in playing a musical instrument as exercise. To my surprise, it came up! We have practice once a week for 2 1/2 hours, and according to MFP, I could burn at least 300 calories per practice. Could this really be correct? How could playing an instrument count as exercise??

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  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    I play alto sax in my local community band. Just out of curiosity, I typed in playing a musical instrument as exercise. To my surprise, it came up! We have practice once a week for 2 1/2 hours, and according to MFP, I could burn at least 300 calories per practice. Could this really be correct? How could playing an instrument count as exercise??

    How long is the practice for those 300 calories burned?
  • irvinbl97
    irvinbl97 Posts: 15 Member
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    Last night, I calculated a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes - between breaks and ending practice early.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    I play the trumpet and noticed that a long time ago. Here's the thing... some of our activities are exercise and some are just activities. If you log it, and eat back those calories you'll either still lose weight, or you'll eat into your deficit that you're trying to create. I know that I can get dehydrated from a couple hours of playing, but I think that's mostly from the moisture lost through breathing. It's not really extra tough activity that requires extra fuel.

    I'd skip it and consider it bonus NEAT burn.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    Last night, I calculated a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes - between breaks and ending practice early.

    300 calories for 1 hour 40 minutes? Okies, take off the 130 calories you would have burned just sitting down watching the TV or whatever, that leaves 170 calories.

    It is this 170 calories that you actually burned during that 1 hour 40 mins.

    A big difference if you eat your calories back.

    Do not log it as exercise, it is already included in your day to day activities, lest it ruins your weightloss attempts.

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