Can't seem to burn many calories during my workouts

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zsafavian
zsafavian Posts: 12 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Over the past several months it seems like it is impossible for me to burn that many calories when I workout. In an hour I now burn somewhere between 300-380 calories according to my HRM (a Polar FT7). Here are some possibly relevant facts:

1. I do a lot of high intensity cardio, often mixed with some strength intervals. I mix up my workouts every day -- sometimes HIIT, sometimes steady moderate cardio, sometimes steady higher intensity cardio, sometimes strength, etc. I mix up the types of cardio and strength also -- e.g., kettlebells, free weights, bands for strength OR for cardio, step aerobics, dance, kickboxing, running, soccer, etc.
2. I'm turning 40 in a couple months, so my max heart rate is about 180. My resting heart rate is usually right at 60bpm.
3. When I do a HIIT/Tabata workout I generally get my heart rate up to 165-170 during intervals. It quickly drops down to about 130 in the 10 second rest periods.
4. When I do a regular cardio workout my heart rate usually hovers around 130-145.
5. I recently had my body fat percentage measured, and it is at 16.1%. I am a 5'4" and 125-130lbs.
6. According to a rough estimate from an online calculator, my VO2Max is ~46.

Every calculator says I should be burning a lot more than 350 calories in an hour. I really push myself when I'm working out also. It's frustrating. Any suggestions as to what might be going on here?

Replies

  • mountainmare
    mountainmare Posts: 294 Member
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    It could be that this is what your body can do. You are at a perfect weight and in very good shape. Why do you want to burn more calories? The advice this older lady (63) can give you is to keep up a reasonable lifestyle for the rest of your life. You want to continue to have an active injury free life and congrats--you are well on your way! BTW--it pays off, even though I am overweight I just had a super physical--no problems no meds and no aches and pains that plague others my age, and in a few weeks I'll be swimming with whale sharks...you want to be me when you are 63 (only 15 lbs thinner)
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    what are your performance numbers? like whats your 100m sprint time and mph?
  • mountainmare
    mountainmare Posts: 294 Member
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    I forgot to add that you should do that "fit test" to adjust your Polar if it has that feature (mine is F11). That gave me more cals per session. But again, as you get more fit it is harder to burn huge numbers.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Over the past several months it seems like it is impossible for me to burn that many calories when I workout. In an hour I now burn somewhere between 300-380 calories according to my HRM (a Polar FT7). Here are some possibly relevant facts:

    1. I do a lot of high intensity cardio, often mixed with some strength intervals. I mix up my workouts every day -- sometimes HIIT, sometimes steady moderate cardio, sometimes steady higher intensity cardio, sometimes strength, etc. I mix up the types of cardio and strength also -- e.g., kettlebells, free weights, bands for strength OR for cardio, step aerobics, dance, kickboxing, running, soccer, etc.
    2. I'm turning 40 in a couple months, so my max heart rate is about 180. My resting heart rate is usually right at 60bpm.
    3. When I do a HIIT/Tabata workout I generally get my heart rate up to 165-170 during intervals. It quickly drops down to about 130 in the 10 second rest periods.
    4. When I do a regular cardio workout my heart rate usually hovers around 130-145.
    5. I recently had my body fat percentage measured, and it is at 16.1%. I am a 5'4" and 125-130lbs.
    6. According to a rough estimate from an online calculator, my VO2Max is ~46.

    Every calculator says I should be burning a lot more than 350 calories in an hour. I really push myself when I'm working out also. It's frustrating. Any suggestions as to what might be going on here?

    The estimate from your Polar HRM is going to be accurate to within approximately 10 to 20% of actual calories burned so, if you're using that HRM consistently, you can use that as a baseline. I have used the figures from the elliptical machine but, in my opinion, those are more for entertainment value than they are useful.

    We burn calories through exercise. When you engage the "large muscles" (the glutes, the hamstrings, and the quads), you will burn more calories more quickly than you will engaging the upper body or the core. If you're into running, why not add a one or two mile run at the end of every workout?

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