Calories burned - help and thoughts?!?

Options
barefootbridgey
barefootbridgey Posts: 81 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok....I know that the real answer to this question is to buy a heart rate monitor. I did that. It doesn't work - won't read my heart rate, and the few times that it did work, it read extremely low...so, there's that. I can't afford a new one right now...so, mostly I'm asking for opinions.


I know MFP calories estimates trend higher. So, when I log exercise, I'll take 10 minutes or so off of the total time to get a lower calorie amount. When I work out, i do Tae Bo, run (5-7 miles), Bob Harper Inside Out (the cardio version) and I go to a Zumba class (and it's not a "dancey" Zumba...it's the most athletic ZUmba class I've ever been to - squats galore!!!). Zumba is an hour the Bob Harper is 65 minutes total. I log both as high impact aerobic at 60 minutes. If I Tae Bo, it's about 50-60 min and I log it as 50 minutes of high impact aerobics as well (not as kickboxing or Turbo Jam, which logs EXTREMELY high). I'm not sure how many calories I"m actually burning, but I set my calories as 1200 and figure I might be a little off. I'm 5'5 and 180 lbs.

Now. My Zumba instructor is about my height and is just a walking mass of 140 lbs worth of curvy, feminine muscle. During Zumba, I honestly think I push pretty close to as hard as she does and a few weeks back, she and I ran a 7 mile race together and finished with an average pace of 10:28 per mile. She wears a heart rate monitor (is now on her second one since I've known her and her numbers are still the same) and regularly burns 850-1000 during Zumba and burned 1000 during the 7 mile. Keep in mind she's 40 lbs lighter than me, though I am have a pretty decent amount of muscle.

Still with me? Good. :)

If I'm keeping up with her during Zumba and during the 7 mile race AND I'm 40 lbs heavier, what's the liklihood that I'm burning anywhere close to what she is? I certainly don't log it that high, but I'm just curious.

Am I making any sense??? :)

Replies

  • jessa271
    jessa271 Posts: 67
    Options
    Keep in mind that it's not just that you weigh more, but your body composition is much different. She's an instructor, so she's more or less made of muscle, so she's likely burning more than you even though you weigh more. I broke down and got myself a HR monitor and found that MFP numbers were on average TWICE what I actually burned, so that really helped me realize what wasn't working! Do you have access to a gym (maybe even a trial membership or a friend pass)? Most cardio machines will give you an estimate of cals burned with your weight and the speed it records.

    I'd also try positioning your HR monitor in a couple different spots to see if you can get it to work. Try wetting the leads a bit. Mine only works when it's right under the band of my sports bra, which is a PITA but I got used to it. If nothing works, I'd contact the manufacturer and see if they'll repair it. It's probably a lot cheaper than replacing it.

    Short of that, I'd use about half of what the MFP numbers are for any workout you're doing since that's about what I found. I don't know how comparable our weights are, but an hour of intense cardio dancing (never tried zumba, but I've done latin, club, and swing) usually burns about 450-500 for me. Hope I was some help!
  • epini
    epini Posts: 2 Member
    Options
    I recentely switched to tracking only what I eat and not my workouts. It's been a lot less stressful than trying to track everything all the time.

    Food is the big component to losing weight so concentrate on clean eating - lean meats, veggies, etc. and the rest will take care of itself.
  • barefootbridgey
    barefootbridgey Posts: 81 Member
    Options
    I've tried every bit of repositioning of the heart rate monitor. Higher, lower, tighter, looser, super wet, less wet, dry, saliva, water, upside down, right side up...and new batteries. It's kind of a lost cause, I think. I think I just need a new one.

    Honestly, I don't think that the MFP numbers are probably super off how I log them, especially for Zumba. Other classes I've done have been pretty low key, but this one is killer, lots of squats, jumping etc etc etc. I'm logging it as about 600 calories...that's the 60 minute class plus an additional 10 minute abs at the end. Like I said...her monitor is giving her (for the whole shebang) a reading of closer to 1000...sometimes more. I'm more concerned about the running, really. I was just curious. The things the two of us were doing together (running, zumba, etc)...I'm easily logging 300-400 fewer than she's burning via her heart rate monitor. I'm hoping that's close enough.

    I've thought about just counting calories...I've tried it, but I think it makes me more anxious than anything else. It's very strange...
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    Ok....I know that the real answer to this question is to buy a heart rate monitor. I did that. It doesn't work - won't read my heart rate, and the few times that it did work, it read extremely low...so, there's that. I can't afford a new one right now...so, mostly I'm asking for opinions.


    I know MFP calories estimates trend higher. So, when I log exercise, I'll take 10 minutes or so off of the total time to get a lower calorie amount. When I work out, i do Tae Bo, run (5-7 miles), Bob Harper Inside Out (the cardio version) and I go to a Zumba class (and it's not a "dancey" Zumba...it's the most athletic ZUmba class I've ever been to - squats galore!!!). Zumba is an hour the Bob Harper is 65 minutes total. I log both as high impact aerobic at 60 minutes. If I Tae Bo, it's about 50-60 min and I log it as 50 minutes of high impact aerobics as well (not as kickboxing or Turbo Jam, which logs EXTREMELY high). I'm not sure how many calories I"m actually burning, but I set my calories as 1200 and figure I might be a little off. I'm 5'5 and 180 lbs.

    Now. My Zumba instructor is about my height and is just a walking mass of 140 lbs worth of curvy, feminine muscle. During Zumba, I honestly think I push pretty close to as hard as she does and a few weeks back, she and I ran a 7 mile race together and finished with an average pace of 10:28 per mile. She wears a heart rate monitor (is now on her second one since I've known her and her numbers are still the same) and regularly burns 850-1000 during Zumba and burned 1000 during the 7 mile. Keep in mind she's 40 lbs lighter than me, though I am have a pretty decent amount of muscle.

    Still with me? Good. :)

    If I'm keeping up with her during Zumba and during the 7 mile race AND I'm 40 lbs heavier, what's the liklihood that I'm burning anywhere close to what she is? I certainly don't log it that high, but I'm just curious.

    Am I making any sense??? :)

    Terrain might make some difference, but, at her weight and speed, the actual calorie burn for the 7 miles was closer to 800-850 than 1000.

    Since you are almost 20kg heavier, at that speed you probably did burn over 1000--at that speed you are around 850 per hour and at that pace you ran for about an hour and 13 minutes.

    Your instructor friend's HRM is overestimating her calorie burn. It is either underestimating her true HR max or overestimating her aerobic fitness level. At 140 lbs, it is highly unlikely that one would burn 1000 calories in a Zumba class, regardless of the structure. That's not in any way belittling the class or the effort involved--at that body weight, it would be quite a challenge to burn 1000 calories in an hour doing any type of exercise-- you just cannot sustain enough of a consistent effort in a group exercise class. Someone at that body weight would have to run a 6 minute mile for an hour straight to burn 1000 calories.

    In your case, it sounds like you have a decent fitness level and can push yourself. A good rule of thumb would be to calculate about 9-11 calories per minute of hard effort during a group class and 10-12 cal/min running. That will probably get you as close as any HRM or calculator.
  • castelluzzo99
    castelluzzo99 Posts: 313 Member
    Options
    I'm not an expert by any means, so you can take this with a grain of salt--or use it as a springboard for more research.

    A while back I discovered shapesense.com. They have all kinds of calculators there. I did a couple of tests to test my VO2max (indicates a level of fitness), and they were pretty close to the same. You can use that to tweak your calorie burn in their heart-rate-based calorie counter. If you could get your HRM to work (have you tried moistening the contacts? The one I bought had some negative reviews like that on Amazon, saying that it didn't always work, but I've had no problem--just moisten fingers and slide them under the contact points before I work out).

    Another thing I find helpful is to watch my hunger. I have noticed that whenever I start a new workout, I crave more food than average (probably eat closer to maintenance that day--but then, new workout = lots of sore muscles = need to repair those muscles = need for more food, at least I think so). If I have estimated my calorie burn correctly, then I should be satisfied with what MFP tells me to eat (and I don't use the 1200 calories--I start with a number that is more realistic of what I actually burn, minus the 500 deficit, plus some extra for breastfeeding). If I am starving at the end of the day, then I know I haven't gotten enough calories, and I either am using more to breastfeed (not likely anymore), or I burned more than I calculated during my workout. If I feel full and don't want to eat all my calories, then maybe I didn't burn as much. This is very subjective, and won't work for everyone, but it is what works for me.

    Also, I would watch your weight loss. If you are eating enough but not too much (don't undereat if you work out that much!), then you should see a fairly consistent loss. On the other hand, if you are not losing what you expected, and you are logging accurately, then maybe it's your estimated calorie burn that is the problem.

    Good luck figuring it out!

Categories