Calories burned. Exercise not in database.

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namelesshere
namelesshere Posts: 334 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
One of my hobbies is driving ponies. Just wondering if anyone knows an accurate way to figure out how many calories are burned in the exercise. Depending on the pony I use, it could be mostly walking or it could be a fast trot over the trails. As I sit in the cart, I am constantly shifting to accommodate turns, hills, etc. What is your best guess?

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  • ZombieEarhart
    ZombieEarhart Posts: 320 Member
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    Riding lawnmower.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    This is a good question. I had a really hard time trying to find out how many calories I would burn with a 4-inch beginners step verses the 6-8 inch or 10-12 inch step options for stepping exercise. It really is different. It turns out a 4-inch step is 2.9 calories per lb per hour and a 6-8 inch step is 3.85 per lb per hour.

    Just picking what is close is not good enough when I know the intensity is so much higher with a bigger step, and I was not doing that, but the only lower options were the wii step activity and that's with a 1" platform, which is way LESS intense than a 4" step. Those differences really matter. So, I do understand that you want to get the closest activity approximation possible.

    So! Let's look at your activity.

    As for carting ponies, I live in California, and I've seen this activity. It's certainly not as vigorous as riding a horse regularly at a trot or gallop, but I would estimate it at perhaps like riding a calm horse at walking pace.

    You can burn 68 calories (at 150 lbs) per hour just driving your car, and this would be more than that, but not as much as if you were walking at a good pace (like 3 mph). So, that would be 109 calories per hour at (150 lbs).

    To break that down further, I'd say 0.73 calories per lb, per hour. So, if you weighed 150 pounds, you'd burn 109 calories per hour. If you weighed 200 pounds, you'd burn 146 calories per hour, etc.

    I am NOT a math person, but haha to any kids who think you'll never need algebra when you grow up. I use the simple parts of it all the time.

    if you ever run into the problem again where you find calories burned for a 150 lbs person, this is how you break it down. Where x equals the unknown calorie amount, y is the given weight of the exerciser, and z is the calorie burn for an hour of that activity:
    x * y = z
    x * 150 = 109, 109/150 = .73 (approximately)

    http://calorielab.com/burned/?mo=se&gr=11&ti=Occupation&wt=150&un=lb&kg=68

    Calorie lab is where my estimate came from.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    Riding lawnmower.

    haha!

    I had no idea that would even be in the data base, but I did look it up and riding a lawnmower is listed as the same calorie burn as horse riding at a walking pace. So, I think we were both correct with our activity approximation.

    The only difference is on this site the calorie burn is listed as higher 1.13 calories per lb, per hour instead of the .73 calories per lb, per hour of the calorie lab site I used. But, you might as well use the one here since you will not have to create your own activity then.
  • namelesshere
    namelesshere Posts: 334 Member
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    Thank you for helping me figure this out. It does really depend on which horse I use as to how much exercise I get so I guess a good guestimate would be to match the trotting in cart with trotting in saddle etc. Sometimes after I drive, I really am out of breath from the exertion.
  • Chokis
    Chokis Posts: 131
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    Have you considered buying an HRM? That's a good investment. You can find them used and not expensive online. That will give you a more accurate number of calories burned.
  • dianefisher47
    dianefisher47 Posts: 234 Member
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    go to http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc you enter how much you weigh and find your activity and enter how many minutes you did and it gives you how many calories burned as per your weight....I saw horse grooming and riding so it may help you :drinker:
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Thank you for helping me figure this out. It does really depend on which horse I use as to how much exercise I get so I guess a good guestimate would be to match the trotting in cart with trotting in saddle etc. Sometimes after I drive, I really am out of breath from the exertion.

    Honestly, shifting your weight around doesn't burn much. I used to ride all the time and drive occasionally. Neither was a cardio-type workout unless the horse tried to throw me :laugh:. Now, depending on the horse, you may be consistently using enough arm and core muscle to rate speed and steer to count as low/medium weight high rep strength exercise. I drove several horses that took my whole body weight to keep in check. I literally had to stand in the cart and lean against the pull like the old-time chariot drivers. Really made my back and arms sore when I wasn't used to it. Of course, I was driving a road horse at speed, so they do pull more than most.

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