Net/Gross calories burned

needtoloseafewpounds
needtoloseafewpounds Posts: 161 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Since I lost about 9 KG (20lbs) now, my calories burned from exercise is reduced almost by half so I decided to upgrade my workout routine today. That's when I decided to look for a calories burned calculator to plan ahead and I was blown away.

http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

Is it really true that the calories burned that I was logging are only Gross calories burned?

According to the website, this is what gross and net calories would be:

Gross Calorie Burn

Gross calorie burn is the absolute total amount of calories burned while performing any given activity. It includes the calories that your body burned specifically to perform the activity itself, plus the additional calories burned throughout the duration of the physical activity that your body must continually burn at all times to digest food, keep tissues alive, and support the function of vital organs. The extra calories burned in addition to those required for physical activity are collectively known as your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), and they represent the calories that your body would have burned anyway, even if you had just been relaxing on the couch and not performing any physical activity. Try our Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator to find out what your resting metabolic rate is.

Net Calorie Burn

Now that you know what gross calorie burn is, net calorie burn is easily understood. Net calorie burn, for any given physical activity, is the amount of calories burned only to perform the physical activity, and no more. As opposed to gross calorie burn, net calorie burn does not include calories burned to support your RMR.


So in other words, our RMR is for some reason calculated into the burned calories :(
So in other words, when I thought I should be logging 214 for walking 3.5 mph for an hour on leveled ground, I was really only burning 119 calories for specifically walking 3.5 mph for an hour. The remaining 95 calories burned was for being alive.

Did anyone else know about this and is this really true?

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    It is true but most people don't pay any attention. Even a HRM is calculating all your calories burned for the time you were exercising, they don't deducted out your BMR so if you want to be truly accurate and not double dipping then you need to know how many calories you burn in an hour and deduct it from your exercise.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    yes its true, but you've lost 20lbs doign what you're doing, so does it really matter? all the numbers - food, exercise, TDEE, BMR etc tec etc are just estimates!
  • needtoloseafewpounds
    needtoloseafewpounds Posts: 161 Member
    It is true but most people don't pay any attention. Even a HRM is calculating all your calories burned for the time you were exercising, they don't deducted out your BMR so if you want to be truly accurate and not double dipping then you need to know how many calories you burn in an hour and deduct it from your exercise.
    yes its true, but you've lost 20lbs doign what you're doing, so does it really matter? all the numbers - food, exercise, TDEE, BMR etc tec etc are just estimates!

    Thank you :) The site made so much sense that I couldn't disbelieve it no matter how much I wanted to haha!
    It's just discouraging how difficult it is to burn 119 calories in an hour but how easy it is to eat 800 calories in the same amount of time >:(!! Thanks again!
  • SDkitty
    SDkitty Posts: 446 Member
    I always calculate my net. I wear an HRM and I always subtract my base calories before adding the exercise to my diary. I wouldn't worry about it though, do what works for you :flowerforyou: I just happen to be really picky about it being accurate LOL

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