Time > Calories burned or Calories burned > Time?

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MaiLinna
MaiLinna Posts: 580 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I do a lot of my exercising on the Wii U, and it tells me when I'm going my workout wrong or it knows when I've stopped in the middle for a breather. It notes how many calories you burned during your exercises, and to be honest the ones I can do a little more accurately don't burn as many calories because they're a lower difficulty, mostly strength training or some type of yoga.

Now, my question is, is it better to burn a ton of calories in one exercise or is it better to spend more time exercising and just burning them slowly? Does it matter? When I input my fitness goals to MFP, it said in 30 minutes I should burn 180 calories. Exercising is hard when you're first starting out, and I don't hit that 180 goal in 30 minutes. I don't come close.

Do I need to keep going until I hit the daily 180, or is the weekly goal more important? Is the fact that I did exercise more important in the long run?

Replies

  • phred_52
    phred_52 Posts: 189 Member
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    First, I'm no expert. I also know nothing about Wii U. Do you have access to a treadmill, well that's what I use anyway. To hit 180 cal in 30 min would not be that difficult. I only walk due to bad knee, but in 30 min at a 3 to 3.5 pace I avg. 250 or so cal. burn.

    Hope that helps some.
  • StrictlyPro
    StrictlyPro Posts: 72
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    Well it might be easier to give a more accurate answer if you stated your goals, but the only thing that matters is net calorie intake vs net calories burned. Whether you exercise for 5 hours or none at all, at the end of the day, if you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you perform a balanced resistance training routine and eat adequate protein and fat, you will preserve muscle in the process.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Well it might be easier to give a more accurate answer if you stated your goals, but the only thing that matters is net calorie intake vs net calories burned. Whether you exercise for 5 hours or none at all, at the end of the day, if you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you perform a balanced resistance training routine and eat adequate protein and fat, you will preserve muscle in the process.

    This!^

    It's not about the calorie burn unless you need it to meet goals. Example: you're going out to eat & plan on dessert .... so you want XX calories to stay under your daily limit.

    Cardio (esp. high impact) gives you a higher calorie burn than strength training (generally) and yoga. That doesn't mean strength training or yoga is not worthwhile. Cardio, strength training & yoga perform 3 separate functions. Cardio = stamina & heart health. Strength training = muscle & bone health. Yoga = flexibility & balance. Depending upon your fitness goals.... you might value one over the other ....but it's not calorie burn that's the deciding factor.
  • MaiLinna
    MaiLinna Posts: 580 Member
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    The gym is too much money I found out, and I already had the Wii U game so I just use it.

    The goals state 2 workouts a week, 30 minutes each. Each one is 180 calories burned however. In 30 minutes (this is just from Wii U alone, not counting walking to the store or anything,) I get an average of about 90 calories burned because the exercises are challenging.

    If I were to up the exercises per week, I wouldn't meet the calories burned goals of those weeks unless I worked out for twice as long every day.

    Is it important to do so, or is it better to just hit the 30 minutes each day for so many days a week goal?
  • Markguns
    Markguns Posts: 554 Member
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    2 workouts isn't really enough... 3-4 a week for 30 mins of activity.
    YES it is better to just hit the 30 minutes each day for so many days.
  • StrictlyPro
    StrictlyPro Posts: 72
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    It is important to maintain a reasonable calorie deficit daily over a long period of time. How you go about it doesn't matter.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    The gym is too much money I found out, and I already had the Wii U game so I just use it.

    The goals state 2 workouts a week, 30 minutes each. Each one is 180 calories burned however. In 30 minutes (this is just from Wii U alone, not counting walking to the store or anything,) I get an average of about 90 calories burned because the exercises are challenging.

    If I were to up the exercises per week, I wouldn't meet the calories burned goals of those weeks unless I worked out for twice as long every day.

    Is it important to do so, or is it better to just hit the 30 minutes each day for so many days a week goal?

    I do cardio 3 times a week & strength training 3 times a week. Yoga, I add as needed. Really it depends upon your goals. If you are just getting started .... work on being consistent. After you get pretty consistant with working out ......then see what your needs are. I love cardio .... could do it 6 days a week ..... but I seriously need to maintain muscle mass. So I keep a log of cardio days & strength days .... this way I don't "cheat" strength training ....yoga is added because it's good for me (I like the stress reduction, relaxation, flexibility type of yoga).

    The number of minutes is up to you. Fitness is a lifestyle change (for me) ....I do the number of minutes (I hope) I can do for a lifetime.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    Now, my question is, is it better to burn a ton of calories in one exercise or is it better to spend more time exercising and just burning them slowly? Does it matter? When I input my fitness goals to MFP, it said in 30 minutes I should burn 180 calories. Exercising is hard when you're first starting out, and I don't hit that 180 goal in 30 minutes. I don't come close.
    Don't worry about what MFP says you should burn in 30 minutes. It's going to be different for different exercises and as your fitness increases you will be able to burn more calories since you will be able to work at a higher intensity.

    Exercise to increase your fitness and just record whatever calorie burn there is. For best results you should be doing some sort of exercise a minimum of three times a week. As your fitness increases over the weeks ahead you will be able to exercise longer or more often or both.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Do I need to keep going until I hit the daily 180, or is the weekly goal more important? Is the fact that I did exercise more important in the long run?

    That goal is for your own personal use...that's just what you told MFP you wanted to do. It has no bearing on what MFP gives you for a calorie goal. It's just for you...MFP assumes you aren't going to do jack **** which is why you log your exercise separately rather than including an estimate of those calories in your activity level. This is why you also are supposed to "eat back" those calories (adjusted of course for estimation error)

    Personally, I think it's far more beneficial to set fitness goals beyond just how many calories you're going to burn...the "burn" is just the "side effect" of getting off your *kitten*...real fitness has little to do with calorie burn.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
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    Kind of both-ish? Intensity is sort of a better measure than straight up calories burned, because science*, but doing either a short, intense workout or a long, leisurely one is going to get you to pretty much the same place in the end.

    But 90 calories in 30 minutes is really quite low, unless you are a very tiny person. As a super-rough rule of thumb, an average woman can expect to burn about a calorie a minute sleeping, or 10/minute exercising at near-max intensity, so you're at a 3 on your scale of 1-10, when MFP is expecting you to be more around a 6 (which is still only moderate). So unless you have other health issues, it's probably a good idea to add something else to your routine, even if it's only a 20-minute jog a couple of times a week or something.

    All that said, MFP only actually gives you the exercise calories to eat if you actually enter the exercises - so you should lose weight at the same rate no matter what you do, as long as you're logging accurately. Which is not to say you shouldn't exercise, because having a functional heart and muscles is pretty handy for being alive, but the whole "losing weight" part works no matter which route you take.

    *Stuff about muscle repair and post-exercise oxygen consumption here. It's not really important to the question, though.
  • Showcase_Brodown
    Showcase_Brodown Posts: 919 Member
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    Do you have fitness goals that go beyond burning x number of calories over x minutes divided into x days?

    If we're just talking about calories and weight loss, the best way is to consume fewer calories. Done. You can burn calories through exercise and it doesn't matter if it's all in one time or over 5 times. Total calories in vs. out.

    Now if you want to get your muscles stronger or build cardiovascular endurance, that's where the fitness goals and the gym come in.
  • MaiLinna
    MaiLinna Posts: 580 Member
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    My only real goal is to lose my flabby tummy and get back into a size 6 jean. Getting a tiny bit more active is cool too, since I'm super sedentary.
  • erin1276
    erin1276 Posts: 38 Member
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    My only real goal is to lose my flabby tummy and get back into a size 6 jean. Getting a tiny bit more active is cool too, since I'm super sedentary.

    Daily movement is better than pushing yourself too hard all at once. Being somewhat sedentary myself I find I have a HELLUVA lot more energy after walking 30 minutes at 3 mph every day than I do working out for an hour. That being said- the more you get used to getting off your butt and moving around, the more you may want to add either in time or intensity. I know that the only way to really lose flabby belly- and I know a lot about this! hahaha- is to watch what you eat (make it healthy), count what you eat and do cardio. The smaller you are the less you lose but the more fit you become the more efficient your body works. Good luck!

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