Do you use weight lifting as "exercise" when doing TDEE?

You shouldn't. It's a very negligible amount. Each set probably takes you 10-20 seconds to complete. So 12 sets would equate to a whopping 2 minutes of work spread out among 45 min to an hour, during which you never elevate your heartrate to its max nor keep it there for a prolonged period of time.

You shouldn't. It's a very negligible amount. Each set probably takes you 10-20 seconds to complete. So 12 sets would equate to a whopping 2 minutes of work spread out among 45 min to an hour, during which you never elevate your heartrate to its max nor keep it there for a prolonged period of time.

And yet plenty of people count it and continue to lose weight at the rate as suggested by whatever TDEE calculator they use. (Me, for example) Why use a method based on exercise totals and not count all of your exercise?

Anywho, OP, check out this post and the spreadsheet there. It has a section specifically for your lifting time (and that section has the second highest multiplier, but I digress).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker

Absolutely! When I am lifting, I am sweating, red faced, out of breath and higher heart rate than cardio. It counts for me:)

And yet plenty of people count it and continue to lose weight at the rate as suggested by whatever TDEE calculator they use. (Me, for example) Why use a method based on exercise totals and not count all of your exercise?

Because weight lifting is oftentimes over-estimated, and the 100 calories doing it really doesn't make a difference in the long run. Besides, if weight loss is the goal this gives a 100-200 calorie buffer against under-estimating food intake calories.

Mind you, when I say weight lifting I am talking about traditional strength training of 12-18 sets of 3-5, 6-8, or 8-12 reps with 2 min rest inbetween sets, not crossfit, circuit training or any other routine that uses weights to make cardio more interesting.

I'm glad that you've had success by counting your weight lifting, but it's very easy for many people to overcompensate for that calorie burn or have less accurate calorie measurements than you. Just read all the "but I swear I eat 1200 calories/day and I'm not losing weight!" threads.

This....If you don't have an elevated HR or get tired, you are playing, not lifting heavy enough!

I lift as heavy as I can handle. My heartrate gets elevated, but nowhere near the point to when I do cardio (130-150 ish vs.180-190 ish when running). If you are getting a higher heartrate out of weight lifting than cardio, you're not pushing yourself when you do cardio, you have poor overall fitness, or you're doing some funky routine with weights using them for cardio rather than strength training.

Going HARD with HEAVY weight and 60 sec rests between sets i think burns about 200 cals and hour

Possibly, but that depends on how long it takes to do a set in that calculation. It's also easy to under-estimate their rest periods. I clock myself 60 sec rest between sets, but by the time I get into position and I'm actually pushing (or pulling) weight again it's closer to 90 sec, and that's still under what many strength training gurus recommend for optimal rest between sets (2-3 min).

In fact, I have yet to see anyone who knows what they're doing with weights only take 60 sec rests and workout HARD for a full hour (defined as working sets at least 85% of 1RM). Frankly, you'd have to be in outstanding shape to maintain that pace for even 30 min.

Mind you, running at my speed burns over 1300 calories/hour. So in lieu of running, weight lifting is still peanuts when it comes to calorie burn, which is why I don't count it.

And yet plenty of people count it and continue to lose weight at the rate as suggested by whatever TDEE calculator they use. (Me, for example) Why use a method based on exercise totals and not count all of your exercise?

Because weight lifting is oftentimes over-estimated, and the 100 calories doing it really doesn't make a difference in the long run. Besides, if weight loss is the goal this gives a 100-200 calorie buffer against under-estimating food intake calories.

Mind you, when I say weight lifting I am talking about traditional strength training of 12-18 sets of 3-5, 6-8, or 8-12 reps with 2 min rest inbetween sets, not crossfit, circuit training or any other routine that uses weights to make cardio more interesting.

I'm glad that you've had success by counting your weight lifting, but it's very easy for many people to overcompensate for that calorie burn or have less accurate calorie measurements than you. Just read all the "but I swear I eat 1200 calories/day and I'm not losing weight!" threads.

This....If you don't have an elevated HR or get tired, you are playing, not lifting heavy enough!

I lift as heavy as I can handle. My heartrate gets elevated, but nowhere near the point to when I do cardio (130-150 ish vs.180-190 ish when running). If you are getting a higher heartrate out of weight lifting than cardio, you're not pushing yourself when you do cardio, you have poor overall fitness, or you're doing some funky routine with weights using them for cardio rather than strength training.

Going HARD with HEAVY weight and 60 sec rests between sets i think burns about 200 cals and hour

Possibly, but that depends on how long it takes to do a set in that calculation. It's also easy to under-estimate their rest periods. I clock myself 60 sec rest between sets, but by the time I get into position and I'm actually pushing (or pulling) weight again it's closer to 90 sec, and that's still under what many strength training gurus recommend for optimal rest between sets (2-3 min).

Mind you, running at my speed burns over 1300 calories/hour. So in lieu of running, weight lifting is still peanuts when it comes to calorie burn, which is why I don't count it.

Using the TDEE method the OP wouldn't be eating back her calories, so it hardly matters what it may actually come out to, the question is should it be counted towards their TDEE and the answer is yes. That's about all there is to it.

And, for the record, I am also talking about actual weight lifting, going as heavy as I can. I don't do any manner of cardio on a consistent basis (I don't think I've done any this month at all, actually) and yet I still count myself at a moderately active level and lose weight as the spreadsheet I linked above suggests. When using that method weight lifting is supposed to be counted.

Bump for spread sheet link

Are you taking into account EAT?

How you track calories for weight lifting on here?

It is under cardio.

Using the TDEE method the OP wouldn't be eating back her calories, so it hardly matters what it may actually come out to, the question is should it be counted towards their TDEE and the answer is yes. That's about all there is to it.

Perhaps you're using a different calculator. The lowest setting above sedentary is working out 3x/week, which adds 300 cal/day for an exercise regimen that is burning 100 calories. And if I put in 6x/week (which is what I actually do), then it jumps the TDEE up to 500 cal/day above sedentary, which is even more of a mismatch. If I did that with no cardio, I would actually gain weight thinking that I was on a deficit. Then I could make another thread on MFP about how I have hypothryroidism or something.

Like I said, I'm glad that you've had success with counting weight lifting, but I'd wager you're in the minority.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Is set by time, not days for one. The spreadsheet I linked also goes by time spent working out.

And minority, aside from the people saying they do count it, a large number of the people on my FL, people using the spreadsheet I linked from the 'Eat more to weight less" (Which again, has a section to enter the time spent strength lifting) which is far from a small group.

I absolutely count it, but I do bump it down a bit. I work out 3-5 hours a week, a combination of lifting heavy and jogging intervals for c25k right now. But I put in the lightly active mode that estimates 1-3 hours a week of exercise to give me a slight buffer since I'm only doing a 15% decrease.

But for a beginner lifter like me, making steady progressions, it's definitely a workout and burns at least as much as yoga or Pilates or any other form of non-cardio exercise. Plus strength training ups your total calories burned when not working out moreso than cardio. If I were burning a thousand calories with every run, sure it would be negligible, but since it's probably closer to a third of my calories burned with exercise, I count it.

I track mine, but I don't eat back the exercise calories from it, either (some to half, if I'm hungry from it). I'm sure I burn as much as from yoga or pilates, and I count those.

There's no way I could do a full set in seconds, btw! I must lift slowly. Meh, that's how I feel it the most, so I'm not bothered

I do my other side or alternate a different body part instead of resting between sets. I work up a sweat!!

Absolutely. If you've exercised "vigorously" or "moderately," that's what you've done--whether it's cardio or weight lifting.

And I know the calculators don't show weight lifting as burning as many calories as cardio, but trust me, your body knows it has done the work. :- ) I, for one, barely do any cardio.

I have MFP set to 'lightly active' (activity without lifting) and I log my lifting burn on Fitbit. I use a Polar HRM (also).

You shouldn't. It's a very negligible amount. Each set probably takes you 10-20 seconds to complete. So 12 sets would equate to a whopping 2 minutes of work spread out among 45 min to an hour, during which you never elevate your heartrate to its max nor keep it there for a prolonged period of time.

I'm pretty sure not everyone is following your protocol for lifting.

And heart rate isn't always correlated with calorie burn.

Nope, I know I'm not. I cannot even imagine what 12 deadlifts or barbell squats in 10-20 seconds looks like. I guess I could do it if I were using 20-30lbs, maybe.

For me, 30 minutes of lifting is 20 minutes of moving heavy stuff with 10 minutes of rest. It's also never taken me the full 60 seconds of rest to set up between different sets, even if I have to set up steps or go in the aerobics room for a Swiss ball.