TDEE and Strength Training

SuperCrsa
SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
edited February 7 in Food and Nutrition
I would really appreciate some opinions and clarity on the exercise calories on most TDEE calculators.

Now I have read that strength training does not burn as many calories as cardio.

SO when I work out my TDEE, and I do 150 minutes per week of strength training only (no cardio)
Should I consider this to be 150 minutes of exercise in my TDEE activity calculation? Will it be accurate? Or is it based on cardio and I am now hugely overestimating the calories burned from strength training?

Thanks :smile:

Replies

  • minuz5
    minuz5 Posts: 256 Member
    Hey, use calculatorpro.com find out your BMR and multiply it by :

    1.2 if you exercise 1-3 hours per week
    1.35 if you exercise 4-6
    1.5 if over 6+

    and that's your TDEE if you're bulking or cutting I wouldnt go over or less than 20% on your TDEE :)
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
    Thanks, but is that cardio or weight training? or doesn't it matter?
  • minuz5
    minuz5 Posts: 256 Member
    Thanks, but is that cardio or weight training? or doesn't it matter?

    Either way, assuming you're not just walking on the treadmill or using 1kg dumbells to do your weight exercises. As long as you lift heavy and do a reasonable cardio(3 times a week, probably less, ~looking at your picture~). Importance is in heavy weights and compound lifts. :)
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
    Thanks, but is that cardio or weight training? or doesn't it matter?

    Either way, assuming you're not just walking on the treadmill or using 1kg dumbells to do your weight exercises. As long as you lift heavy and do a reasonable cardio(3 times a week, probably less, ~looking at your picture~). Importance is in heavy weights and compound lifts. :)

    SuperC- I think you've pretty much got that covered. :love: (She's a beast.)
  • pinktoesjb
    pinktoesjb Posts: 302 Member
    Good question I have been wondering the same.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    I like this TDEE calculator:

    http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

    as it separates out different types of exercise.
  • KeViN_v2pt0
    KeViN_v2pt0 Posts: 375 Member
    I would really appreciate some opinions and clarity on the exercise calories on most TDEE calculators.

    Now I have read that strength training does not burn as many calories as cardio.

    SO when I work out my TDEE, and I do 150 minutes per week of strength training only (no cardio)
    Should I consider this to be 150 minutes of exercise in my TDEE activity calculation? Will it be accurate? Or is it based on cardio and I am now hugely overestimating the calories burned from strength training?

    Thanks :smile:

    TDEE is the amount calories your body burns in a 24 hour period, sleeping, working, exercising, playing and even digesting food!

    Have you measured how many calories you burned sleeping, digesting and pooping out your food? Id take a wild leap and say NO. I guess it all depends on how accurate you want to be.

    There are several different methods to calculate TDEE

    Mifflin-St Jeor
    Harris-Benedict
    Katch-McCardle

    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

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

    What you could do is enter in your information in a few different once and see what the average is. Dont sweat the small differences. 150 calories really isnt that much.
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member

    Have you measured how many calories you burned sleeping, digesting and pooping out your food? Id take a wild leap and say NO. I guess it all depends on how accurate you want to be.

    Lol er NO. haha.
    Thanks I know what TDEE is and I know the sites to calculate it,

    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member

    Lol er NO. haha.
    Thanks I know what TDEE is and I know the sites to calculate it,

    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..

    This is why I suggested the calculator in my previous post. You could plug in X amount of cardio and then X amount of strength training and see how much difference there is. Would only be a guide obviously, but would help answer our question, wouldn't it?
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member

    Lol er NO. haha.
    Thanks I know what TDEE is and I know the sites to calculate it,

    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..

    This is why I suggested the calculator in my previous post. You could plug in X amount of cardio and then X amount of strength training and see how much difference there is. Would only be a guide obviously, but would help answer our question, wouldn't it?

    Im not so sure I trust it honestly.. it gave me a TDEE of over 4000 calories. :noway:

    I am actually looking for an answer to the question about strength training calories burned vs cardio calories burned :smile:

    But thank you I appreciate your response.
  • drop_it_like_a_squat
    drop_it_like_a_squat Posts: 377 Member
    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..

    It all depends on intensity etc., but generally cardio burns more than lifting.
    Don't forget that all these calculators only give you a rough estimate. The only way to be somewhat accurate is to eat a certain amount of calories, keep an eye on your weight/BF% and make adjustments.
  • minuz5
    minuz5 Posts: 256 Member

    Have you measured how many calories you burned sleeping, digesting and pooping out your food? Id take a wild leap and say NO. I guess it all depends on how accurate you want to be.

    Lol er NO. haha.
    Thanks I know what TDEE is and I know the sites to calculate it,

    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..

    No you won't. Doing weights, like compounds will burn quite some calories + it will continue burning them as long as 48 hours. Whereas cardio will be one time off. That's why I emphasized the fact that you should stick to heavy compounds and burn lots of calories and don't bother with much of the cardio... :)
  • jpolinisse
    jpolinisse Posts: 149 Member

    Have you measured how many calories you burned sleeping, digesting and pooping out your food? Id take a wild leap and say NO. I guess it all depends on how accurate you want to be.

    Lol er NO. haha.
    Thanks I know what TDEE is and I know the sites to calculate it,

    But I guess my question is, Does calories burned during Strength Training amount to the same calories burned during cardio?

    So if Im logging 150 MINUTES of strength training per week, would this be the same calorie burn as 150 minutes of cardio..

    Well cardio creates a bigger deficit than strength training. I would probably do lightly active TDEE - 20% and not eat back any exercise calories from the strength training.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Thanks, but is that cardio or weight training? or doesn't it matter?

    It doesn't matter...it's your activity. While you don't burn as much as you do for cardio you still burn...and actually, you burn more for about 24 - 48 hours after you lift if you're killing it...your muscles require calories to repair. I typically burn 500 600 calories for a 60 minute cardio session depending on what I'm doing....I burn around 300 for 60 minutes in the weight room (as per my own trial and error)...estimating your total burn for lifting though is really pretty much a shot in the dark....too many variables to consider...which is why TDEE is such an awesome method and I prefer it to MFP and trying to determine as close to possible how much you burn for a given activity. '

    TDEE doesn't get into the minutia of exact burn...just start somewhere reasonable and make adjustments as necessary. TDEE is pretty much making your best guess as activity and then making adjustments as per real world results. You can also take into account things like the average woman maintains around 2000 calories per day...and that's with pretty minimal exercise...so if numbers look big to you, they're probably not in reality...it's just that so many women have it beat into their head that they maintain on like 1200 calories or something.

    With my activity I cut on 2500 calories (about 1/2 Lb per week) and if you would have told me that a year ago I would have laughed right in your face...
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    With 150 minutes a week of exercise your TDEE is 4000??? how much do you weigh? with that kind of TDEE I would assume in the 300lb range?

    I would recheck your inputs into the TDEE calculator, was it set up as KG's and you entered your weigh in lbs, as the TDEE would be much different for 150lbs vs. 150 kgs (330lbs).
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
    With 150 minutes a week of exercise your TDEE is 4000??? how much do you weigh? with that kind of TDEE I would assume in the 300lb range?

    I would recheck your inputs into the TDEE calculator, was it set up as KG's and you entered your weigh in lbs, as the TDEE would be much different for 150lbs vs. 150 kgs (330lbs).

    No that was on one of the links to a calculator suggested on this thread. Its not accurate.
  • SuperCrsa
    SuperCrsa Posts: 790 Member
    Thank you everyone for the replies :) been really helpful!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    With 150 minutes a week of exercise your TDEE is 4000??? how much do you weigh? with that kind of TDEE I would assume in the 300lb range?

    I would recheck your inputs into the TDEE calculator, was it set up as KG's and you entered your weigh in lbs, as the TDEE would be much different for 150lbs vs. 150 kgs (330lbs).

    No that was on one of the links to a calculator suggested on this thread. Its not accurate.

    If it was this one: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
    Then as a female that is 5'6" 35 years old (no idea what your info is) That exercises intensely for 20 mins/day (140 mins/week), you would have to be 328lbs, to get 4000 cals as the output. Though even at other weights and height, I think that calculator def overestimates activity burned cals.
  • endoftheside
    endoftheside Posts: 568 Member
    MFP gives me like 95 calories for a half hour of strength training (depressingly, keeps reducing as I lose weight :sad: ). Most of the cardio I do burns *at least* 50% more than that. So if that were 5 days a week @ 50+ calories per session that would definitely make a difference over time.

    Once you get a month of data, you can start calculating your actual rolling TDEE instead of using calculator estimates.
  • glreim21
    glreim21 Posts: 206 Member
    I include it in my activity. I follow the TDEE calculation from Scoobys workshop. It works for me:)
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