MFP Queation..

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ColoradoCountryGal
ColoradoCountryGal Posts: 127
in Health and Weight Loss
Why does it not show calorie loss from strength training? I understand its not substantial but it's also not zero..

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  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Why does it not show calorie loss from strength training? I understand its not substantial but it's also not zero..

    From what I've been told you have to log it as a cardio exercise in order for it to count as calorie-burning, because when you lift weights, the calorie burn is subjective based on how much weight you are lifting, etc.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    It's my understanding that it's because every one does their strength training differently. Some people rest a while between sets and exercises, while others don't, so it would be hard for MFP to estimate the calories burned. Heart rate monitors are also not designed to track calories burned from strength training, so there's another reason.

    I don't log calories burned for strength training basically because there's no accurate way to estimate. When I was actively losing weight, I did not log calories burned during strength training because that is not the purpose of it. Strength training is either for building muscle, changing body composition, or retaining muscle while increasing strength (or all the above).
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
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    Don't worry about it. just lift.

    Go with a TDEE and BMR to get your daily calories. It doesn't correlate the same as with cardio.
  • SofaKingRad_II
    SofaKingRad_II Posts: 591
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    Don't worry about it. just lift.

    Go with a TDEE and BMR to get your daily calories. It doesn't correlate the same as with cardio.

    This is the perfect answer to your queation.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Don't worry about it. just lift.

    Go with a TDEE and BMR to get your daily calories. It doesn't correlate the same as with cardio.
    Yup, this. There's really no way to estimate it with any degree of accuracy without being locked in a calorimeter.
  • jennegan1
    jennegan1 Posts: 677 Member
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    I combine mine with calisthenics, sit ups, squats ect ect....MFP already has that in the database for instance last night I did about 5 mins of light weights and 10 mins of squats and sit ups so I put in 15 mins for the whole time... I figure I dont stop in between lifting weights and Im standing so Im burning some calories
  • Autumngolds
    Autumngolds Posts: 30 Member
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    From what I've been told you have to log it as a cardio exercise in order for it to count as calorie-burning, because when you lift weights, the calorie burn is subjective based on how much weight you are lifting, etc.

    I thought this too, and I log it as cardio. The calorie burn can be quite substantial, and much more if you take into account that you burn calories at a faster rate for the day or two, so I think it is worth logging. It shouldn't just be seen as something to build a better body composition; there are loads of other benefits of it and one is burning calories to help you lose or maintain weight. But both the initial and after-burn are difficult to estimate. There's your weight, height, gender, the weight you're lifting, your metabolic rate, heart rate etc. If you're working hard at it without long breaks, I'd take into account the average calories you'd burn doing cardio in the time you spend weight training, and halve it. That's not taking into account the afterburn effect, which would be even more difficult to work out, but it means you're logging something and more likely under- than overestimating the amount.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    I thought this too, and I log it as cardio. The calorie burn can be quite substantial, and much more if you take into account that you burn calories at a faster rate for the day or two, so I think it is worth logging.

    A suggestion for the OP: if you log strength workouts as cardio, and your results after a couple weeks don't match your goals, then stop logging strength workouts as cardio.

    If you log them as cardio, and your results match your goal, then you've just demonstrated that it works for you.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    and much more if you take into account that you burn calories at a faster rate for the day or two
    This.

    I tend to do 3 x 3x5 heavy sets. So basically moving body 45 times in total.
    If we were to measure the calorie burn from this, it would be negigble, yet I burn at least 500 calories per day more after a weights session, this likely lasts getting on for two days.

    It's not easy to measure. It may well be different if you're doing 3x12 for hypertrophy, or more for endurance.
    The MFP figures don't tend to be that amazing anyway, so there's no way they could be accurate for this.

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