Calculating exercise?

roozielynne
roozielynne Posts: 52 Member
in Getting Started
This is probably a silly question but it's been confusing me. (I am most likely overthinking the topic!) I just restarted exercising this week but have always been confused by this topic.

When calculating your calories burned in exercise do you include any time you warm up and cool down? Or do you just count the minutes you actually are hitting your "burn"?

For example today I did 20 minutes on my elliptical machine which I maintained a slower speed for the first 5 minutes to allow my body to get warmed up properly. I then followed up with 20 minutes on the treadmill where I used the last 5 minutes at a slow speed to cool down. So do I count that as 20 minutes on the elliptical total? 15 minutes on the elliptical? And 20 minutes on the treadmill or 15 minutes on the treadmill?

I do some basic stretches before and after I work out as well so I don't hurt myself.

My goal is to hit 30 minutes of cardio total increasing as I improve health.

How would you count it? 30 minutes total? 40 minutes total? None at all? lol

Thanks for all suggestions offered! :D

Replies

  • amynicole0410
    amynicole0410 Posts: 41
    You were on there for 30 minutes. That's 30 minutes of cardio.
  • roozielynne
    roozielynne Posts: 52 Member
    I should also add I am planning on only eating back half of what it says I burn on this forum when necessary. (I am still figuring out what works for my body)
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    As a rule of thumb I typically shave off about 5-10% of my time to account for sub-max burns associated with warmup and cool down. So for example I'll go for 37 minutes and count it as 35, or for 60 minutes and count it as 55.

    I got this by comparing the burns I was getting from my HRM from the listed calories for a given activity.

    As always, your mileage may vary.
  • Eric_DeCastro
    Eric_DeCastro Posts: 767 Member
    when I run i start off walking the first 10-15 steps my HRM is already going. but when I get back to my house i stop it then cool down walk around. I don't know, I just do it that way if it's right or wrong I wouldn't know.
  • roozielynne
    roozielynne Posts: 52 Member
    Thanks everyone!

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