How are you guys burning 500+ calories

Options
245678

Replies

  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
    Options
    Hey,

    So, I see when people log or check random diaries and they have like 500+ calories they can eat back because of exercise. How??? What exercises are you doing? Whenever I do or log an exercise I burn about 30 calories, lol. Which is nice and everything, but that barely makes room for me to even have a cracker and I'm hungrier after than I was to start with in the first place. Any advice welcome!!

    By working out hard for 1.5-2 hours. There you go!

    Fully expecting over a 500 calorie burn today for volume squats (72kg) and a bench/bicep curl challenge (admittedly the squats will cover most of that). I'd like to do some yoga too. High burns aren't unrealistic when you do a lot of exercise.
  • tinapi96
    tinapi96 Posts: 112 Member
    Options
    Mine comes up on my diary as +500 or so because I set my MFP at sedentary and use my Fitbit to add calories to my day. I may only exercise 30 minutes (for me that means about a 250 burn) but if I make more than 8000 steps in a day I normally get extra just from getting on with my life. I log exercise on my Fitbit and food on MFP. It might not be what you think...
  • skyfall91
    skyfall91 Posts: 74
    Options
    totally depends. I go on my treadmill/stationary bike for 30mins and burn about 200-220cals so I usually get about 400cals in an hour for my usual workouts.
  • brevislux
    brevislux Posts: 1,093 Member
    Options
    Several options:
    1. They are heavy so it doesn't take much time to burn so much.
    2. They're doing intense cardio.
    3. They work out for a really long time. I often log 800 cals workouts, but that's because I dance for three hours almost non stop.
  • april34josey
    april34josey Posts: 10
    Options
    This is not true...who told you that being obese makes you burn more then a thin person??? smh
  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
    Options
    This is not true...who told you that being obese makes you burn more then a thin person??? smh

    Erm... If you're obese then you will burn more doing the same activity at the same level than a thin person. More weight to be shifted around, etc.
  • FraggleRockerFitnessLover
    FraggleRockerFitnessLover Posts: 307
    Options
    I use a HRM, do roughly 30-45 minutes of weight training followed by a good 1-1.5 hours of cardio via stair master, elliptical, or spin and shoot for 1000 calories to burn. The stair master
    is a fantastic and challenging burning machine. I typically don't eat back my calories I have burnt. I love my HRM. Best of luck!
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,771 Member
    Options
    This is not true...who told you that being obese makes you burn more then a thin person??? smh

    Just check out any calorie burn calculator. Compare burns for the same activity at 140lbs and 240lbs. Increased body mass (weight) = increased effort/energy required to move said body mass = increased calorie burn.
  • april34josey
    april34josey Posts: 10
    Options
    I burn over 500 calories because I weight train (lifting pretty heavy) and than I don cardio for about 20 to 30 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) which burns way more calories than steady state cardio for an hour...........google HIIT to learn more about it.....:) I spend 1 hour and 1/2 to two hours in the gym and I am a fitness competitor......
  • Cyclingbonnie
    Cyclingbonnie Posts: 413 Member
    Options
    I ride long distances, often riding for between 2 - 10 hours. Yes I take breaks and even eat while I'm out. The 2 - 10 hours are actual ride time. I have a bike computer that only counts as the wheels are turning. I sometimes burn as little as 700 calories on a ride, and have burned more than 5000 on a ride. Now when I'm working on strength building or attacking my abs ... it may be as low as 200. I exercise for fitness not for calorie burn. I do track it and I do eat back a portion (50 to 75% rarely all), but it isn't to give me more to eat ... it is to make me healthier. I even do videos, but they are not my sole or even my go to workout. It is for variety. Do the exercise you enjoy ... for fitness ... stop worrying about the calorie burn. Track it yes, but like what you do.
  • animalldy
    animalldy Posts: 140 Member
    Options
    Hey,

    So, I see when people log or check random diaries and they have like 500+ calories they can eat back because of exercise. How??? What exercises are you doing? Whenever I do or log an exercise I burn about 30 calories, lol. Which is nice and everything, but that barely makes room for me to even have a cracker and I'm hungrier after than I was to start with in the first place. Any advice welcome!!


    Try not to worry about what other people are doing and focus on what works for you! I have a few friends who regularly have 1000+ calorie burns and it just blows my mind. I don't have time for that and for me that is not healthy or sustainable in the long run. I do 30-40 min every other day, around 250 calories max. I'm maintaining and this is my long term plan.

    More power to ya if you can work in an hour plus workout!
  • lizzyclatworthy
    lizzyclatworthy Posts: 296 Member
    Options
    I run for an hour on the tread mill (ok so I have a weights break in the middle but it counts)

    What are you doing that burns 30 calories?

    the other day I burnt 11 calories on the treadmill before my 'emergency phone' went off (I am not saying I am batman but we've never been seen in the same room) and I had to leave. That wasn't a good day to be eating back calories :laugh:
  • Sharonks
    Sharonks Posts: 884 Member
    Options
    I'm cheap and don't have an HRM. When doing steady state cardio (running) I randomly take my pulse for 6 second and multiply by 10. I do this 2 or 3 times. I take the average heart rate and plug it in to a calculator http://braydenwm.com/calburn.htm to figure out my approx burn. I am short, a few pounds from goal weight, getting way too close to 50 and fairly fit. I burn about 500 cals with an hour of running.

    Cal burn has to do with size and fitness. Someone very unfit and heavy will burn more than someone who is very fit and lean.A lean 6 foot tall guy will burn more than a lean 5 foot tall one.

    If you have not achieved the fitness level you want then slowly increase what you are doing. Doing too much too fast will usually cause a lot of muscle soreness and be discouraging. I personally run 3 days a week and lift heavy 3 days a week. When I have more time I would like to add yoga back into the mix but right now my schedule is full with work and school. Since summer is around the corner there will be more hiking and outdoor stuff too. Find what you like to do and go do it.
  • dwood1231
    dwood1231 Posts: 275 Member
    Options
    I find between 50-60 minutes of cardio, walking 4 mph will burn about 500 calories. I try to walk daily, if you have a smart phone down load the map my walk app and link it to your MFP page.
  • UFITYETXX
    UFITYETXX Posts: 38
    Options
    Good to know! Thanks!
  • bryannakay
    bryannakay Posts: 198 Member
    Options
    Hello!!!! I used to think the SAME thing!!!! I posted a topic like this a year ago and thought it would NEVER be possible!! But IT SURE IS!!!!

    I am 5'2" and weigh 169 pounds.....I usually burn 500 plus calories every time I go to the gym now. My favorite is called "cardio blitz". I do 15 minutes of the elliptical, then 15 minutes of the rower, then 15 minutes of the stairmaster at about 8 or 9 setting, then end with 15 minutes of running at 5.5 mph. If you don't have access to a rower just do 30 minutes of something. I like this workout because you don't get bored. You are never at something for too long. Anyway, I ALWAYS burn at least 600 calories. My highest was 717, I have the Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor also to keep track.
  • The_1_Who_Knocks
    The_1_Who_Knocks Posts: 343 Member
    Options
    I simply walk 4 miles before work and 4 miles after work. MFP gives me credit for 400+ calories for each walk. Maybe that is too high, as someone suggested, but it's been working pretty well for me.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    Options
    Hey,

    So, I see when people log or check random diaries and they have like 500+ calories they can eat back because of exercise. How??? What exercises are you doing? Whenever I do or log an exercise I burn about 30 calories, lol. Which is nice and everything, but that barely makes room for me to even have a cracker and I'm hungrier after than I was to start with in the first place. Any advice welcome!!

    Well, a cracker earned is a cracker earned. ;-)

    Intensity and duration will dictate the amount of calories burned during exercise. It's not hard to surpass a 500+ calorie burn when doing intense cardio via cycling, running, etc... . And it takes time to build up to such intensity and durations required to do that.

    If I look at a workout's profile I did on Thursday, I was on the bike outside in strong winds for 1:43:32 riding a distance of 28.9 miles. This workout profile showed an average heart rate of 146, a maximum heart rate of 177 during the ride, and the ride included 5 intervals of 8 minutes duration each targeting a heart rate of 174 for the duration of each interval. For me, that's the "feel bad hard" training zone and I got a total of 40 minutes of Thursday's ride in the "feel bad hard" zone.

    Here are the zones - each burns a different amount of kcals...

    1. Old lady pace
    2. Chatty pace
    3. Feel good hard
    4. Feel bad hard
    5. I am going to die
    6. Flat out

    I wear a HR monitor and have a power meter to measure the watts (power) that I produce on the bike. The software figures out the amount of calories burned, so for Thursday's ride, 1,294 kcals were needed to complete the exercise.

    Compare that to an easy bike ride in the "old lady pace" or "chatty pace" which might only burn 215 - 325 kcal per 1/2 hour for me.

    Again, it is intensity + duration for cardio that racks up the # of calories burned during a workout. I would only eat back a good portion of those kcals burned if I was maintaining, or planning on doing consecutive days of the same type of training to fuel the body. If dropping weight was still the goal, I would leave a nice deficit to see the scale register lower.

    As you can see by my ticker below, since January 6th of this year I have been striving to find a balance of building a huge aerobic base for cycling while trimming weight. Plenty of plateaus along the way as I had to eat to fuel the body for consecutive 2 and 2+ hour rides. This week, and next, I am attempting to run enough of a deficit to get down to my goal. My goal was 12 weeks to drop 12 pounds.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    Options
    This is not true...who told you that being obese makes you burn more then a thin person??? smh

    I'm a little bit embarrassed for you that you actually just said that, and with attitude. Pick up 80 pound weights and go for a run - let me know how your burn is afterward.
  • tycho_mx
    tycho_mx Posts: 426 Member
    Options
    bicycle riding. And measured in the most precise way possible - using a crank power meter that tells exactly how much energy is used pedaling (not estimated using HRM, which is very variable).

    So - 600 kJ (translates more or less the same to Calories, depending on efficiency) on an easy 1 hour ride. 800 Cal / h on a moderate, and 1100 Cal / h on a very hard ride. Note that for the last one I would be going over 40 km/h (25 mph).

    My typical rides are 1 to 3 hours long, the longest has been 8.5 h. That was about 5500 calories. Cycling is a great calorie burner, since the strain on muscles is long and it's relatively easy to ride 15 h / week. Not so easy running, since the pounding on the joints can make you susceptible to soreness or injuries.

    Cycling is a great weight-loss exercise!

Categories