How to count calories burned

Selena125t
Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone. I am not doing a traditional cardio workout. I know that cardio is a big part of fat loss, however, I find that in the past I kind of lose motivation fairly quickly when presented with a cardio heavy workout routine. Having said that,,,I am 207 pounds, I workout 5 days a week; around 35 minutes per session. Here is what I did today
100 jumping jacks
30 push ups (knee)
10 mountain climbers
10 side plank dips
10 second basic plank
15 chest squeeze
10 tricep dips
60 seconds arm circles
4 minutes palm press
185 squats (Day 22 squat challenge)
I am usually so sweaty and burning and huffing and puffing that I know that my heart rate is getting up and that I'm not wasting my time. I really only have one dilemma with my workout...I can't figure out how many calories I've burned. I don't own a heart rate monitor because I've read they aren't very accurate any way. I am on 1100 calories a day but If I am burning say 200 calories in my workout then it's pushing me to 900 calories a day which will only make me either store everything as fat, use muscle for fuel or just stay the same without progress.
Does anyone have any thoughts/suggestions/ideas? I really appreciate the help!

Replies

  • hoyagirl03
    hoyagirl03 Posts: 220 Member
    I HIGHLY suggest getting one of those Heart Rate monitors where you wear the watch and you strap the monitor around your chest as you exercise. Polar has some great ones that are pretty accurate! :) And it's great to have these so you can either push yourself or know when to lay off a bit.
  • Selena125t
    Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
    Thank you for your reply. And thank you for not bashing me for not following a traditional cardio based exercise routine.

    However, in your own experience/opinion...could I be burning enough calories that I would be putting my calorie intake at 1000 or less? Would it be sensible to go a head and add a 150 calorie snack on the days I exercise?
  • becki1815
    becki1815 Posts: 51 Member
    Your calorie intake should never be under 1000/day, in my opinion, unless you're advised by a medical professional. The more you workout, the more you need to eat, especially protein. By eating too little, and exercising extensively, your body will enter a starvation mode and hold onto weight.
  • Selena125t
    Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
    Could I be burning enough calories that I would be putting my calorie intake at 1000 or less?
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    I HIGHLY suggest getting one of those Heart Rate monitors where you wear the watch and you strap the monitor around your chest as you exercise. Polar has some great ones that are pretty accurate! :) And it's great to have these so you can either push yourself or know when to lay off a bit.

    The formulas used by HRMs are designed to accurately calculate only specific activities where an established relationship exists between heart rate, VO2, and caloric burn.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Could I be burning enough calories that I would be putting my calorie intake at 1000 or less?

    What math resulted in an 1100 calorie daily net intake goal?
  • jgsimon1
    jgsimon1 Posts: 61
    I usually walk about an hour a day at around 4 mph......according to my runkeeper app, that burns around 300 calories on average. If I walk on the treadmill at around 3.5-4.0 mph on the biggest incline for 30 minutes, it tells me that I've burned around 350-400 calories. I'm not sure how that compares to the calisthenic type work out you're doing.....but, I do know that anything that gets you sweating and gets your heart rate up has to be burning off calories!!!

    As for your calorie intake......I don't know what works for you......and there's all kinds of controversy regarding starvation mode etc......
    I do know one thing for sure.....your body needs fuel like a car to function properly. Just make sure you're eating enough good quality calories.
  • Selena125t
    Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
    Could I be burning enough calories that I would be putting my calorie intake at 1000 or less?

    What math resulted in an 1100 calorie daily net intake goal?

    I have my calorie goal set at 1100 calories without exercise...so I am thinking that with exercise if I am burning more than 100 calories it would put my intake at 1000 or less...this is why I am asking if it would be wise to add a 150 calorie snack to my 1100 calories in order to keep this from happening, however, if I am not burning at least 100 calories then there would be no need for an additional 150 calorie snack on my exercise days.
  • Selena125t
    Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
    I usually walk about an hour a day at around 4 mph......according to my runkeeper app, that burns around 300 calories on average. If I walk on the treadmill at around 3.5-4.0 mph on the biggest incline for 30 minutes, it tells me that I've burned around 350-400 calories. I'm not sure how that compares to the calisthenic type work out you're doing.....but, I do know that anything that gets you sweating and gets your heart rate up has to be burning off calories!!!

    As for your calorie intake......I don't know what works for you......and there's all kinds of controversy regarding starvation mode etc......
    I do know one thing for sure.....your body needs fuel like a car to function properly. Just make sure you're eating enough good quality calories.

    Thanks for your encouragement. I have found a website that has calorie counts for different types of strength training...and they state that it is a conservative number in order to keep users from exceedingly over estimating how many calories are being burned. It seems that my routine burns a little over 200 calories according to them. Could be more, could be less...but I hope this means that my apple with almond butter post workout snack won't keep me from seeing results. The last thing i would want is to bust my *kitten* 5 days a week and not see any change because I happen to be eating 100 calories more a day than I should. You know what I mean?
  • panda4153
    panda4153 Posts: 418 Member
    If you do not want to buy a heart rate monitor, try logging it as circuit training, it will give you an estimate. The estimates on MFP tend to seem a little high so I have seen people only eat back 1/2 or 3/4 of the calories. I will give you an estimate that is at least based on your height and weight, which is going to be better then just completely guessing.
  • Selena125t
    Selena125t Posts: 41 Member
    If you do not want to buy a heart rate monitor, try logging it as circuit training, it will give you an estimate. The estimates on MFP tend to seem a little high so I have seen people only eat back 1/2 or 3/4 of the calories. I will give you an estimate that is at least based on your height and weight, which is going to be better then just completely guessing.

    THANK YOU! This is great! I didn't even realize there was such an option. Yes the calorie count does seem quite high, so I'll do as you suggested and only eat back maybe 1/4 of the calories it has listed.

    Like clouds parting to let the sun shine!

    Thanks so much!

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