Logging Calories for Interval Training

thinbi
thinbi Posts: 39 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello - I am new here. What a great site! I have a question about logging calories when I do interval training v. longer sessions of moderate cardio.

According to the below article, people who performed four to six 30 second sprints over the course of 15 minutes lost twice as much bodyfat as people who performed low intensity cardio for 30-60 minutes.

According to the stationary bike I use, the calories burned during one of these intense 15-minute sessions is a lot less than the calories burned during a longer cardio. Of course, the fat loss comes more as the result of a raised metabolism than from calories burned during the actual exercise.

So, this is my question: How do I adjust my calories accordingly so I don't get "cheated" out of extra calories when I do the 15-minute sessions?

Thank you!

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/best-damn-cardio-humanly-possible-in-15-minutes

Replies

  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    I wear a HRM when I do HIIT workouts, even though the formula for them isn't good for anything but steady state cardio. I log my burn for the workout and eat back a portion of those calories just like I would for any other workout. Since there's no way to figure out the after burn calories, I don't worry about it. I will say on days that I do HIIT, I tend to be ridiculously hungry, so that may be something to make note of when you are tracking. Over time you will probably notice a trend and can figure out the optimal number of calories to add back in on days you do HIIT to give you plenty of fuel without destroying your deficit.
  • thinbi
    thinbi Posts: 39 Member
    That makes sense - especially the part about noticing a trend over time. Thanks for taking the time to reply :)

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