Upper limit to calories burned per minute?

PapaChanoli
PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm wondering if anybody has good info on how many calories an average cardio workout should burn per minute.

The numbers I've been working with assume that anything more than 10 calories per minute is unrealistic, but I don't have any solid science behind that.

For instance, I did some pretty decent cardio today, using a heart rate monitor which has proven accurate, but the software which processed that data said that I burned over 600 calories in 35 minutes. I averaged a heartrate of 146, with a target heartrate (according to averages of several machines and software numbers) of 141.

Is it realistic to burn nearly 20 calories per hour?

Fortunately, I only ate back half of those, but I want to narrow my margin of error with some well founded info.

Replies

  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Calories burned depends on work load and body weight. The "upper limit" generally occurs because, on average really heavy people will be limited in how hard they can work, and really fit people tend to not be that heavy.

    An example would be:a 100kg person who is fit could probably run a 10:00 mile. That is a rate of about 17 cals/min. An elite marathoner is able to sustain an workload twice as high, but most elite marathoners weigh in the 65 kg range, so they can hit 21cals/min, but it's not as big a difference as you would expect given how much faster they are moving.

    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    It is almost certain that you are burning 20 cal/min during exercise. As a reference, I was measured in a lab 4 yrs ago at 17 cals per minute and that was at 91 kg running 8+ mph.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Calories burned depends on work load and body weight. The "upper limit" generally occurs because, on average really heavy people will be limited in how hard they can work, and really fit people tend to not be that heavy.

    An example would be:a 100kg person who is fit could probably run a 10:00 mile. That is a rate of about 17 cals/min. An elite marathoner is able to sustain an workload twice as high, but most elite marathoners weigh in the 65 kg range, so they can hit 21cals/min, but it's not as big a difference as you would expect given how much faster they are moving.

    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    It is almost certain that you are burning 20 cal/min during exercise. As a reference, I was measured in a lab 4 yrs ago at 17 cals per minute and that was at 91 kg running 8+ mph.

    Thanks. That helps. I still don't think I'll eat back more than half calories, but that sounds like clean confirmation that my assumption of 10 calories burned per minute is far too low.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Calories burned depends on work load and body weight. The "upper limit" generally occurs because, on average really heavy people will be limited in how hard they can work, and really fit people tend to not be that heavy.

    An example would be:a 100kg person who is fit could probably run a 10:00 mile. That is a rate of about 17 cals/min. An elite marathoner is able to sustain an workload twice as high, but most elite marathoners weigh in the 65 kg range, so they can hit 21cals/min, but it's not as big a difference as you would expect given how much faster they are moving.

    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    It is almost certain that you are burning 20 cal/min during exercise. As a reference, I was measured in a lab 4 yrs ago at 17 cals per minute and that was at 91 kg running 8+ mph.

    Thanks. That helps. I still don't think I'll eat back more than half calories, but that sounds like clean confirmation that my assumption of 10 calories burned per minute is far too low.

    Oh crap-- BIG typo. I meant to say it is almost certain that you are NOT burning 20 cals/min. Sorry-I was at work and didn't proof read. Actually, your 10 cals/min is a probably about right if you weigh 100 kg or more.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Calories burned depends on work load and body weight. The "upper limit" generally occurs because, on average really heavy people will be limited in how hard they can work, and really fit people tend to not be that heavy.

    An example would be:a 100kg person who is fit could probably run a 10:00 mile. That is a rate of about 17 cals/min. An elite marathoner is able to sustain an workload twice as high, but most elite marathoners weigh in the 65 kg range, so they can hit 21cals/min, but it's not as big a difference as you would expect given how much faster they are moving.

    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    It is almost certain that you are burning 20 cal/min during exercise. As a reference, I was measured in a lab 4 yrs ago at 17 cals per minute and that was at 91 kg running 8+ mph.

    Thanks. That helps. I still don't think I'll eat back more than half calories, but that sounds like clean confirmation that my assumption of 10 calories burned per minute is far too low.

    Oh crap-- BIG typo. I meant to say it is almost certain that you are NOT burning 20 cals/min. Sorry-I was at work and didn't proof read. Actually, your 10 cals/min is a probably about right if you weigh 100 kg or more.

    Thanks for the clarification. I essentially take almost everything I read here with a grain of salt, and since my weight loss efforts have been successful, my motto is, " if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So, I've made no significant changes to my mode of operation based on your info.

    It's helpful to know what you really meant though and it makes more sense to me this way.

    All the more reason to heed the advice to only eat back half of exercise calories, right?
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    20 calories a minute seems highly unrealistic unless you are fit, large, and going fast. Cross-country skiers and long-distance runners might do that, or a Tour de France rider on a mountain stage.

    The Compendium of Physical Activities, which compiles the MET levels that Azdak mentions, often seems to overestimate the demands, in my view.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    The world record for a 10k run is about 27 minutes, run by a 125 pound athlete. That works out to...

    10/1.6 * 0.65 * 125 -> ~500 calories -> 18 calories/minute

    That's the burn for a genuinely elite athlete. A highly trained amateur may be topping out around 15, a weekend warrior somewhere around 10, and it goes down from there for those closer to the start of their fitness journeys.

    BTW, being heavier doesn't make the numbers higher, because for equivalent levels of fitness, it takes longer to complete the same distance.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    I thought calories per hour for a given activity was determined by multiplying the activity's MET rating by the individual's resting metabolic rate, not by his or her body weight?
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    On average, beginning overweight exercisers are going to cluster in the 3-6intensity range. Cals/hr are determined by multiplying Intensity (in METs) times body weight (in kg). More fit people will move up into the 7-10 MET range. The group that exercises at 10+ METs is going to be much smaller and, by then they are no longer concerned with calorie counting.

    I thought calories per hour for a given activity was determined by multiplying the activity's MET rating by the individual's resting metabolic rate, not by his or her body weight?

    By convention, 1 MET = resting metabolic rate, defined as 3.5 mlO2/kg/min.

    So the "MET rating" of an activity is a multiple of resting metabolic rate. But you have to account for weight as well, since that is the other primary factor involved.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Thanks for the further insight. It basically confirms my former understanding that burning 10 calories per minute should be about the best I could expect, and in realty it is probably lower.

    This is helpful, since I can use it as a ceiling for what app software estimates my burn to be before eating back calories. I try to eat less than what I believe I burn, so perception is important, if that makes sense. Exercise calorie burn in both MyFitnessPal and the Garmin Connect software often appears to be far too generous.
  • ingehooper
    ingehooper Posts: 37 Member
    for me I aim for about 5 cals a minute average burn., So at the end of the workout I divide the burn by minutes and usually im in my range. I use a hrm and try to keep my heartrate in the 130s to 140s for most of the workout and I think for most people 10 cals a minute would be difficult (at least for me but im unfit!)

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