Weight lifting does not burn calories?

bemyhre
bemyhre Posts: 4 Member
edited September 23 in Fitness and Exercise
I am new here. I noticed that it appears the fitness diary only logs calories and time spent working out for cardio workouts only and not lifting? Is there a way to account for weight lifting to the goals? As far as I know, building muscle along with cardio is a good way to shed weight.

Replies

  • janesmith1
    janesmith1 Posts: 1,511 Member
    I have heard that the program does not account for weight lifting. My advice is to get a heart rate monitor and that will get your calorie count as well as your heart rate.
  • busub
    busub Posts: 58
    You have to choose weight lifting under the cardio exercises to reflect calories burned. The other section is just for record keeping. I do the same in a tablet. What exercise, what weight and how many reps are all recorded so I can reflect back and see (not just feel) progress.
  • LaylaClapton
    LaylaClapton Posts: 29
    I've heard that you base your caloric burn from weight lifting by the length of time you lifted (i.e., 30mins.) That doesn't work for me, maybe yor post will bring some more accurate methods to light.
  • bambee2013
    bambee2013 Posts: 49 Member
    Thank you Busub, I did not know that. I just started a strength training program.
  • AMummysLife
    AMummysLife Posts: 264 Member
    Use the strength workout under the cardio range to calculate the calories for weightlifting and other similar activities.
  • Jb71483
    Jb71483 Posts: 10
    You have to choose "weights" under Cardio...I was having the same problem a few days ago and just stumbled upon the answer :) Good luck!
  • xlacijeanx
    xlacijeanx Posts: 232 Member
    put it in cardio section.
  • alliecore
    alliecore Posts: 446 Member
    As was mentioned, you have to go to cardio exercises, and find "weight lifting, strength training" and put in how long you worked out. Be aware, however, if you don't have a heart rate monitor: MFP seriously underestimates calories burned. I finally got one, and discovered that I was only being given about half of what I actually burn while lifting. No wonder I was starved all the time! :laugh:
  • busub
    busub Posts: 58
    As was mentioned, you have to go to cardio exercises, and find "weight lifting, strength training" and put in how long you worked out. Be aware, however, if you don't have a heart rate monitor: MFP seriously underestimates calories burned. I finally got one, and discovered that I was only being given about half of what I actually burn while lifting. No wonder I was starved all the time! :laugh:

    Me too... though not quite half. MFP had me at 250 or so, and my HRM showed 370.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    HRM's are not accurate for resistance training. I would recommend leaving the cals burnt to MFP standards. Increased HR does not mean increased calories burnt necessarily which is all a HRM can record.

    Best to be conservative if you are after weight loss.

    Resistance training has many other benefits other than just burning cals.
  • alliecore
    alliecore Posts: 446 Member
    HRM's are not accurate for resistance training. I would recommend leaving the cals burnt to MFP standards. Increased HR does not mean increased calories burnt necessarily which is all a HRM can record.

    Best to be conservative if you are after weight loss.

    Resistance training has many other benefits other than just burning cals.
    Thanks for the tip. I did some research and the science behind it makes perfect sense. I'm still not keen on using MFP numbers (only because they were also very far off on my cardio training as well) but I'm really glad to know that the HRM isn't acccurate in calories burned during strength training. Now I'm off to research more and figure out how to accurately figure my calories burned! :)

    Oh and yes.....the benefits of resistance training go far beyond weight loss...very very true.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Good stuff :)

    I only learnt this a few months ago after using a HRM while weight training. Came back with 650cals for an hour which is about 3 times as much as MFP says. Azdak has a few threads/blog post on this topic and knows his stuff.
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