calorie burn question

moondoggie72512
moondoggie72512 Posts: 9
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Here's one I've been wondering about. Today I bicycled hard for 48 minutes on a stationary bicycle. The bicycle computer said I burned 804 calories, which roughly matches the total that my heart rate monitor indicates I burned (788). My question has to do with the amount I WOULD have burned anyway from just sitting in a chair for 48 minutes watching Judge Judy?

Seems like in order to be acccurate, the amount of calories a person would burn from just living for 48 minutes should be subtracted from these computer read-outs. I figure that the amount of calories a 300 pound man would burn in an hour of sitting would undoubetedly be more than that which a 120 pound woman might burn, so I doubt that most heart rate based calorie counters would take these figures into consideration. In short, my 800 or so calories burned from bicycling might really only be 600 or so, right?

Does anyone have any ideas or insights?

Thanks!
Hugh Chapman

Replies

  • ShrinkinMel
    ShrinkinMel Posts: 982 Member
    Well you can wear it all day and compare. I kinda wonder the same thing but the calories sitting around isn't going to take a whole lot off. Either way exercise still works.
  • aleuton
    aleuton Posts: 2
    I have looked up online to try to figure out how many calories I burned when bicycling. One of the sights I pulled up said several factors need to be considered. One would be weight, age, and speed/ rate of your cycling. Once I put in that info, it told me approximately how many calories were burned. I think it was more accurate than what the machine said. Makes more sense to include all of those factors when figuring out calories burnt.
  • EDBENAGLIO
    EDBENAGLIO Posts: 424
    if your hrm asks for weight that take it as what you burn. now you can wear it all day and find out what you burn. but yes it would be less if you fig that in but noone takes that off..

    i wear mine about 12 hours a day and sub the food cal and that is about what the scale will read in the am ...
  • dwilson2
    dwilson2 Posts: 8
    your daily resting metabolic rate is already accounted for in the MFP calculations. A quick way to calculate it I read in a book recently which is pretty darn close to accurate is, take your weight in pounds and multiply by 10. For example I weigh 177 lbs, so my RMR would be 1770. But to lose 1.5 pounds a week, I would need to run at a (3500 + 1750) 4250 weekly deficit, or roughly 607 cal per day deficit. Soooo, 1770-607= 1163 cal per day. MFP does recommend not to go under 1200 cal per day, but then you add in your exercise calories! Does that make sense?
  • moondoggie72512
    moondoggie72512 Posts: 9
    After a day or two of thought, this formula must be fairly close to accurate. My weight is 240. Multiply by 10 would equal 2400. My "fitness pal" allotment is a little over 1500, which would be a reduction of 900/day. 900 x 7 would be 6300 which is close to what I would need to reduce in order to meet my goal of 2 lbs a week. The difference is likely attributed to activity levels and what-have-you.

    This estimate also answers my original question of how many calories are burned from just existing. In my case, 2400 per day to maintain, divided by 24 hours in a day is a hundred calories an hour, or about 75 calories for a 48 minute workout.

    Thanks for the info. Good stats to store and use for a quick estimates.

    You have a nice looking family, btw!

    Hugh Chapman
    Horseshoe Bend
This discussion has been closed.

Categories