Weight lifting calories burned...

trustymutsi
trustymutsi Posts: 174 Member
edited November 7 in Health and Weight Loss
I noticed MFP doesn't give you estimated calories burned for weight lifting. What do you think I should estimate for 1 hour of heavy lifting?

Thanks!

Replies

  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
    strength training is listed under cardio if im not mistaken, itll be around 250 cals i think for an hour
  • martinel2099
    martinel2099 Posts: 899 Member
    You can find it under cardio. I'd highly recommend cutting MFP's estimate in half though, it's not super accurate. I workout for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours and always divide it by half when I record the entry.
  • trustymutsi
    trustymutsi Posts: 174 Member
    strength training is listed under cardio if im not mistaken, itll be around 250 cals i think for an hour

    Do you think that would include rest periods, or is it considering it constant lifting?
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
    strength training is listed under cardio if im not mistaken, itll be around 250 cals i think for an hour

    Do you think that would include rest periods, or is it considering it constant lifting?
    i would think it includes rest time
  • _KitKat_
    _KitKat_ Posts: 1,066 Member
    Many here that lift just count it as 1 calorie, I personally count it as more only if I am doing more of a circuit training type workout. These tend to be more cardio...light weight, more reps, cardio during rest period and short rests. Lifting heavy burns and continues the rest of the day, it just seems easier if you are In a routine to adjust your intake for lifting instead of trying to log and figure it out.
  • trustymutsi
    trustymutsi Posts: 174 Member
    Many here that lift just count it as 1 calorie, I personally count it as more only if I am doing more of a circuit training type workout. These tend to be more cardio...light weight, more reps, cardio during rest period and short rests. Lifting heavy burns and continues the rest of the day, it just seems easier if you are In a routine to adjust your intake for lifting instead of trying to log and figure it out.

    See, I WAS going to do that, but it's driving me crazy trying to figure out which one to set it as: lightly active, active, or very active?
  • tsimblist
    tsimblist Posts: 206 Member
    I noticed MFP doesn't give you estimated calories burned for weight lifting. What do you think I should estimate for 1 hour of heavy lifting?

    Thanks!

    I use the calculator at this page to estimate my lifting calories. I select the "Conditoning Exercises Only:" option.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm
  • dym123
    dym123 Posts: 1,670 Member
    I noticed MFP doesn't give you estimated calories burned for weight lifting. What do you think I should estimate for 1 hour of heavy lifting?

    Thanks!

    I use the calculator at this page to estimate my lifting calories. I select the "Conditoning Exercises Only:" option.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm

    I love how it tells you how many calories you burn while sitting on the toilet.
  • trustymutsi
    trustymutsi Posts: 174 Member
    I noticed MFP doesn't give you estimated calories burned for weight lifting. What do you think I should estimate for 1 hour of heavy lifting?

    Thanks!

    I use the calculator at this page to estimate my lifting calories. I select the "Conditoning Exercises Only:" option.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm

    Weird. Why is it asking for the calories when that's what I'm trying to find out? :/
  • _Fenrir_
    _Fenrir_ Posts: 471
    Its person specific, its like asking how many calories does half an hour on a treadmill burn, without asking speed, incline, age, bodyweight........

    The best way to check is to do 5 or 6 sessions with a HRM and average it out for the same set of resistance exercises, obviously using the same weight.

    For me, it can vary from 400 to 500kcal/hr for weight training.

    The test was run all for upper body, using a HRM around the leg.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    HRMs are generally only accurate for steady state cardio.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    Go to the cardiovascular section and search for "strength training". Input the amount of time you lifted. You can include the rest time as long as it is not excessive.

    MFP gives me about 216 calories per hour and that has been pretty close for the last couple years. It will give you a different amount based on your stats and you may need to adjust up or down depending on your workout intensity but it should be kind of close if you are doing a normal heavy lifting program.

    There is also "circuit training" under the cardio section if you are doing that kind of training.
  • tsimblist
    tsimblist Posts: 206 Member
    Weird. Why is it asking for the calories when that's what I'm trying to find out? :/

    You enter either the calories or the minutes and it calculates the other value.
  • trustymutsi
    trustymutsi Posts: 174 Member
    Weird. Why is it asking for the calories when that's what I'm trying to find out? :/

    You enter either the calories or the minutes and it calculates the other value.

    Awesome, thanks!
  • _Fenrir_
    _Fenrir_ Posts: 471
    HRMs are generally only accurate for steady state cardio.

    Thats very true in a certain sense, if you were to use a HRM watch for example, it would be a bad idea, if you use a HRM connected to a Smartphone, running a programme that accepts resistance training, you're GTG.
  • thick650
    thick650 Posts: 1
    Are there any plans for MFP to incorporate the calorie expenditure into the strength training section? Otherwise you'd be making double entries if you want to track both metrics. Also, giving a blanket calorie burn for strength training is really inaccurate. Intensity, reps, sets, weight all matter, but also which exercise you are doing is key. A large compound lift like the olympic lifts, used with heavier weights, is going to burn a heck of a lot more calories than "intense" arm curls....
  • mcspiffy88
    mcspiffy88 Posts: 90 Member
    Well to be honest OP it is absolutely impossible to measure it.

    Gym equipment manufacturers will have you believe anything and all is measurable because people looking to gain/loose weight want to see numbers because it gives them a psychological effect of reassurement that their hard work wont be in vain.

    While it is true it is somewhat eyeballable for cardio, for lifting weights it will be nearly impossible to tell. the best you can do is calculate your daily caloric needs. calculate your deficit at which you are eating. measure the last drop of orange juice you put in your mouth. After about a months worth of measurement you can reverse calculate to some accuracy how many calories you burned with exercise from the weight you lost/gained/plateaued. But it takes a lot of useless fussing about with scales both for your daily weight and food.

    To be honest I just write myself a totally eyeballed 200 cals burned for my 45 min lifting workout. According to my results its pretty close to the truth. For cardio I usually just enter the number the treadmill gave me reduced by 15%, accounting for the false advertising part.
  • PeterSedesse
    PeterSedesse Posts: 124
    I was just going to say what Mcspiffy wrote.

    You have to realize that almost all of the numbers we enter for everything from food to exercises is just estimates of calories. You try to get as close as possible, and then hope that 50% are slightly high and 50% are slightly low so that the overall number is fairly accurate.

    With Strength training, it really is impossible to determine because you would have to log every rep with the weight used for every different exercise. In the end, if you don´t take too long of rests in between, what is listed here is close enough. Probably 200-250 calories per hour of solid working out is good enough.
  • Darren2587
    Darren2587 Posts: 3
    PeteSede wrote: »
    I was just going to say what Mcspiffy wrote.

    You have to realize that almost all of the numbers we enter for everything from food to exercises is just estimates of calories. You try to get as close as possible, and then hope that 50% are slightly high and 50% are slightly low so that the overall number is fairly accurate.

    With Strength training, it really is impossible to determine because you would have to log every rep with the weight used for every different exercise. In the end, if you don´t take too long of rests in between, what is listed here is close enough. Probably 200-250 calories per hour of solid working out is good enough.

    Good call. I think this is right!

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