gadgets
TheresaLisaJulieJean
Posts: 44 Member
Least expensive most basic
heart-rate/calorie tracker
Just needed to count calories while strength training as MFP doesn't track and I want to make sure I am burning enough calories to hit my goal.
TYIA for your response
heart-rate/calorie tracker
Just needed to count calories while strength training as MFP doesn't track and I want to make sure I am burning enough calories to hit my goal.
TYIA for your response
0
Replies
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Wrong gadget. HRM won't help track calories.
Enter your weight lifting under cardio. MFP will take a guess. You will have to find how accurate it is by trial and error. After a few weeks you should be able to get a pretty close estimate.0 -
Wrong gadget. HRM won't help track calories.
Enter your weight lifting under cardio. MFP will take a guess. You will have to find how accurate it is by trial and error. After a few weeks you should be able to get a pretty close estimate.
How will I know how accurate it is without a gadget to track it?
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The gadget can't track it. That's the problem. Your heart rate has very little to do with calories burned. Even in cases where they are somewhat accurate (running, cycling, etc), they are still just guestimates. You still have to learn about your own body and the only way to do it is trial and error.
I personally don't even track strength training on MFP. It burns so few calories it doesn't really matter overall. I always track my runs so I have an idea how much I need to eat back.0 -
The polar FT4 is great! I had it for a long time before I upgraded to a more advanced polar watch! You press start before your workout and of course when you're done and it will tell you what you burned during your workout.1
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Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Just needed to count calories while strength training
Roll 2*D10, double it, divide by the age of your first born then add the combined ages of your neighbours goldfish...
Or just lo it in MFP as strength training by time.
fwiw HR isn't related to calorie expenditure in strength training or intermittent activity.
I don't track strength training as the calorie expenditure isn't that significant for my circumstances. Call it 150 cals per thirty minutes.
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Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Wrong gadget. HRM won't help track calories.
Enter your weight lifting under cardio. MFP will take a guess. You will have to find how accurate it is by trial and error. After a few weeks you should be able to get a pretty close estimate.
How will I know how accurate it is without a gadget to track it?
Like he said, trial and error...if you're eating your calories back and not losing then you know you're overestimating, etc.
HR monitors and other gadgets are useless for things like strength training...your HR doesn't directly correlate to calories burned...if it did, I'd just have someone come in and scare me every 5 minutes or so and I wouldn't have to do all of this hard work. A HRM uses your HR to estimate what level of VO2 max you are working and thus estimate an energy expenditure...but strength training and the like is not a good indicator of VO2 max...steady state cardio is...the algorithms in a HRM also assume steady state cardiovascular activity.
Even for steady state cardio, these gadgets just provide an estimate...people think this stuff is gospel and it's not...it's all very much estimation.1 -
The strength training part of your exercise diary is just a log with no calorie estimate.Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Least expensive most basic
heart-rate/calorie tracker
Just needed to count calories while strength training as MFP doesn't track and I want to make sure I am burning enough calories to hit my goal.
TYIA for your response
Don't waste your money - just enter your strength training duration (under the CV section of your diary) as "strength training" and you will get a very rough estimate based on METS. 200 cals perhaps? It's a lot smaller burn than it feels and really not worth trying to be any more accurate than a rough estimate.
It will have every chance of being much more accurate than misusing a basic HRM which will exaggerate hugely.
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coach_joconnor wrote: »The polar FT4 is great! I had it for a long time before I upgraded to a more advanced polar watch! You press start before your workout and of course when you're done and it will tell you what you burned during your workout.
No it really won't !!0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Wrong gadget. HRM won't help track calories.
Enter your weight lifting under cardio. MFP will take a guess. You will have to find how accurate it is by trial and error. After a few weeks you should be able to get a pretty close estimate.
How will I know how accurate it is without a gadget to track it?
Like he said, trial and error...if you're eating your calories back and not losing then you know you're overestimating, etc.
HR monitors and other gadgets are useless for things like strength training...your HR doesn't directly correlate to calories burned...if it did, I'd just have someone come in and scare me every 5 minutes or so and I wouldn't have to do all of this hard work. A HRM uses your HR to estimate what level of VO2 max you are working and thus estimate an energy expenditure...but strength training and the like is not a good indicator of VO2 max...steady state cardio is...the algorithms in a HRM also assume steady state cardiovascular activity.
Even for steady state cardio, these gadgets just provide an estimate...people think this stuff is gospel and it's not...it's all very much estimation.
I get it...but it's a better estimate than what I could come up with on my own
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Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »I get it...but it's a better estimate than what I could come up with on my own
The material point several people are making is... no, it's not.
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The strength training part of your exercise diary is just a log with no calorie estimate.Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Least expensive most basic
heart-rate/calorie tracker
Just needed to count calories while strength training as MFP doesn't track and I want to make sure I am burning enough calories to hit my goal.
TYIA for your response
Don't waste your money - just enter your strength training duration (under the CV section of your diary) as "strength training" and you will get a very rough estimate based on METS. 200 cals perhaps? It's a lot smaller burn than it feels and really not worth trying to be any more accurate than a rough estimate.
It will have every chance of being much more accurate than misusing a basic HRM which will exaggerate hugely.
so right now I burn 600+ with my cardio alone...I don't see any chance of hitting that with strength training and I don't want to eat less food because I know that I cannot maintain that over time and I wouldn't get all my nutrients.
Maybe I need to go into my settings as my activity level is not the same as it was when I started out...then MFP might give me more cals0 -
Am I misinformed in thinking that if I keep up with my current cardio routine (burning 600+ cals)I will burn off the muscle that I am trying to build?0
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Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Am I misinformed in thinking that if I keep up with my current cardio routine (burning 600+ cals)I will burn off the muscle that I am trying to build?
You can continue to do the cardio, but make sure your eating enough to sustain it (moderate deficit) and make sure your getting enough protein. It would take me forever to burn that amount through cardio. I do however run 30-40 mins 3 or so times a week (only amounts to 200-300 for me).
I do have a Fitbit Blaze that I put into weightlifting exercise mode when I do weights. I usually get about 100 calories for an hour (which is like 48 calories above my BMR) and I'm pretty sure that's probably on the low side.
If your routine is consistent, maybe consider switching to TDEE method. It will take into account your exercise and give you a goal to eat at every day of the week. That way you don't have to worry about trying to figure out how many calories a particular exercise burned.
Here's one TDEE calculator(this one takes into account more information then most):
http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/1 -
Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Am I misinformed in thinking that if I keep up with my current cardio routine (burning 600+ cals)I will burn off the muscle that I am trying to build?
Yes, you are misinformed. Do strength training to maintain your muscle while you lose fat. If you don't do strength training then you risk losing both fat and lean body mass.
FWIW, you will not actually be building muscle if you are eat at a deficit (unless you are a complete beginner but the amount you build will be small). You are lifting to maintain what you already have.
Also, what are you doing to burn 600 plus calories? As a 170 male I have to run 6+ miles to get close to that. It is not easy...1 -
Sounds like it, although that does depend on how deep your calorie deficit is. Essentially if you're doing 2-3 hours of CV work per day and not adequately refueling yourself then you do run the risk of health issues. That said a bit of muscle wastage would be the least of your concerns in that situation.
What type of CV work are you doing to burn off 600 calories in a session?
As above, that's an hour of running for me, so pretty hard to achieve if you're not doing endurance work like running or cycling.0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »I get it...but it's a better estimate than what I could come up with on my own
The material point several people are making is... no, it's not.
Obviously for you it is different...several people are making the point that THEY can estimate better better than a gadget, not me. Please...don't be condescending.Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Am I misinformed in thinking that if I keep up with my current cardio routine (burning 600+ cals)I will burn off the muscle that I am trying to build?
Yes, you are misinformed. Do strength training to maintain your muscle while you lose fat. If you don't do strength training then you risk losing both fat and lean body mass.
FWIW, you will not actually be building muscle if you are eat at a deficit (unless you are a complete beginner but the amount you build will be small). You are lifting to maintain what you already have.
Also, what are you doing to burn 600 plus calories? As a 170 male I have to run 6+ miles to get close to that. It is not easy...
Thank you.
I do 50 minutes highest level intenaity on a machine that's kinda like a stair master mixed with an elliptical. It only says precore no model...but it takes into account weight, age, and heartrate.
And you're right...it's not easy.0 -
Actually it's precor amt 100i0
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shadow2soul wrote: »Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »Am I misinformed in thinking that if I keep up with my current cardio routine (burning 600+ cals)I will burn off the muscle that I am trying to build?
You can continue to do the cardio, but make sure your eating enough to sustain it (moderate deficit) and make sure your getting enough protein. It would take me forever to burn that amount through cardio. I do however run 30-40 mins 3 or so times a week (only amounts to 200-300 for me).
I do have a Fitbit Blaze that I put into weightlifting exercise mode when I do weights. I usually get about 100 calories for an hour (which is like 48 calories above my BMR) and I'm pretty sure that's probably on the low side.
If your routine is consistent, maybe consider switching to TDEE method. It will take into account your exercise and give you a goal to eat at every day of the week. That way you don't have to worry about trying to figure out how many calories a particular exercise burned.
Here's one TDEE calculator(this one takes into account more information then most):
http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
I thought I already replied here do sorry if it posts twice.
Thanks for the useful information. I am still new to all of this so I will definitely read up on this. Sounds like your gadget is something that could help me as, in all honestly, it's mainly for my piece of mind. Being able to visually see that deficit will help be stay on the right path instead of reverting back to simply cardiovascular.0 -
Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »MeanderingMammal wrote: »Theresagarrelts102 wrote: »I get it...but it's a better estimate than what I could come up with on my own
The material point several people are making is... no, it's not.
Obviously for you it is different...several people are making the point that THEY can estimate better better than a gadget, not me.
The point that's being made is that HR as a proxy for calorie expenditure applies in a very limited set of circumstances; steady state, aerobic range CV work. Strength training is not one of those circumstances.
You might as well pick a random number.
Your best bet is to use a predictable method, then adjust according to your progress. Personally I don't bother, as above.I do 50 minutes highest level intenaity on a machine that's kinda like a stair master mixed with an elliptical. It only says precore no model...but it takes into account weight, age, and heartrate.
So whilst that's not in response to me, it answers the clarification question that I asked earlier.
What you're describing would give you a significant overestimation based on HR monitoring.
If you're thinking of replacing a CV session as described then you're probably talking about a 200 cal difference to allow for. Your CV is more likely to be around 400 cals.
If you're adding resistance sessions then log it as a CV session.0 -
Here is a study I found. I don't try and track calories burned from my weight training. It's to much of a guessing game, and I'm always changing my routines.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/428523-calories-burned-in-a-30-minute-strength-exercise-session/1
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