Exercise duration vs calories burned?

gus589
gus589 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My goal is 258 calories burned every workout for 5 days a week and I just put 30 minutes as a placeholder for how long I want to workout. I use an elliptical and I can get 258 burned in about 20-25 minutes. But I've heard that low-moderate cardio is better for fat loss. So can I just exercise for whatever duration as long as I hit my target?

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    edited July 2016
    Any reason it has to be 258 cals burnt?
  • gus589
    gus589 Posts: 4 Member
    It's my goal.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    jro1311 wrote: »
    It's my goal.

    Yes, but why?
  • nuttyfamily
    nuttyfamily Posts: 3,394 Member
    Curious about that number as well.
  • gus589
    gus589 Posts: 4 Member
    edited July 2016
    I'm trying to lose 2 lbs a week and that's what MFP gives me :P
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Exercise for fitness, not calorie burns. So, so many people would be better off taking that advice.
    Whether you burn your arbitrary calories in 20, 25, or 40 minutes, it's going to be irrelevant to impacting your weight loss goals.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    jro1311 wrote: »
    I'm trying to lose 2 lbs a week and that's what it's giving me :P

    The exercise goals don't actually have any impact on your calorie goal based on how much you want to lose.

    It's find to have something good to aim for, but you also might want to mix it up a bit instead of doing the same thing 5 times a week
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited July 2016
    For fat loss you need to take in fewer calories than you expend. So eat less and/or add workouts your choice.

    My exercise goal is NEVER calorie burn. A couple reasons why. First calorie burn is an estimate. For steady state cardio (and a heart rate monitor) you can get a pretty reliable estimate. That's not possible with strength training, hiit, circuit training, and a ton of other things. Besides strength training doesn't burn near as many calories as cardio.

    If I want to lose fat (then I need to work to keep existing lean muscle mass).....that means I do strength training. That's the thing that burns fewer calories than cardio. This is why exercise should be a health goal, not a calorie burn one.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
    It's great to hear you have an exercise goal! I personally do something similar, but mine is timed and I simply try to beat my previous calorie burn. So for example: if I'm on the elliptical and I go for 30 minutes and burn 258 (since that's a realistic goal), then tomorrow I'm going to beat that. :) Just remember that the calorie burns on A LOT (EVERY?) machine can be drastically off...
  • gus589
    gus589 Posts: 4 Member
    Thanks for all the great responses. I'll make sure to follow your guy's tips.

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