How do you figure out calories burned?

motolady11
motolady11 Posts: 24 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey all! So I am a 23 yr old female and am 128lbs [5'9] and i go on the treadmill for an hour at 3 mph with 12% incline, how many calories am I burning? 200?
Thanks!!

Replies

  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    google is your friend.
  • motolady11
    motolady11 Posts: 24 Member
    Tomk652015 wrote: »
    google is your friend.

    Google says between 200 and 450 :/
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    yea. its kinda hard to determine exactly. not sure if someone has any specific sites that are more reliable. I'm seeing that because 12% incline is high...probably near the 400 to 500 mark.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    Are you holding on to the treadmill?
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    i'm getting 444 at 10% incline and 559 at 15% so i'd say 500. if you need to be really tight on your burn numbers, i'd go with 450 and error on the side of caution. sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp?exercise=201
  • motolady11
    motolady11 Posts: 24 Member
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Are you holding on to the treadmill?

    Nope :) doesn't holding on mean you burn less?
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    yes
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    edited September 2016
    This calculator comes from studies done on grade vs. energy expenditure and should get you pretty close:
    http://hikingscience.blogspot.com/p/calculate-calories-burned_22.html
  • motolady11
    motolady11 Posts: 24 Member
    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    This calculator comes from studies done on grade vs. energy expenditure and should get you pretty close:
    http://hikingscience.blogspot.com/p/calculate-calories-burned_22.html

    Hmmm idk how to convert feet to percentage lol
  • T0M_K
    T0M_K Posts: 7,526 Member
    lol is that a thing?
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    motolady11 wrote: »
    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    This calculator comes from studies done on grade vs. energy expenditure and should get you pretty close:
    http://hikingscience.blogspot.com/p/calculate-calories-burned_22.html

    Hmmm idk how to convert feet to percentage lol

    Elevation gain = distance * grade * 5280 (convert miles to ft).

    If you did an hour at 3 mph, that's 3 miles * 0.12 * 5280 = 1900 ft.

    The calculator assumes a round trip, so I had to put the trip in as 6 miles to get just the 3 mile uphill portion, which gave 480 calories. Although given the actual study data it pulled from, this seems high. When I ran the numbers using the graphs from the data, I got 340, which seems more reasonable.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    edited September 2016
    Does the treadmill ask for your weight? All of the ones at the gyms I've seen in the past few years have that as an input and display a Calorie count. If so, I'd just go with that number and monitor how your weight does using that over time - adjusting as necessary.

    Edited because I somehow thought I was in a different subforum. Whoops.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Doesn't the treadmill give you an estimate?
  • myfitnesspale3
    myfitnesspale3 Posts: 276 Member
    edited September 2016
    Your calories expenditure would range 200-450 because your height, weight, level of effort and efficiency are unique to you at that time. The google calculation range is just a guess for anybody. I'd guess your calories at 200 and suggest do NOT eat them all back.

    A heart rate monitor configured for your weight and height, will be tighter.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    myfitnesspale3 wrote: »
    Your calories expenditure would range 200-450 because your height, weight, level of effort and efficiency are unique to you at that time. The google calculation range is just a guess for anybody. I'd guess your calories at 200 and suggest do NOT eat them all back.

    A heart rate monitor configured for your weight and height, will be tighter.
    For low intensity cardio like walking/hiking, an HRM will not be accurate. HRM based calorie counts are only accurate for moderate intensity cardiovascular exercises. And even then there are quite a few caveats.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    I let mfp guesstimate it. Can't afford fitbits and stuff. As a rule of thumb, eat back only half of estimated calories burnt.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    edited September 2016
    I have a fitbit with a built in heart rate monitor - I've found this to be very accurate.
    These are quite expensive - so another way is by reading what the burn on the treadmill monitor says and perhaps half it (The burns shown can be a little over-estimated) :)
  • LillysMomma09
    LillysMomma09 Posts: 272 Member
    I use the map my run app, it's part of MFP.

    It has GPS for outdoor activities so it will calculate automatically that way. It also allows you to log your own work out. I do a lot of indoor biking, so I enter the distance and the time and it calculates for me. The best part is it syncs up to MFP so it will automatically log the calories burned for you!
  • foen_i
    foen_i Posts: 27 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    I let mfp guesstimate it. Can't afford fitbits and stuff. As a rule of thumb, eat back only half of estimated calories burnt.

    This is a slippery slope. It is easy to lose too much like this. It is not so significant for low calorie burns but for long cardio exercises which can easily go up to 1500+ burned this would be fatal.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    foen_i wrote: »
    gothchiq wrote: »
    I let mfp guesstimate it. Can't afford fitbits and stuff. As a rule of thumb, eat back only half of estimated calories burnt.

    This is a slippery slope. It is easy to lose too much like this. It is not so significant for low calorie burns but for long cardio exercises which can easily go up to 1500+ burned this would be fatal.

    Agree - I really don't like the often blanket advice to halve calorie estimates without context to the type and volume of exercise. It's not that hard to get a "reasonable" estimate with a bit of effort for most exercise.

    Did a little experiment out of curiosity at the weekend to compare calorie estimates for a long and hilly bike ride:
    Strava - 2158
    Garmin - 1909
    Polar HRM (calibrated to my personal HR range and VO2 max) - 2705

    Polar is the most likely to be fairly close as it tends to match the very accurate power meter equipped trainer I use and other reliable sources.
    (I took off a percentage to allow for stop/starts by the way.)

    If I halved any of the estimates I would have a huge deficit !

    By the way the often castigated MFP database would estimate 2790.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,338 Member
    I use my fitbit, that way it synchs with MFP, and I don't have to wonder too much about calories in/calories out. It's been said that the numbers aren't exactly accurate, but I'd say they are somewhat more accurate than guessing :)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    cgreen120288 wrote: »
    I dont know why people get so caught up on calories burned per workout/exercise.

    I simply focus on a calorie deficit from food intake. Anything 'burned' through my workouts is a bonus.
    @cgreen120288
    Which is fine if you have a low burn or regular exercise routine.

    In summer my exercise calories are about 5000 / week but very variable day to day and week to week.
    Your method would clearly be awful for me. Come winter when I'm not doing 500 - 600 miles of cycling a month my burns drop off a cliff.

    That's why context to the individual is important rather than one size fits all solutions.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    I don't know. But since you posted in the maintaining section, perhaps you are in maintenance? If so, you might want to consider TDEE. It simplifies CICO hugely *IF* your activity is consistent week-to-week. If your activity is highly variable, TDEE doesn't apply.

    E.g. I do 4 mi cardio 6 days/week. Sometimes sprint intervals, sometimes running, sometimes walking. Mysteriously, online calculators give me about the same calories regardless. I don't know exactly what it is, but over time I have figured 4 miles for me is about 300cal (2 glasses of wine, generous pour). I also do 3x/week weights. The exact activity might be different one day to the next, but I am very, very consistent about getting that in a week. By tracking CI as accurately as I can, it appears my TDEE is 1750 at this level of activity.

    Gosh, I wish I were saying this more concisely.... I don't count CO. As long as I stick to my regular weekly exercise, I eat 1750 and it works out.

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