Calories burned during lifting????

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jeremywillcoxson
jeremywillcoxson Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey people! so I use the under armor app to log my workouts and then it calculates my calories burned and transfers it to this app. My question is, do apps like that factor in rest when weight lifting. I usually lift for about an hour and I lift hard but I do take rests in between sets. Sometimes the calories burned will be 500-600. That seems excessive if you ask me though..does the app calculate it as if I was constantly lifting for the entire hour?

I'm thinking about just logging half the time for now on. So if I lift for one hour I'll input 30 mins. Any thoughts?? Thanks

Replies

  • Sarah_Shapes_Up
    Sarah_Shapes_Up Posts: 76 Member
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    What's your goal? Gain/lose/maintain? Eat the calories for that with exercise already factored in (TDEE). If you're not getting the results after a couple weeks, adjust calories how you need to.
  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
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    jeremywillcoxson wrote: »
    Hey people! so I use the under armor app to log my workouts and then it calculates my calories burned and transfers it to this app. My question is, do apps like that factor in rest when weight lifting. I usually lift for about an hour and I lift hard but I do take rests in between sets. Sometimes the calories burned will be 500-600. That seems excessive if you ask me though..does the app calculate it as if I was constantly lifting for the entire hour?

    I'm thinking about just logging half the time for now on. So if I lift for one hour I'll input 30 mins. Any thoughts?? Thanks

    I would think it would calculate as if you were lifting the whole time because it never asks you to input any information about your rests.

    Logging half the time would probably be more reasonable, but these are just estimates and are not entirely accurate.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Is that an HRM? I know that those are not accurate for weightlifting.

    I think that your idea is a good one. My fitbit gives me 141 calories for an hour of lifting. Considering that you are a 24 yo male and not a 40 yo woman, I think that 250 or so to start would work. If it seems off too much you could certainly change it.
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    Don't count your calories for lifting. There really isn't an accurate way to do this. Just log your exercise and count it as 1 calorie so at least it is logged.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    If you're using a heart rate monitor, no. and this is why they are inaccurate for weight lifting or any other non-steady-state activities.

    You have an elevated heart rate even during period of inactivity.


    Measuring calories burned during strength training is incredibly difficult if not impossible. As such, I do not log any of these calories, but instead make adjustments to my estimated activity level. It's taken a lot of trial and error and a few years of logging consistently to say that i maintain around 200-ish more calories on heavy lifting days (45 minutes to an hour).
  • kandeye
    kandeye Posts: 216 Member
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    I don't think it would count the rest period, 500 sounds very excessive. I usually log half of my workout to account for rest time.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    The calorie burn for lifting isn't really that high and, you're right, the app seems to calculate calories based on the actual amount of time you spent lifting, not the entire duration of the session. I lift for about an hour several times per week and I give myself 90 calories for each session. Anything more than that seems excessive to me. You also have to remember that you're already getting credit via your activity level for the calories your body would have burned if you'd been sitting on the sofa the whole time and you don't want to "double dip".
  • sarahkw04
    sarahkw04 Posts: 87 Member
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    I wear a HRM when I lift, and usually half the results as I work with a trainer and we don't just lift in a session. We always do some sort of HIIT work.

    Example from yesterday:
    "Warmup" - 21 thrusters, 21 box jumps, run quarter mile, repeat, going down from 21 to 15 and then 9 without stopping
    5-6 sets of 6-8 concentric squats superset with crossbody crunches on the bosu ball and 30 calf raises
    Finish with 5 sets of uphill lunges carrying dumbells

    I cursed the rain something fierce for waiting until literally the moment I got in the car to leave to start up. Could have helped a girl out and rained before all that lunging and running outside.
  • xlgman
    xlgman Posts: 33 Member
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    Just do a consistent amount of lifting each week and don't bother to log the exercise calories at all. Just make it part of your regular life, like breathing and taking out the garbage. You don't count those calories each week, so why count the 3 lifting sessions you do every week?

    But if you do want to log it, I think 500 calories sounds really high. It's more likely closer to half that.

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