I'm strength training

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jaysanchez4
jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm currently dieting and on a weight loss journey, everything is going good thus far although I had a question regarding strength training.

I normally work out 4-5 times a week, majority of it is weightlifting and strength training. I'm doing this to build as much muscle as possible to help burn fat faster.

My question is, if I'm supposed to eat 1680 calories a day, how do I determine how many calories I've burned during strength training if my fitness pal doesn't calculate calories on strength training?

I'm pretty sure I burned a lot of calories in that hour I worked out this morning, and still stayed within my calorie goal. If I had logged some sort of "calories burned" from strength training, I would have had more calories to eat today.

Thanks!
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  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Log "strength training" under cardio. It will give you a probably inaccurate idea of what you're burning. But it's a start anyway if you want to log those calories.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    Log "strength training" under cardio. It will give you a probably inaccurate idea of what you're burning. But it's a start anyway if you want to log those calories.

    As per the bolded, calorie burns are greatly exaggerated on MFP especially with strength training.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    That's a great question. I actually never track the amount of calories I burn during workouts. It's pretty inaccurate. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~2200 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

    Also, 1680 calories is too low for a guy, especially if you're doing a lot of strength training. The extreme low calorie intake to lose weight faster is not worth the reduction in metabolism. That'll just make maintaining your progress much more difficult, and you are not really going to build any substantial muscle with that low of a calorie intake.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    I'm currently dieting and on a weight loss journey, everything is going good thus far although I had a question regarding strength training.

    I normally work out 4-5 times a week, majority of it is weightlifting and strength training. I'm doing this to build as much muscle as possible to help burn fat faster.

    My question is, if I'm supposed to eat 1680 calories a day, how do I determine how many calories I've burned during strength training if my fitness pal doesn't calculate calories on strength training?

    I'm pretty sure I burned a lot of calories in that hour I worked out this morning, and still stayed within my calorie goal. If I had logged some sort of "calories burned" from strength training, I would have had more calories to eat today.

    Thanks!

    Nope. Probably less than 200 calories, total. MFP shows I get ~180 for one hour of weight lifting.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    I always log my strength workouts as cardio just so I have a record, but I never eat them back unless I am trying to gain. Too many variables to reliably count those calories.
  • Justme_1
    Justme_1 Posts: 104 Member
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    I use a Heart rate Monitor. When I do a full hour of Chest, it calculates 400 - 450 calories burned. Depends on my intensity that day. And of course calories keep burning afterwards during the healing of torn muscle.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    Heart rate monitor aren't designed for strength training at all.
  • jaysanchez4
    jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
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    But I logged my age, weight and height and that's the calories it set me to. 1680
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    But I logged my age, weight and height and that's the calories it set me to. 1680
    Log it under cardio. It will give you a rough estimate
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Like others said, I would suggest NOT tracking weight training calories burned. It's minimal and variable. I would however add each workout under STRENGTH so you can keep track of your weight, reps and sets.
  • LenGray
    LenGray Posts: 842 Member
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    I'm also on about 1,680 cals/day and do strength training.

    I personally don't eat back my calories from it or I do some cardio to make it worthwhile since, like others have said, the actual burn from lifting weights is pretty low. That said, lifting is a great thing to do for body composition and general well-being.

    If you're hungry after lifting (I know I am sometimes!) then I'd just recommend throwing some extra protein into your day. For example, on non-lifting days, my snacks might be popcorn and apple slices. On lifting days, however, I eat greek yogurt, jerky, or a small peanut butter sandwich. If I'm really hungry, I eat about 100 'extra' calories, which is about half of what MFP says that I burn, but I try to make as many of those protein as possible.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    But I logged my age, weight and height and that's the calories it set me to. 1680

    That is without exercise. If you are doing an hour of strength training, you can try logging it under "circuit training" in cardio, which will give you 400-ish calories (probably more). This is in keeping with the additional amount my trainer advised me to eat on my lifting days (I am a 5'6" woman). Make sure to spend the additional calories on sources of high-quality protein, as you likely (I hope) already know that you should be getting around .8 g protein per lb bodyweight, or thereabouts, to heal and preserve muscle (or build if you are eating at maintenance or higher). As noted above, you have to be wary of inflated calories (and tweak things as needed so that you are progressing as you want to), but you also need to properly fuel your body for lifting.

    Caveat: I am apparently a rare unicorn of the MFP world because I have eaten back every exercise calorie I have ever earned (and probably a lot that I haven't earned) and have gone from a size 12-14 to a size 6-8 in a year. You need to figure out what works for you and what is long-term sustainable.
  • Justme_1
    Justme_1 Posts: 104 Member
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    FWIW

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calories.htm
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Justme_1 wrote: »
    FWIW

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

    What horrible formatting on the results. Can't read 1/2 of them and clicking on the Printable just give me an error.

    Too bad as it looks like an interesting site.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Justme_1 wrote: »
    FWIW

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

    I would ignore 90% of the information from that site.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,987 Member
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    FWIW, I calculate the calories burned while weight lifting at a very conservative 100 cals/hour or fraction thereof. This includes all of the many rest periods taken during my lifting workouts.

    Using this number, I have not overeaten (by overestimating the calories burned while lifting) and have consistently lost weight (when that was the objective) and continue to maintain weight now.

    The number may be different for you (the OP) but it's a reasonable starting point to assess what number works best for you. Good luck!
  • _Justinian_
    _Justinian_ Posts: 232 Member
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    sgt1372 wrote: »
    FWIW, I calculate the calories burned while weight lifting at a very conservative 100 cals/hour or fraction thereof. This includes all of the many rest periods taken during my lifting workouts.

    Using this number, I have not overeaten (by overestimating the calories burned while lifting) and have consistently lost weight (when that was the objective) and continue to maintain weight now.

    The number may be different for you (the OP) but it's a reasonable starting point to assess what number works best for you. Good luck!

    Were your energy levels sufficient? I am around 5'9" 238 pounds and just started adding weight training to an already daily cardio routine. I just want to be sure I am eating enough for my body to handle the increased activity.
  • jaysanchez4
    jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
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    I'm over my calories today by 339, will I gain weight now?

    I did strength training for 45 minutes today so I'm really not sure how many calories I burned. If I had an idea maybe I wouldn't be over?

    Please help! I'm worried that I'll gain weight from being over my calories by 339, I haven't gone over my calories at all since I started my diet.

    Advice?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,207 Member
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    jaysanchez4 wrote: »
    I'm over my calories today by 339, will I gain weight now?

    I did strength training for 45 minutes today so I'm really not sure how many calories I burned. If I had an idea maybe I wouldn't be over?

    Please help! I'm worried that I'll gain weight from being over my calories by 339, I haven't gone over my calories at all since I started my diet.

    Advice?

    Not unless your weight loss goal is half a pound a week. You have to be over your maintenance calories to gain fat.
  • jaysanchez4
    jaysanchez4 Posts: 199 Member
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    I'm over my calories for the day by 339 though? Sorry please explain more I'm new lol

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