Calories burned for strength training?

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deedles28
deedles28 Posts: 16 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Why doesn't MFP give you the amount of calories burned for strength training? I used to log on Lose It and it would always give you the amount of calories burned for weight lifting.

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Search for it under cardio.

    You won't get many cals though
  • davis978
    davis978 Posts: 103 Member
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    Depends of your definition of many. Most research suggests that strength training doesn't actually burn that many calories, although there might be an increase in calories burned after training.

    For my stats, MFP gives me about 200 calories for an hour of strength training. I change it to 150. Many people log even fewer for strength training, or none at all.
  • MookeisGod
    MookeisGod Posts: 1 Member
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    I found a good calculator online,, but can't enter the amount when I edit the exercise. It says N/A. Is this a premium only feature? I laughed so hard at the person that said "strength training doesn't burn many calories"
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    MookeisGod wrote: »
    I found a good calculator online,, but can't enter the amount when I edit the exercise. It says N/A. Is this a premium only feature? I laughed so hard at the person that said "strength training doesn't burn many calories"

    If you think strength training burns a lot of calories and you're eating them back, at least you'll know where you're going wrong if you hit a plateau or start gaining weight.

    Strength training doesn't burn many calories. Not compared to cardio.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    MookeisGod wrote: »
    I found a good calculator online,, but can't enter the amount when I edit the exercise. It says N/A. Is this a premium only feature? I laughed so hard at the person that said "strength training doesn't burn many calories"

    Oops!

    Well I'm afraid to say it's true - strength training, even with a little bit of EPOC afterwards, is in fact a low calorie burner.
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    MookeisGod wrote: »
    I found a good calculator online,, but can't enter the amount when I edit the exercise. It says N/A. Is this a premium only feature? I laughed so hard at the person that said "strength training doesn't burn many calories"

    Oops!

    Well I'm afraid to say it's true - strength training, even with a little bit of EPOC afterwards, is in fact a low calorie burner.

    Right. The excercise itself doesn't burn calories like cardio (you're working your musculoskeletal muscles vs cardiac muscle), but it does, over time, increase the BMR and therefore increase calorie needs. More muscle mass=higher calorie needs.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    mommarnurse wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    MookeisGod wrote: »
    I found a good calculator online,, but can't enter the amount when I edit the exercise. It says N/A. Is this a premium only feature? I laughed so hard at the person that said "strength training doesn't burn many calories"

    Oops!

    Well I'm afraid to say it's true - strength training, even with a little bit of EPOC afterwards, is in fact a low calorie burner.

    Right. The excercise itself doesn't burn calories like cardio (you're working your musculoskeletal muscles vs cardiac muscle), but it does, over time, increase the BMR and therefore increase calorie needs. More muscle mass=higher calorie needs.

    And even that effect is tiny. It takes very few calories to maintain skeletal muscle.
    Using that muscle with movement is the big calorie burner.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
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    I use 120 cals/hr (including rest bet sets but excluding rest/setup time bet lifts/exercises) which is about 1/2 what MFP would allow.

    Have been able to lose & maintain wt for the past yr using this figure, so it works for me but the # you others would probably differ.

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