Pushing a stroller with 2 kids....

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gower1790
gower1790 Posts: 14 Member
edited August 2017 in Fitness and Exercise
I pushed my kids around our property on semi-inclined bumpy gravel roads for 30 minutes with my heart rate averaging 160 BPM (wearing HRM). If my sit'n'stand stroller weighs 15 pounds, my 4 year old weighs 35 pounds, and my 3 month old weighs 15 pounds, can I add that 65 pounds to my weight to calculate calorie burn? Google isn't really giving me any definitive answers, none that I've found anyway. Thanks in advance for answers.

ETA: I calculated 317 calories burned from various sites, and that was excluding the extra weight I was pushing. Would the calorie burn be different?

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  • GlassAngyl
    GlassAngyl Posts: 478 Member
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    Well walking a dog and walking in sand or gravel burns more that just hitting the pavement alone.. why not..
  • gower1790
    gower1790 Posts: 14 Member
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    Ok, so do calories burned change depending on if I'm pushing the stroller or not, even if my heart rate was the same?

    Since I pushed the stroller for 30 minutes, having my average heart rate being 160 beats per minute, would the calories burned be the same if I hadn't pushed it, even if I got my heart rate to be the same as when I pushed it?

    Sorry if it sounds confusing, it does to me as I type it out.
  • Nykkismommy21
    Nykkismommy21 Posts: 224 Member
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    Me too I push a double stroller with a 3 yr old and a 4 yr old. Everytime I have googled that question, the sites tells me that I definetley burn more calories for pushing them. They are heavy. I weigh about 190. So I know that for every hour ,it has to be at least 200 calories or more.but 200 cal is my safety net, In case I want to eat that back. Since my 4 year old has started school, I have to walk him to school ,and that means both of them in the stroller, then dropping him off and then just having the 3 yr old. It takes an hour and a half since leaving home, going to get my medication (methadone) each morning, then heading home. So I changed my setting to "Lightly Active" that gave me an extra 190 cals. So I am now at 1,390 calories a day. I didn't want to have to include my walking everyday, so I did the easy way. I do feel very lightly active now. Especially going back again in the afternoon, thats another, 30-40 minutes of walking. I only include my Jillian Michaels workout now. Its 25 minute circuit training. But I think the calories it says I burned (MFP) are really off and very gracious. So point is ,I think you are better off at putting your setting to Lightly active. Sorry for the ramble. I guess trying to help you I was trying to see if it all really made sense for me too. Anyway good luck!!
  • gower1790
    gower1790 Posts: 14 Member
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    Thanks for your response. I put my setting to moderately active because I do 10-15 minute bodyweight training 5-6 days a week, and push my kids 30 minutes 3 days a week. MFP gave me 1300 calories to eat, but I thought that was way too low, so I eat 1500-1600 and I'm losing a pound a week. I weigh 156 and am 5'4''. I thought MFP's calories burned seemed off compared to other sites, so I just don't include exercises in my diary, and if I end up over my calories 100 or so, I don't fret because I know I've done sufficient work for the day.

    What I did was googled how many calories I burned for walking 30 minutes with my heart rate 160 bpm, adding the 65 pounds to my weight, making it 221, and it says I would have burned 290 calories, but without adding the weight I burn 317 calories. I'm not sure how that works. Here's the link I used: http://www.calories-calculator.net/Calories_Burned_By_Heart_Rate.html

    I guess it takes more effort for less weight to reach that heart rate? Idk, because I'm dying after pushing them up and down the hilly gravel driveways, so I feel like I should be burning more than if I was just walking alone. Does anyone have any insight to this?
  • Wiggymommy
    Wiggymommy Posts: 106 Member
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    I'm no expert but how many muscles are engaged plays a significant role in calorie burn as well. So if you running and your heart rate is up you burn calories, you add weights you burn more because your body is engaging more muscles.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Pushing 65 lbs in a stroller is not the same as weighing 65 lbs more, because the stroller wheels are carrying much of the load and the wheels are assisting propulsion. I would just take it as bonus burn.

    PS I just checked the MFP database and it had an entry for pushing a stroller with a child. 85 cals per 30 min for me. Since most people eat back no more than half their exercise cals, it would be 40 C'ss. Like I said, bonus burn in case you misestimsted something else. Since you're pushing over gravel (I think it said that in OP?) you would be going slower than walking down the sidewalk. The stroller entry was about the same as walking slowly at 2 mph.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,514 Member
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    I walk alot carrying my 18 month old on my back.

    I dont add his weight to mine for extra calories, i just see the extra little bit as a bonus
  • gower1790
    gower1790 Posts: 14 Member
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    I get what you're saying, that makes sense.
    I know if I was on pavement I would be going faster, I definitely feel like I'm going faster than 2mph on the gravel, but I still have to push pretty hard to get it to roll over the bumpier parts (which is almost all of it! lol) and we'll go through the grass around our pond too. The wheels on stroller are fairly small so if the grass hasn't been cut in a week or so that can get pretty difficult too. Still, it gets me out of breath and sweating, and at least I'm getting those arm muscles working too!

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