Is there a way to obtain an estimate of my caloric expenditure when doing weight training?

Latinrunner036
Latinrunner036 Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Are there any good apps in the market that can provide this information? Maybe one that calculates my caloric expenditure based on increases in my heart rate? Also, feel free to add me. Thanks.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    log it under cardio. Your HR is a really bad proxy for calories burned weight lifting. The algorithms used in HRMs assume a steady state aerobic event...the further away you get from that, the less accurate a HRM will be. Lifting is not a particularly large calorie burn. I get around 130 calories per 30 minutes.
  • Latinrunner036
    Latinrunner036 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks for the advise. I also do 30min of weight lifting! I wasn’t login my weight training.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    HR during lifting isn't associated with the actual calories burned. During cardio, heart rate goes up because of the transport of oxygen, which is a proxy for oxidiation, which is a proxy for calories burned.
    During lifting, the anaerobic in anaerobic training means your HR doesn't go up to deliver oxygen. Rather, HR during lifting has a lot to do with keeping pressure up on the stress muscles.

    The truth is the calorie burn for weightlifting is downright dissapointing if you're actually hoping for it. Even in advanced lifters, squatting weights like 400 pounds for 10 reps, they're burning about 1 calorie a rep, is my recollection. I believe Eric Helms said an hour work out might burn around as many extra calories as grocery shopping.
  • jan110144
    jan110144 Posts: 1,281 Member
    Below are a couple of resources I have found. I have no idea how accurate they are. I always assume somewhat less in calories expended and somewhat more in calories consumed when I am "estimating"
    https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-weight-lifting/

    https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-calculate-calories-used-by-weight-lifting
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    jan110144 wrote: »
    Below are a couple of resources I have found. I have no idea how accurate they are. I always assume somewhat less in calories expended and somewhat more in calories consumed when I am "estimating"
    https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-weight-lifting/

    https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-calculate-calories-used-by-weight-lifting

    Based on the best research I have read, the first calculator listed overestimated weight lifting by about 75%.

    The second one was better—it only overestimated by 40%-45%
  • WeighandPray
    WeighandPray Posts: 42 Member
    Here's an idea, dont add extra calories for lifting weights. Just think of it as muscle training. If you are losing more than you should be after a few weeks, try adding an extra 100 calories per workout, and then go from there. Basically, no one here knows how intense your workouts are, and how your body responds. If you use this method, you'll be able to figure it out in time with your own data.

    I track pretty closely, but I figure lifting weights covers for any places I may have taken more food than I realized.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    MASS (Monthly Application in Strength Sport) recently published a research review on this topic. Can't put the link to the full research review here, as it's password protected, but will link the study etc below:

    Predicting the energy expenditure of an acute resistance exercise bout in men and women. Lytle et al. (2019)

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30768553

    Key Points
    1. A mixed-sex cohort completed a workout consisting of seven exercises for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps with 70% of predicted 1RMs.
    2. During the workout, researchers measured gas exchange, which allowed them to estimate caloric expenditure.
    3. Lifting may burn anywhere from 75-300+ calories per workout, based primarily on work performed; volume load is our best proxy for work.
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