Understanding calories burned

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Compass04
Compass04 Posts: 24 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I need help understanding calories burned. Even when I work my butt off doing 60 minutes of boot camp, running for 1-3 miles, and some light walking throughout the day I only burn about 700 calories at most (usually closer to 500).....granted I am fairly small (5'3", 127 lbs, and a small frame). I used to think that was pretty good but lately I've been seeing a lot of people posting saying they've been burning thousands of calories each day. Are these people really working out THAT much harder than me? Or is it because they have more to lose and that some how affects how many calories burned? I'm really confused and kind of frustrated. Please help and thank you in advance!

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Heavier (fatter) people will burn more weight when exercising because they are moving more weight with every movement. It take a lot more energy to carry 300 lbs for a mile than 127.
  • littlebetty
    littlebetty Posts: 1 Member
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    I dont think you should be worried about a thing. You work out and by the sounds of it when you commented on your height and weight you must look amazing.
  • EMc4452
    EMc4452 Posts: 187 Member
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    And I would take a look at their exercise logs...they may be long distance runners or cyclists doing over 2 hours of exercise at a time. Other than that, they may also be over estimating.
  • poseyj88
    poseyj88 Posts: 140 Member
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    Yeah. Burning 500 or 700 a day is quite good. If I go for a 5k run I only burn about 350. They day I did my 7 mile trail run I burned about 800.

    Usually I burn around 400 for a given workout (that's about 45 minutes to and hour depending on what I'm doing).
  • FuffaGirl
    FuffaGirl Posts: 28 Member
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    It's true, the less you weigh the less calories you burn!! I weigh 128.4lbs and when I run it would be between 7 - 7.5mph for say 30min I would burn about 300 or so cals. If I was lighter I wouldn't burn as much!!

    Best way to accurately measure your calorie burning is with a chest strapped heart rate monitor & a watch.

    Don't despair!!! Keep it up!!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    I'm guessing you're already at a healthy bmi, so what are your goals? Big calorie burns are probably not going to be useful, and hard to achieve.
  • Compass04
    Compass04 Posts: 24 Member
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    Thank you! That does make sense that it takes more work (calories) to move a heavier object (person) and I think I will start looking at their exercise logs, provided they're open.

    And thank you littlebetty but since I have such a tiny frame and I am apple shaped (all of my fat is on my stomach) I feel like I need to work extra hard just to get that womanly shape that so many other women were blessed with! If I had bigger hips I wouldn't mind being a little bigger than I am but since I don't I still need to lose another 10 lbs. :(
  • Compass04
    Compass04 Posts: 24 Member
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    I'm guessing you're already at a healthy bmi, so what are your goals? Big calorie burns are probably not going to be useful, and hard to achieve.

    I am at a healthy bmi but I still have a good amount of excess baggage around my mid-section that I have been trying really hard to get rid off. I mentioned in another post that I have a really small frame so an extra 10 lbs is very noticeable on me. I read that as I get closer to my goal I'll have to work more on gaining muscle than burning calories. Is this true? I've been doing a mix of cardio and strength training but have been in a plateau for almost the last month.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    Quit bragging! :-)

    I'm 195 lbs +/- so it takes me 160 calories to run a mile. When I do a 10 mile run, I've got to eat another 1600 calories that day. Not only will you be more likely to run faster than me ('cause you're shorter than me) but you don't have to eat 3 plates of food to try to get the calories back!

    And, about other folks and their calorie counts. Good for them! You're doing a great job losing weight and getting healthy and so are they.
  • dianediaz
    dianediaz Posts: 53 Member
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    It's definitely a size thing. I'm small and don't burn nearly the calories of my larger workout friends whenever we train together. It just comes with the territory. But on the flip side you also don't need as many calories just to live so it all balances out in the end. You have to really put out of your mind what others are doing and just focus on what you're doing and knowing that it works for you and it's right.

    I get it though. :-)

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