How to estimate calorie burn for weight training?

6vm2psqbwx
6vm2psqbwx Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise

Did a typical gym workout today, but I have such hard time estimating the calories burn. I don’t have a watches etc, would that be helpful? I do 6 set for each exercise and 10-15 reps with weights that challenges.

Example of a routine:
5min row machine

Cable machine kickbacks

Cable machine hip abductions

cable core rotations

Upright rows

bicep curls

tricep extensions

lateral pull downs

Hip thrusts

Any tips for calorie count?

Answers

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 2,059 Member

    MET of around 2.5 is a reasonable estimate for additional calories vs doing nothing instead. That's for session time.

    Also here when adding exercise, look under Cardiovascular → Strength Training for a reasonable estimate.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,523 Member

    That's also my problem to be honest. If I do a 45 minute session the database entry gives me 144 kcal. My Garmin watch thinks it's more like 250 net cals 😮 I usually log 100 and eat it back, assuming it's a wee bit too low. Seems to work quite ok I think.

  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,484 Member

    I never break down individual exercises, I just log 200 cal every time I go to the gym some days may be a little less some days maybe a little more but it averages out well. You just get too caught up in the minutia of each exercise and it's not really going to be accurate because so much depends on intensity, erc.

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 2,059 Member

    MFP suggests 311 for me for an hour. I log it as 250, which is an MET around 2.5 (technically 3.5, minus 1 MET if I were doing nothing instead of working out). My session may be closer to 70 mins anyway, but I just log it as 60 mins 250 cals.

    @yirara Did you tell the watch that you're lifting? I thought you had to tell such devices what you're doing, so they can adjust their algorithm accordingly.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,523 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48571333#Comment_48571333

    Oh yes, I do tell my watch that I'm lifting. Today it gave me 208 net calories which seems a but too high for small, not very heavy and not very strong me. My Garmin watch seems to be doing fairly good for running (based on my own data over many years), seems to underestimate cycling, massively overestimate walking (basically no difference between running and slowly walking 5km). And I feel that strength is a bit too high as well.

  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 2,059 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48571513#Comment_48571513

    Is that total calories or additional?

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,523 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48571544#Comment_48571544

    Net calories minus what I'd burn anyway.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,489 Member

    FWIW, if I tell Garmin I'm lifting, it gives me resting, active, and total calories for the session. "Resting" is its BMR/RMR estimate, so the "active" still double-counts calories for the MFP activity level multiplier, but it's so few I don't really care.

    It gives me 241 active calories per hour right now, as a manually-entered duration, i.e., without HR or resistance data. From looking at past sessions that weren't manually input, it gives a somewhat different per-hour result, which implies it'll consider other metrics besides time when available.

    Usually, I do closer to what you (Retro) do: If I log it for calories I use the MFP entry and the MFP estimate, but I don't adjust it. For me, MFP would give me 163 calories for an hour of "Strength training (weight lifting, weight training)", though I admit my current weight differs a little from what MFP thinks it is. Meh, close enough. 😉

    None of that matters to OP, though, except for the "log in MFP" options, since OP mentions not having a watch.

    If I were OP, I'd do what I do: Just log it using the MFP entry mentioned, in the cardiovascular section, total session length for rep/set format with normal between-set short rests, and call it plenty close enough. JMO, though.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,489 Member

    OP, if the rowing machine is a Concept 2, you can use the calories per hour for your session (in the memory/monitor) to get a weight-adjusted calorie estimate from Concept 2 here:

    https://www.concept2.com/training/calorie-calculator

    I'm pretty sure that's total calories, i.e. includes BMR/RMR and duplicates the MFP activity level calorie multiplier calories besides, when what you'd really like to log is net of those things. I also feel like the estimate is a little high, personally, but I can't justify that with concrete cites.

    For only 5 minutes of rowing, I think it's fine to just include the time as part of your strength session, but I don't know if you row longer at other times, in which case something like the link above might be a useful input. For myself, I usually log Garmin's calorie estimate for machine rowing, even though it's a Concept 2 machine. (I'm using the "when in doubt, use the lower of 2 plausible estimates" rule of thumb.)

    Comparison: Recent moderate-pace workout was 30:56.9 at 94W average, 2:34.7 average split (pace) at 19 spm average, 625 calories per hour estimate from the monitor, format 3 x (2k on, 2' off) but the "off" included easy-pace rowing and cool-down that Garmin counted but Concept 2 didn't.

    Garmin estimate, where it gives only a "total calories" estimate for this activity: 249 calories

    Concept 2 weight-adjusted estimate at 133 pounds bodyweight: 285 calories.

    I logged the 249, but that's not a huge discrepancy in practice, IMO.

    I've been logging like this for almost a decade now, and it's close enough to get predictable weight-management results for me.

    P.S. Yes, I'm a slow rower in objective terms: I'm F Lwt 65-69. Even the fast among us in that category are pretty slow in objective terms, and it was a workout not a race. Yes, there exist races. I'm faster in races than most workouts. 😆

  • Barreto82
    Barreto82 Posts: 4 Member

    i never count calories when I do strength workouts just cardio and I use the sensors on the equipment to determine calorie burn. I don't worry about calorie burn just calorie intake and that helps me a lot

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