Do the calorie readings from gym machines include BMR

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slickracer
slickracer Posts: 63
in Fitness and Exercise
I have always wondered if the machines at the gym and generic tables like this site uses to calculate exercise calories include your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) during that time? Or is it supposed to be above and beyond that?

Replies

  • nomorearmflab
    nomorearmflab Posts: 76
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    I think it just counts how many calories you have burned while on the machine. why would it count BMR?
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
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    Im confused, what does your BMR have to do with that?

    This site does use your high/weight/gender to calculate cals burned, not all machines at the gym do
  • newarkco05
    newarkco05 Posts: 240
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    I understand what is being asked... during any given day you are burning X amount of calories, your bmr. So during any given time you are burning a certain amount of calories by just living. The question is if the calories being burned by an exercise take those calories being burned by just living into consideration.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    All they're going to calculate is the number of calories you're burning during your workout. The more information the machine asks for (height, weight, age, etc) the more accurate it will be.

    BMR has nothing to do with the calories you're burning while working out.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    I understand what is being asked... during any given day you are burning X amount of calories, your bmr. So during any given time you are burning a certain amount of calories by just living. The question is if the calories being burned by an exercise take those calories being burned by just living into consideration.

    The calories you burn are just that - the calories you burned while working out. Your BMR isn't figured into the amount you burn while working out. It is simply the amount you need to live. Exercise calories are burned above and beyond your basic caloric needs.
  • Artemis_Acorn
    Artemis_Acorn Posts: 836 Member
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    I've wondered about this myself. If I workout for an hour, and I 'burn' X calories, where are the calories I would have burned just vegging on the couch deducted? Technically, what I burned while exercising should subtract that amount to show the difference. BUT, I believe your metabolism is revved up for a little while after you stop the workout, so I don't know if that cancels it out or what. I only wonder about it when I'm eating ALL of my exercise calories back.
  • horizonflight
    horizonflight Posts: 75
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    I understand what is being asked... during any given day you are burning X amount of calories, your bmr. So during any given time you are burning a certain amount of calories by just living. The question is if the calories being burned by an exercise take those calories being burned by just living into consideration.

    The calories you burn are just that - the calories you burned while working out. Your BMR isn't figured into the amount you burn while working out. It is simply the amount you need to live. Exercise calories are burned above and beyond your basic caloric needs.

    Which is exactly what she said :wink: I think she was restating the question so that some folks wouldn't get confused reading the OPs question. HOWEVER, your statement I would imagine IS correct. I don't see how the machine would take your BMR into consideration even if you put your age and weight into the machine. I think when you enter that information it just helps the machine make a more accurate caloric count.
  • Occultus
    Occultus Posts: 8
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    I understand what the OP is asking although I can not give a definitive answer.

    My speculation is that the values include RMR (Rest Metabolic Rate) as i have seen many exercise machines refer to MET ratings. With MET ratings I see sleeping expressed as 0.9 METs not -0.1 METs i.e doing less than RMR is not a negative but a reduced positive.

    As to this site, I have seen others (FoodFocus) which explicitly remove BMR for their exercise calorie calculation, comparing the same exercise here (30 mins running at 11.5 minute pace) with there I get 37 more calories which is suspiciously close to my BMR.

    Hence personally I try not to eat all my exercise calories.

    Occy
  • slickracer
    slickracer Posts: 63
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    A lot depends on how they measure the calories burned to build their tables. If they use an oxygen analyzer to determine a persons caloric burn while exercising and building tables from that then it includes all your calories burned both exercising and basic living (BMR). If they are using something similar to a watt meter measuring the mechanical energy produced then it would not include your basic living calories and would only include exercise calories (probably multiplied by some body efficiency %).

    The first method seems the most likely so if that is the case then if you say burn 2400 calories BMR for a day but 1 hr of that was exercise where the machine stated 400 calories. Then your total should be 23 hrs at 100 cal/hr + the 400 for the hour workout.

    Of course they can always adjust the tables for average BMR to give you just the above and beyond.

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