Calories Burned....

megpapier
megpapier Posts: 60 Member
edited October 4 in Health and Weight Loss
Okay this may be a little confusing. I'll do my best to explain lol. So I did an hour of P90X which, according to my HRM, I burned 430 calories. Out of curiosity I wore my HRM at a different time of day for a full hour doing nothing and it said I burned 200 calories. So my question is wouldn't you subtract what you burn normally (from sitting etc.) in one hour from what you bruned during exercise? Doesn't this mean I only burned about 230 calories from exercise? So when I'm eating back my exercise calories I would only add 230 to my coloric intake instead of 430. If I eat the full 430 calories wouldn't I be overeating? Geeze I hope this makes sense to someone lol. Tell me if I'm just being crazy and over analytical lol.

Replies

  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Good question! I don't have an answer. I'm just replying because I'm interested to see what the answers will be.
  • ladybug1620
    ladybug1620 Posts: 1,136 Member
    No, because the calories you burn during your daily activity are already accounted for when you choose your activity level (which would be "sitting" for you and I assume you have your activity level set to sedentary). I think some people do subtract their BMR amounts for that specific time frame, but that seems like a lot of work for a few calories for me.
  • cal1973
    cal1973 Posts: 306 Member
    bump
  • Bankman1989
    Bankman1989 Posts: 1,116 Member
    What???? lol..stop please!

    You burn calories just sitting around. You burn calories sleeping. You burn calories typing. You burn more calories for specific exercises. I am assuming you burned 430 doing P90X AND you weren't sitting around at the same time. Right? You don't have to overthink it. If you wanna gain weight just eat! you mentioned you had a lot you wanted to put on. I wouldn't worry about over earting.
  • wareagle8706
    wareagle8706 Posts: 1,090 Member
    I think maybe a little on the over analytical side.... haha!!

    You burned a full 430 calories doing exercise because that's what you were doing at that time. If you burned 200 calories sitting on your couch, then that's what you were doing when you burned those. Make sense? You're not doubling up. I think you're good. This mentality works for me anyway.
  • jweidner33
    jweidner33 Posts: 83 Member
    I was just recently asking a friend at work(who is also on MFP) this same question. We came to the conclusion that we were over thinking it lol. Either way this system seems to work for me.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I think maybe a little on the over analytical side.... haha!!

    You burned a full 430 calories doing exercise because that's what you were doing at that time. If you burned 200 calories sitting on your couch, then that's what you were doing when you burned those. Make sense? You're not doubling up. I think you're good. This mentality works for me anyway.

    the OP makes more sense to me for the reasons you state. The 200 "base" calories are already figured in so only 230 "extra" calories were burned. So, it seems logical that you would only eat 230 extra.
  • savismommy
    savismommy Posts: 56
    No, because the calories you burn during your daily activity are already accounted for when you choose your activity level (which would be "sitting" for you and I assume you have your activity level set to sedentary). I think some people do subtract their BMR amounts for that specific time frame, but that seems like a lot of work for a few calories for me.

    ^^^^ This! ^^^^
  • Gee45
    Gee45 Posts: 171
    I wish I knew myself. Two days ago I burned 2400 calories on a 4.5 hour mountain bike ride. That left me with a 1000 deficit for the day. Yesterday I ate them back. Today I weighed myself, gained 1.5 pounds. Sooo, I"m thinking maybe I should account for what I would burn doing nothing and subtract it off of what my HRM says or just eat back one third to one half of my calories back.

    I keep setting my calorie count lower but the weight is still slow to leave. So maybe it's eating back the exercise calories that is the problem.
  • meeperoon
    meeperoon Posts: 270 Member
    Yep it does make sense if the body is burning 200 cals anyway then when she is doing the exercise for the same amount of time, the body is burning those cals (because it would be anyway) and then 230 extra for the exercise...

    It's like I'm burning 1500 doing nothing all day, well if I was exercising all day 1500 would still be from just keeping my body going...

    I see where she's coming from! Ouch I need to lie down.
  • Jo2926
    Jo2926 Posts: 489 Member
    I think maybe a little on the over analytical side.... haha!!

    You burned a full 430 calories doing exercise because that's what you were doing at that time. If you burned 200 calories sitting on your couch, then that's what you were doing when you burned those. Make sense? You're not doubling up. I think you're good. This mentality works for me anyway.

    the OP makes more sense to me for the reasons you state. The 200 "base" calories are already figured in so only 230 "extra" calories were burned. So, it seems logical that you would only eat 230 extra.

    And me too - and I've often thought about subtracting base calories from exercise. The hour is factored into my day and calories allowed for. (say 200 as above) If I don't do exercise I eat these and lose weight. If I do exercise then 200 calories of that hour already has food allocated. So the difference is my additional allowance.

    That said, its a small amount - just a couple of hundred calories at the most. And I get "bonus" calories throughout the day (i.e. I don't count a 3 or 4 min walk, or running up and down stairs etc etc). So it probably evens out over the week.

    I've heard about after burn too (I don't quite understand it) but would this mean that in the you after exercise, you burn more than the 200 for sitting on your bum?

    My head hurts again......
  • sweebum
    sweebum Posts: 1,060 Member
    HRM's are not accurate when you're not actively exercising.:smile:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    For 200 cals I wouldn't worry about it. You probably have that much just in errors of calculation over the day's food and activity.

    200 cals one way or the other isn't going to affect weight loss that much.

    Try it one way for a month, then adjust accordingly. We get in trouble with second guesses when we try to make multiple changes in a short amount of time and not give the body time to catch up to each change.
  • TONYAGOOCH
    TONYAGOOCH Posts: 470 Member
    Girl you are doing great. Our bodies burn calories not matter what we do. Eat your workout calories. Don't worry with the rest. You will drive yourself crazy. As long as you are eating healthy and doing exercising at a normal level you will be just fine. Don't exercise too much where you are losing the weight you are putting on but just enough to gain lean muscle mass. High proteins are a must for you right now. Just eat. As long as you don't deprive yourself and eat till you are satisfied (listen to your body not your head) you are going to be fine. Hang in there girl. You got this. :)~
  • jfrankovich
    jfrankovich Posts: 31 Member
    When I log my exercise I always subtract an estimate of what I would have burned anyway during that amount of time. For example, if my daily maintenance level is 2400 cals, my hourly average is 100, so if I exercise for an hour and MFP says I burned 400 cals doing that activity, I'll only log it as 300, since the other 100 is already accounted for by my baseline activity level.

    http://www.fitsugar.com/Whats-Diff-Total-Calorie-Burn-Net-Calorie-Burn-1523858
  • sarahkatara
    sarahkatara Posts: 826 Member
    Don't forget- P90X is great but does burn a lot of calories. the more calories burned the more you need to eat to break even and also the more you will need to eat to gain weight. you may want to try a program that is still going to tone you and burn some calories, like Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred (not easy!) or (and these are my favs) go to WalMart and find 10-Minute Solution videos (amazon, ebay, etc has them too). They consist of 5, 10-minute workouts and you can get one of them that is ALL abs and another that is pilates that will burn calories and help you sculpt lean muscle. You can do 10 minutes of them or put it all together for 50 minutes, depending on what you want. I just know how hard it is to balance gaining weight and still trying to A) keep yourself sane and B) feel healthy and strong without overdoing it!
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