How should I log my exercise cals? -- Help Please

angieskia
angieskia Posts: 152 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I sat down for 10 minute to see what my resting Burn was. I burned 15 Cals in 10 minutes. That means I should subtract 1 Cal for Every minute that I exercise Right? I accidently let the time run and it showed 21 Cals Burned in 12 minutes. So do you think I should Subtract 1, 2, or 3 Cals for Every minute that I exercise?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,314 Member
    I think you are over thinking this.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    HRM's are not accurate for calculating calories burned during rest as the calculation embedded assumes a certain oxygen uptake that does not occur at low levels of exertion.

    That being said the best way to calculate what you should back out is to back out maintenance calories for the period of time you worked out. To get maintenance go to goals and look for calories burned from normal daily activity, top right of the page. That is your maintenance. So to get cals burned not working/minute take that number and dived by 24 hours then by 60mnutes.

    as an example if your maintenance is 2000 cals, your maintenance to back out/min would be 1.39 (2000/24/60). So if in an hour workout you burned 500 calories you should back out 83 (1.39*60) so you would enter 417 (500-83) into MFP
  • ChristineMarie89
    ChristineMarie89 Posts: 1,079 Member
    doesnt ur HRM have a setting where it only shows a burn when ur HR is up??
  • Hungry_Tuna
    Hungry_Tuna Posts: 361 Member
    I highly recommend getting a Heart Rate Monitor to get an accurate reading. You may be burning more than you think especially if you do any type of interval training, or if your heart rate raises much higher during peak points of your workout.

    I have an iPhone so I use the Digifit transmitter and the following two apps:
    Digifit - can be used for any cardio exercise (running, walking, cycling, stationary, etc)... I use this for my living room & gym workouts.
    RunKeeper - I prefer this one for my running.

    Hope this helps. As for actual burn, it varies from person to person. I guess you could google heart rate zones and enter your weight, age, sex and all that for calculations that way.

    Best of luck!
    Nikki
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I think you are over thinking this.

    not really if you don't back them out and eat all your exercise cals and workout for 2+ hours/day, it will make a difference. If you only workout for 30 min/day and eat most not all your cals, then no you would not need to do this.
  • Hungry_Tuna
    Hungry_Tuna Posts: 361 Member
    Well, nevermind... I guess you've got one.

    In that case, only record calories burned when you're actually exercising. Resting doesn't count because we burn calories throughout the day anyway!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I highly recommend getting a Heart Rate Monitor to get an accurate reading. You may be burning more than you think especially if you do any type of interval training, or if your heart rate raises much higher during peak points of your workout.

    I have an iPhone so I use the Digifit transmitter and the following two apps:
    Digifit - can be used for any cardio exercise (running, walking, cycling, stationary, etc)... I use this for my living room & gym workouts.
    RunKeeper - I prefer this one for my running.

    Hope this helps. As for actual burn, it varies from person to person. I guess you could google heart rate zones and enter your weight, age, sex and all that for calculations that way.

    Best of luck!
    Nikki

    She was using a HRM, but HRMs give you total calories burned which includes resting burn, so if you enter the total amount on the HRM you are double counting those cals, once in your daily allowance on MFP and again when you enter the exercise.
  • angieskia
    angieskia Posts: 152 Member
    Awesome Thanx everybody. Thank you too eric. I'll try to find then info
  • angieskia
    angieskia Posts: 152 Member
    k so mine said 1830 so its 1.3 per minute. Thanx so much!!
  • Brandicaloriecountess
    Brandicaloriecountess Posts: 2,126 Member
    I typically eat about 80% of my exercise calories to allow for the resting rate and any other little imperfections in the system.

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