Estimating Calories for weight lifting

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danskync
danskync Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I try to do a variety of exercises including walking and jogging, inclined treadmill (which shows calories burned), and lifting weights. Any suggestions on how to estimate calories burned in say, a 30 minute weight lifting session? Figure it's medium difficulty. I might feel some soreness afterwards, but not so I can't turn the steering wheel to drive home!

Suggestions are welcome,
Dan

Replies

  • danskync
    danskync Posts: 2 Member
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    In looking further, I found a website which asks your weight, and minutes, and has a long selection of exercises. So for general weight lifting, weight 191, 30 minutes, it says I burned 78 calories. Feels like more than that, but I'll go with it!

    Here's the website if anyone's interested:

    http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi

    Dan
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    It depends on what kind of weight lifting you did.. more traditional barbell lifting is going to burn less then a circuit type weightlifting.

    I mean if you under exercise and cardio strength training it will give you an estimate that is pretty close.. and if your worried, then don't eat all those calories back.
  • picturesing
    picturesing Posts: 228
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    I wear my HRM for cardio and keep it going for strength work....I do circuits mostly and can really keep my HR up sometimes as much as with my cardio - then I enter it together as cardio/strength w/HRM. In 60 min I will burn 350 - 400's. May not be totally accurate but it gives me a general idea. LOVE my HRM!
  • namrettik
    namrettik Posts: 127
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    I'm confused about how to even add up the time for weight lifting (heavy lifter here). Is it one minute per 5-rep set? Is it the total amount of time I'm in the weight room? 15 minutes vs. 45+ could be quite a difference.
  • TyColby
    TyColby Posts: 1
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    lol. Wow, it says that at 5'11'' I should weigh 160...I might be dead if I weighed just 160. I'm 215 and healthy. My target is 200-205. I havent weighed 160 since I was 15. I dont trust that site at all.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
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    MFP from what I've read on other sites seems to be about right. If you know your heart rate stays elevated then you are probably getting a decent work out. If you take lots of breaks, then you might want to cut the time in half. I don't get too concerned with an accurate time, it is just a estimate anyway. Because of this, I don't eat back all my exercise calories because I don't know the exact amount of burn I did.
  • mabug01
    mabug01 Posts: 1,273 Member
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    Your numbers sound about right. I used my bodybugg during my weight lifting sessions and that is about how much I was burning for the effort you describe. I'm 5'5", 170 lb and 56 years old.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
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    In looking further, I found a website which asks your weight, and minutes, and has a long selection of exercises. So for general weight lifting, weight 191, 30 minutes, it says I burned 78 calories. Feels like more than that, but I'll go with it!

    Here's the website if anyone's interested:

    http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi

    Dan

    I also use this tool to calculate calories burned on weight lifting. It actually depends on the intensity & the higher the intensity, the more calories burned. Observe how you feel after each set & if you find youself getting fatigued after 8-10 reps & your heart pumping similar to when you do HIIT or high intensity cardio, you should choose vigorous weight lifting instead of general.
  • EricMurano
    EricMurano Posts: 825 Member
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    HRMs can't estimate calories burned while weight lifting. Elevated heart rate during lifting is caused by something other than what HRMs are estimating.
  • SusieB01
    SusieB01 Posts: 89
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    Thanks so much for the site!

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