Do bigger people burn more calories?

PhatAndy
PhatAndy Posts: 285
edited October 25 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi there,

My daily workout pushed me to burn 3200 calories today and all I did was 1 hour of swimming 10 mins of laps 10 mins of bike 10 mins of elliptical and yet i see others on my page who burned 500 calories with 45 mins of elliptical.. Do bigger people burn more calories? Does MFP take that into account? Im told I shouldn't pay attention to the exercise logging because it logs time not distance or intensity on the elliptical and bikes and stuff...

Replies

  • PhatAndy
    PhatAndy Posts: 285
    I was also Informed i should eat as close to what its telling me to eat every day on this website, if thats the case Ive already eaten 2000+ calories and it wants me to eat 4100 more... -_-
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Yes, it definitely takes more energy to move a bigger body than a smaller one, so you will burn more cals when you are heavier.
    That does sound like a lot of cals - it might be worth googling to cross check that number on other sites. Or invest in heart rate monitor to get a better estimate based on your heart rate plus weight.
    Generally I am a fan of eating more when you exercise, but that is a LOT of extra cals, I'd suggest cross check that number and eat some of them but perhaps not all. I think your body can cope with a larger deficit when you have more weight to lose.
  • mwilbur27
    mwilbur27 Posts: 46
    Warning: I'm not an expert but figured I'd put in my two cents.

    I think bigger people do burn more calories doing the same exercise for the same amount of time as smaller people. Mainly because they are hauling a heavier load. Kind of like a person hauling a backpack full of rocks. Takes more effort to carry it.

    What on earth is your caloric intake goal set at? MFP does give you the option to eat your workout calories if you would like to. I personally do not. So you might want to take that into account when looking at yours.
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
    The more you weigh the more calories you burn doing absolutely nothing (BMR) as well as during exercise. Have you thought about investing in a heart rate monitor? It really helps accurately record how many calories you're actually burning when you're working out.
  • bri75
    bri75 Posts: 10
    Hi,

    I would recommend getting yourself a Heart Rate Monitor to keep track of how many calories you burn while you are execising. MFP is just a guestimate, a HRM uses your own heart rate.

    If your recommended calorie intake is for example 2000 calories in a day you should stick as close to that as possible. Too little calories and your not feeding your body what it needs. Too much and you won't loose weight.

    If you then exercise and burnt say 500 calories then that should help with your weight loss. It doesn't mean that you should then also eat an extra 500 calories. On saying that, if you burnt for example 1000 extra calories due to exercise and are feeling like your body needs more energy then you obviously have some extra calories up your sleeve so go grab an extra piece of fruit or something good for you.

    Hope that is of some help to you.

    Cheers
    Bri
  • Imani79
    Imani79 Posts: 20
    Yes they do. I work out with someone that is 110 pounds heavier than I am and when we do the same exercise in the same amount of time she burns way more calories than I do.
  • PhatAndy
    PhatAndy Posts: 285
    I am about 430 pounds so my caloric intake is set somewhere around 3800.
  • PhatAndy
    PhatAndy Posts: 285
    I did not manual set anything its all automatic recomended settings, set to burn 1 pound a week (Wich apparently im doing 1 pound a day) 500 calorie deficit for weightloss.
  • Cr357
    Cr357 Posts: 238
    Hopefully we can now put the myth " skinny = fast metabolism / overweight = slow metabolism" to rest.
  • Sagetheplace
    Sagetheplace Posts: 74 Member
    Yes bigger people burn more calories then someone smaller. Also they can manage having larger deficets at first. If I was you I would set my goal to loose 2lbs a week. Then when you log your exercise calories only eat back some of. I usally try to listen to my body sometimes I eat back very few, but usally about half works best for me.

    Good Luck!
  • poundwack
    poundwack Posts: 1
    Isn't a calorie a calorie? Why would it be differently burned?
  • Caitlinhappymeal
    Caitlinhappymeal Posts: 185 Member
    Is this a reading from the machines and from the database on here for the swimming? the swimming one may be fairly accurate, but the machines could be way way out as they usually are. A heart rate monitor is the way to go for bang on accuracy x
  • madlerhome
    madlerhome Posts: 7 Member
    bigger folks definitely burn more calories. most of the exercise machines are set for someone at 150 pounds or thereabouts. i do not trust the calories burned on the exercise machines in any event and there are a bunch of sites that you can find that give you better estimates by weight, time of workout and intensity. i normally then haircut that to say 80 - 90% to make sure that i am not giving myself too much calorie credit for the exercise. after a few weeks you will get a sense of whether you are indeed burning calories at the level indicated by whether you lose weight or not, and then can modify how you record go forward. good luck!
  • freedomlady
    freedomlady Posts: 28 Member
    Bigger people do not burn a significant amount of calories, more than a small person. They may burn a little cause it takes more energy to carry around the weight but not enough to make a large difference. I don't care what size or gender a person is I really don't think anymore than 1800 calories in any day is good is you are on a diet. I am a 5'4female and I eat only 800 calories a day. I know that MFP says I shouldn't eat that low but I tried it MFP way and I could not loose weight. My doctor said it was ok to go to 800 a day. Of course a man, probably not.
  • gp79
    gp79 Posts: 1,799 Member
    Yes. By the nature of the sheer amount of weight you cary, it requires your body to burn excess energy to move it in the same manner as a much lighter person. This in part is the reason why heavier folks are able to lose at a faster rate at first when put on a calorie restricted diet. Look at the biggest loser for example. Aside from their very aggressive techniques, as they get lighter and lighter, their losses get smaller and smaller. You've got to think about it in terms of percentages
  • Macrocarpa
    Macrocarpa Posts: 121 Member
    Yep, absolutely.

    For a super simplistic example - if you walk 1 mile, your body carried 430 pounds for 1 mile.

    If a 200lb person walks one mile, their body carried 200 pounds for 1 mile.

    The heavier person has to work much harder to move their body that distance. There are a bunch of other factors that come into play, but that's the basics of it.
  • yeabby
    yeabby Posts: 643 Member
    Hi there,

    My daily workout pushed me to burn 3200 calories today and all I did was 1 hour of swimming 10 mins of laps 10 mins of bike 10 mins of elliptical and yet i see others on my page who burned 500 calories with 45 mins of elliptical.. Do bigger people burn more calories? Does MFP take that into account? Im told I shouldn't pay attention to the exercise logging because it logs time not distance or intensity on the elliptical and bikes and stuff...

    Size does influence calorie burning but, I'd be suspicious of the 3200 number for 90 minutes exercise. That's over 30 calories a minute. Do you wear a heart rate monitor?
  • sarahsmom1
    sarahsmom1 Posts: 1,501 Member
    Yes they do. Get and HRM as soon as you can And when you use the machines check and make sure you put in your weight before starting the exercise some machines allow that tread mils are usually preset for males at 150 pds so if you put in your weight it will be closer to the correct calories but I do recommend the HRM
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    Yes. My husband and I will do the exact same workout for the same amount of time. I'm feeling pretty good about my 525 cal for 50 min (or whatever). Then he enters his in. 940. No frickin' way. Sooo not fair!! :laugh:

    He does have a good 100 lbs (and 13 inches) on me.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    Bigger people do not burn a significant amount of calories, more than a small person. They may burn a little cause it takes more energy to carry around the weight but not enough to make a large difference. I don't care what size or gender a person is I really don't think anymore than 1800 calories in any day is good is you are on a diet. I am a 5'4female and I eat only 800 calories a day. I know that MFP says I shouldn't eat that low but I tried it MFP way and I could not loose weight. My doctor said it was ok to go to 800 a day. Of course a man, probably not.

    Wow, I'm amazed by that. I am 5'0" and after baby #3 was a year old I went on a pretty intense program, I thought. 1-2 hours of exercise daily and 1600 calories (total, wasn't accounting for exercise calories) and I was losing an average of 1.5-2 lbs a week. How you can survive on 800 calories is beyond me. Different metabolism maybe?
  • kotvktul
    kotvktul Posts: 4 Member
    Thank you for your comment because that's exactly what I'm going through right now.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Bigger people do not burn a significant amount of calories, more than a small person. They may burn a little cause it takes more energy to carry around the weight but not enough to make a large difference. I don't care what size or gender a person is I really don't think anymore than 1800 calories in any day is good is you are on a diet. I am a 5'4female and I eat only 800 calories a day. I know that MFP says I shouldn't eat that low but I tried it MFP way and I could not loose weight. My doctor said it was ok to go to 800 a day. Of course a man, probably not.

    Wow, I'm amazed by that. I am 5'0" and after baby #3 was a year old I went on a pretty intense program, I thought. 1-2 hours of exercise daily and 1600 calories (total, wasn't accounting for exercise calories) and I was losing an average of 1.5-2 lbs a week. How you can survive on 800 calories is beyond me. Different metabolism maybe?

    Either she is/was eating more than she thinks or overestimating calorie burns using MFP, which is very likely, or she has an undiagnosed medical condition. Either way, her doctor is clearly clueless about nutrition or he/she would have known that immediately and tried to get to the root of the problem, not OK an 800 cal diet.

    She also has no idea what she is talking about re: the OP's question. Yes, heavier people do burn more calories for the same activity. Basic physics. They're doing more work than lighter people. It even works that way for swimming, where you might think the extra buoyancy from increased fat is enough of an advantage to counter.
  • congruns
    congruns Posts: 127 Member
    Based on the BMR formula, more weight means more calories burned, also age is a factor in the formula. I am sure this has to with how hard the heart has to work to get that body around. Younger people burn more than older folks.

    8 months ago, for a 1 mile run at about 165 ave heart rate, I averaging 13-14 calories per minute
    now about 40 lbs lighter, a 1 mile run around the same heart rate gets me about 8-9 cal/minute.
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