Why are my calorie burns so low?

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  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Okay, mine looks like I'm burning about 700 in 45 minutes, doing Aikido. That's because I write down about 45, but ranging from 30-60 minutes depending on perceived intensity of the class, but the class is actually 2 hours long. I guess (and try to underestimate, a bit) the amount of time that we spent actually training hard. So I'm not burning it as fast as it says I am, but it's easier that way than manually entering calories also based on a guess. :P
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    I do high intensity kickboxing/cardio and have a good day if I can burn 350kc. Zumba usually gets me about 330 calories in an hour. That's just how it is for me and I don't skimp at ALL. I'm up front with the instructor, matching move for move.


    I plateaued for 8 months because I didn't actually know what I was burning, so I went by the machines and MFP. Uhh no, not so much.

    I look at it like this...that's how much I burn, and I'm glad I can at least do that. Some people are unable to run or dance or kick. So I'll take my 300-350 kc per class :flowerforyou:
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
    Adding: Sweat is not really an indicator of effort. Some people sweat a LOT and some don't. Genetically, speaking. I sweat a lot, my daughter doesn't sweat at all, not even a tiny bit. Even doing the same zumba class with me and being very hot and tired, not a drop of sweat on this girl!!
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    A Calorie is a measure of energy. It takes more energy to move more mass (weight). Regardless of how efficent your body is at moving mass, it still has to move it.

    I consider myself to be in pretty good shape. I weigh 281 lbs, an hour running will get me 1100 calories, give or take.

    I also agree that visible sweat is not a measure of calorie burn.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Whats wrong with burning 400?! unless you want to eat a REALLY big cake, of course!
  • kirstand
    kirstand Posts: 76
    from what i understand, the heavier you are the more calories you would burn for the same kind of exercise...
    but thats not to say some of us may mis-calculate our burns.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Ah yes, the benefits of bein out of shape! It's not all about weight, your heart rate plays a huge factor too. For instance, my heart rate during a run went down about 15bmp over the course of a week, and so I burned about 60 calories less for that workout even though my weight remained the same.

    That's a HRM issue, not a calorie issue. For someone just starting out, there is a period of adaptation to exercise in general. Your first couple of workouts, your body is kind of going "haywire" in response to the exertion and so things like heart rate can fluctuate a great deal. In fact when research studies investigate a new exercise or piece of equipment, they always have the subjects go through a "habituation" period on the equipment, otherwise the data is garbage.

    So if you were just starting out, the initial few workout numbers were meaningless because your body had not stabilized.
  • jessica7368
    jessica7368 Posts: 64 Member
    Heart rate monitors work on a VO2 max rate... I know my Polar6 has a way to set it to my own vo2 max... The higher your vo2 max the more calories you burn per minute.
    A vo2 max can be tested many ways, (you can google some, that aren't super accurate...) HOWEVER, the most accurate is having a NEWLEAF test done.
    Hope this helps...

    I actually had a NEWLEAF test done about 2 weeks ago...it calculated my vo2 max 42.3 I have a Polar FT60 HRM, do you know how to change it in that one? According to the New Leaf test my zone 1 starts 148BPM, zone 2 158, zone 3 163, and zone 4 168
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