Did I REALLY burn that many?

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frogtoestoo
frogtoestoo Posts: 66
in Fitness and Exercise
I went outside at 9:30 a.m. and mowed, edged and weed-ate the lawn and came in at 12:30. I had 3 20 oz G2's and tons of water but only took breaks long enough to swig more liquid. I I entered 150 minutes of lawn mowing, general, to account for quickie breaks and make sure I didn't overestimate. Did I really burn 1032 calories? I know the G2's cost me 210 of that, but can I REALLY have and extra 822 calories today if I want to? My daily total without exercise is 1200, and my normal daily workout is about 350, but I almost never go over 1300 or 1400 even with my exercise. I probably will stay within my 1300-1400 daily total and still do my workout later, but did I really burn that many?????

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Replies

  • dimplzz
    dimplzz Posts: 456 Member
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    When I mow the yard, I wear my heart rate monitor and it says that I burn on average 350 calories. That is for about 35-45 minutes of mowing. So I would say that COULD be accurate. hth's
  • Changeisgonnacome
    Changeisgonnacome Posts: 1,445
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    I went outside at 9:30 a.m. and mowed, edged and weed-ate the lawn and came in at 12:30. I had 3 20 oz G2's and tons of water but only took breaks long enough to swig more liquid. I I entered 150 minutes of lawn mowing, general, to account for quickie breaks and make sure I didn't overestimate. Did I really burn 1032 calories? I know the G2's cost me 210 of that, but can I REALLY have and extra 822 calories today if I want to? My daily total without exercise is 1200, and my normal daily workout is about 350, but I almost never go over 1300 or 1400 even with my exercise. I probably will stay within my 1300-1400 daily total and still do my workout later, but did I really burn that many?????

    249436.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

    The only way to know for sure is to get a heart rate monitor and even that is a bit subjective. I bought one and found that sometimes the amounts quoted are more and sometimes less.
  • omid990
    omid990 Posts: 785 Member
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    subtracted 15-20% from what the site gives you is a more accurate number.
    the only way to get a truly accurate number is to buy a hrm

    if you can't eat all the calories, at least try to eat half.
  • Weste
    Weste Posts: 17 Member
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    I am with you. I believe the calories are overstated for some of the activities. I golf quite a bit and the calories burned for walking 4 hours pulling my clubs is about 1700 calories but are 1600 calories if I rode the course on a powercart. I just can't believe there is only that much difference. I may be able to believe the walking because it is approximately 5 miles of walking over 18 holes but I have a hard time believing the calries calculated for riding a powercart.
  • frogtoestoo
    frogtoestoo Posts: 66
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    Thanks everyone, any suggestions for what HRM to buy?
  • acrylicrocks
    acrylicrocks Posts: 33
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    How does a heart rate monitor even work? I don't want to buy it if I don't really understand how the heartbeat determines how much calories you are burning.

    :sad:
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    Although you were out there that long, do you have a sense of how many of those minutes your heart rate was elevated? For tasks like this, I always put in 50% of the time because I know that I'm not working at maximum effort for that many hours.

    Actually, at this point, I don't use MFP numbers at all, but use my HR or an average of 300 calories an hour -- which I've worked out is my average burn rate based on wearing my HR for all workouts for a week.
  • RecliningFigure
    RecliningFigure Posts: 214 Member
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    Thanks everyone, any suggestions for what HRM to buy?

    I asked this same question about a week ago. I now have a Polar F6. But here is the link to the thread when many gave their input on HRM.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/62213-hrm-advice-what-do-you-like-and-why
  • marshall153
    marshall153 Posts: 150 Member
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    your heart rate determines how hard you are working and taking in consideration some of the variables to your metabolism (height, weight, age) its pretty accurate. I wear a Polar F4 and I love it. The amounts I burn using it are lower than MFP despite being 18 because I am short and not veryheavy. I like many others on MFP reccomend you buy one for yourself.

    Hope I helped :drinker: GOOD LUCK!!
  • RecliningFigure
    RecliningFigure Posts: 214 Member
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    How does a heart rate monitor even work? I don't want to buy it if I don't really understand how the heartbeat determines how much calories you are burning.

    :sad:

    Azdak had a good answer. I'll give you the link where he addess this issue of how they determine calories burned.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/63043-running-calories-are-way-off
  • frogtoestoo
    frogtoestoo Posts: 66
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    Thanks everyone, all info appreaciated.
  • omid990
    omid990 Posts: 785 Member
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    polar is the go-to brand. i have an f6 and don't workout without it
  • twilight1542
    twilight1542 Posts: 403
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    polar is the go-to brand. i have an f6 and don't workout without it
    DITTO! I also figured out that with an F6 & other Polars, if you have internet access & a sound recorder on your computer, you can upload the workout diary to Polar's website & view a calendar of your workout data! Soo cool! Wish I'd figure out how to do it sonner :)
  • maurierose
    maurierose Posts: 574 Member
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    polar is the go-to brand. i have an f6 and don't workout without it
    DITTO! I also figured out that with an F6 & other Polars, if you have internet access & a sound recorder on your computer, you can upload the workout diary to Polar's website & view a calendar of your workout data! Soo cool! Wish I'd figure out how to do it sonner :)

    I just did my first upload today - was very skeptical on whether it would actually work... got the F11 hoping desperately that it would, and it did! And this is on *my* primary computer which happens to be a sturdy but aging laptop. VERY very cool!!!
  • justmegan
    justmegan Posts: 22
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    I wonder about standing. (silly, I know) But it says you burn about 1000-1500 calories by standing for 8 hours... How could that be? No heart rate elevation... I mean, if that were the case, on the days I work 16-hr shifts, I could eat an entire pizza-- deep-fried in lard, covered in cheese and deep fried again! With butter on it... Thoughts? (about standing, not the double-friend butter pizza)
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
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    re: Standing

    Sounds like it's including your BMR.
  • frogtoestoo
    frogtoestoo Posts: 66
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    :sad: Enough with the pizza - I've seen it on a couple different posts this morning!::sad: Pizza is one of my WORST weaknesses!!!!!

    I took everyone's advice and got a HRM. Good and bad news. My 30 minute Pilates routine was right on as far as calories burned :happy: , however, my cardio was a lot less. :sad: .Sure glad I haven't been eating all those EARNED calories.:laugh:

    Since this is a total lifestyle change, it's great to know a little more accurately where I stand. I'm still losing, and that's great. MAINTENANCE is what scares me. I don't ever want to be that overweight (Okay, OBESE) person again!:noway:


    249436.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Calculator
  • twilight1542
    twilight1542 Posts: 403
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    :sad: Enough with the pizza - I've seen it on a couple different posts this morning!::sad: Pizza is one of my WORST weaknesses!!!!!

    I took everyone's advice and got a HRM. Good and bad news. My 30 minute Pilates routine was right on as far as calories burned :happy: , however, my cardio was a lot less. :sad: .Sure glad I haven't been eating all those EARNED calories.:laugh:

    Since this is a total lifestyle change, it's great to know a little more accurately where I stand. I'm still losing, and that's great. MAINTENANCE is what scares me. I don't ever want to be that overweight (Okay, OBESE) person again!:noway:


    249436.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Calculator

    The most important thing to remember is that your HR will vary from day to day even for the same length/type of exercise. For example, 1 hr of stairclimber for me has ranged from 550-750 cals. So your calories burned for cardio might not consistently be as off for you as it was today :)
  • justmegan
    justmegan Posts: 22
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    re: Standing

    Sounds like it's including your BMR.


    Good point, never thought of that.
  • kjllose
    kjllose Posts: 948 Member
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    Well I really enjoy my Polar F whatever. When I get on the treadmill it will say I have burned around 350 calories but my HRM says I've burned around 600. Maybe that is why I'm not losing weight so rapidly this time lol. But I find when the leads get too wet sometimes the readings go to double 00's. Does that happen for anyone else? But I am glad I made the investment because it gives me incentive to get out and exercise. I haven't tried it at mowing lawn yet, but will try the next time. I have worn it doing house work and it registers higher than what is in the data base. But everyone works out at different intensity levels so it will be different for everyone. I haven't uploaded to the web yet. Just another thing to do that I don't care about yet. Maybe I will someday.

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