Alot of exercise calories question

I am starting to eat my BMR, and any additional exercise calories. But I am stumped on this issue:

tomorrow: I am hoping to take a 90 minute zumba class (which while burn around 1500 calories) and also do my Body Revolution program which burns 2-300 calories.

If I'm at 1600 calories now, and add all that, I would be at 3400 calories. I have no idea how I would eat that much in a day, especially eating healthy foods. I am striving for a mostly whole foods lifestyle, and alot of whole foods just don't add up to alot of calories.

I have been workout out since October, and preparing for my zumba instructor certification.

I weight 174 and 5' 4 1/2"

Any advice will be appreciated! i have found that eating more DOES work.

Replies

  • juliekaiser1988
    juliekaiser1988 Posts: 604 Member
    Olive oil n vinegar on your salad instead of the chemical crap they create in a laboratory and sell as "Fat Free Salad Dressing".

    And are you wearing a HRM to know you're really burning that many Zumba calories? I always hear people saying "You burn 500-800 calories per hour doing Zumba" Well guess what? I wear a FitBit and an HRM and I burn 325.
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
    Someone asked a similar question to this in another thread, and the concensus seemed to be since this is a non-regular day, you should plan for it by upping your calories a few days before and after, spreading out the extra over a couple days.
  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
    I'm curious also about the Zumba calories.

    It's seems to be safe to undereat your exercise calories by about 20% or so if you are using MFP as your source of calories burned.

    Easy ways to increase caloric intake:
    Normal fat foods, ie. eat just yogurt instead of fat free yogurt
    Peanut Butter and other nuts
    Avocado
  • mrskellyray
    mrskellyray Posts: 114
    Olive oil n vinegar on your salad instead of the chemical crap they create in a laboratory and sell as "Fat Free Salad Dressing".

    And are you wearing a HRM to know you're really burning that many Zumba calories? I always hear people saying "You burn 500-800 calories per hour doing Zumba" Well guess what? I wear a FitBit and an HRM and I burn 325.

    my zumba class is the daddy of all zumba classes. haha it is really intense. i don't personally wear a heart rate monitor, but everyone is the class who does burns 800-1200 calories in 1 hr. so i'm guessing on the low end. :)

    and i don't use "fat free dressing" I use the organic thousand island dressing.

    Thanks for the input though :)
  • shaycat
    shaycat Posts: 980
    I ditto what the above poster said. I wear my HRM and burn 350-380 calories doing zumba.
    However even if I did burn 1000 calories doing it I wouldn't force myself to eat that much. I would eat how I normally do and have some extra high protein snacks if I was still hungry.
  • trimom10
    trimom10 Posts: 388 Member
    1,500 calories burned during Zumba seems high, especially if you are in shape cardiowise. How are you measuring your calorie burn? A heart rate monitor is the best and most accurate method. How has your weight loss been going and working out?
  • shaycat
    shaycat Posts: 980
    I would love to try your zumba class! Sounds fun.
  • mrskellyray
    mrskellyray Posts: 114
    I would love to try your zumba class! Sounds fun.

    it's honestly wonderful. We do alot of really fun dances to popular songs. it seems like every other zumba class is in slow motion! haha
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    Are you measuring Zumba calories with a heart rate monitor or using a generic formula? That number seems very high - I would expect about half of that.
  • delilah47
    delilah47 Posts: 1,658
    According to a Harvard study, 1 hour of "non-stop, very fast dancing" burned between 362 and 532 calories. I would recalculate. It's better to underestimate than to overestimate, especially if you are eating all of your exercise calories back.
  • crfaulk1
    crfaulk1 Posts: 10 Member
    You probably will end up making yourself sick if you double your calorie intake - even just for one day. I'm normally around 1000 - 1200 calories per day and a few days ago, getting up to 1500 did me in! Pass the Tums, and get the TV remote ready!

    My question would be, what is your goal? Is your goal to keep weight off, continue losing, or not lose any? That probably would help determine how many calories you want to eat....
  • shaycat
    shaycat Posts: 980
    I would treat it kind of like a spike day. Once in a while you eat over your calories. Once in a while you burn a bunch.
    I personalty dont like to eat over 2000 calories a day. However I dont burn a ton while exercising either.
  • mrskellyray
    mrskellyray Posts: 114
    thanks for all the replies! I was thinking about doing the like a spike day but a burn day. :)

    and about the zumba calories- i realize this is not normal. our zumba instructor all the time tells us that at regular zumba classes we wouldn't even burn half of what we are burning here.

    it's alot of dancing and toning, and HIIT.

    I have the best zumba instructor in the world.

    but i really appreciate all the advice! :) I feel better about not trying to reach that many calories!
  • BrittanieGo
    BrittanieGo Posts: 60 Member
    I seriously doubt those calories are accurate, you might want to consider getting a HRM so you aren't over guessing your calories out. I do Zumba (intense) and use a HRM, even on an ALL Pitbull night (super intense) in 1 hour the most I have ever burned is around 800.