Do you subtract when logging exercise calories?

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torizia
torizia Posts: 140 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all,
I'm sure this has been asked before but can't find the thread and am not sure what the answer was!
When logging your exercise calories, do you put the exact amount as stated on the HRM, or do you subtract the amount that you would have burnt in that time had you not been exercising (i.e. your BMR)? For example, I just did 50 minutes of body combat, which shows as 388 calories on my polar ft4. I'm not sure whether I should log that as 388, or bring it down to around 350 as I would have burnt about 40 calories if I hadn't exercised (and this has already been built into the figures on MFP).
Thoughts?
Thanks :)
Toria

Replies

  • maura1110
    maura1110 Posts: 171 Member
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    I usually subtract the amount I would have burned not working out
  • mcrowe1016
    mcrowe1016 Posts: 647 Member
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    I subtract out about 70 calories per hour of exercise.
  • torizia
    torizia Posts: 140 Member
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    Thanks both. I've been doing the same so far (it only works out about 50 per hour as my bmi is low) but want to make sure I'm not going below my net!
  • lmj0707
    lmj0707 Posts: 13
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    I put the number of calories it says I burned. I too use a Polar HR monitor watch/chest strap which is always drastically under what the gym equipment says I burned, even though it's picking up the same info from my watch (HR, weight, etc). I've found that there is some error in the "activity level" you select and it seems balanced out by subtracting what my HR monitor says I burned. What I mean is, my activity level is only lightly active and I record my HR monitor calories burned, eat only 1200 net calories and it says I should only be loosing 1.5 per week but loose at least 2/week. So I changed my activity level to active, where it estimates I'll lose 1.7/week but am still losing approx 2/week. I think you just have to find your balance. Remember, even the BMR is an estimate. If you log the calories it says you burn but don't drop the estimated weight you should for your calories, I reccomend decreasing your activity level not working out all the math and subtracting out the BMR from the time you spent exercising.

    Also, make sure you're updating your profile on your watch frequently as your weight drops and it's calculating the calories burned based on HR and what it thinks your current weight is.

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