Burned Calories? Are you serious?

MakeLifeBright
MakeLifeBright Posts: 176
edited September 20 in Introduce Yourself
I am new to this. Just joined yesterday. Hope I can lose weight, and mostly get healthy.
To not only be around for my daughter. I also want to set a good example for her!! To eat healthy, and exercise.

I have a question for every one. I have a stationary bike. I used the bike for one hour today.
The bike says I burned 300 calories. Yet, it seems to me.. a hr on a bike did not last that long.
I did not feel tired afterwards, and wonder. Doing light exercise on a bike, do you think I really burned 300 calories in an hour???

Also for my height and weight. I should have 1200 calories a day (intake). How many calories do I need to burn in exercise every day??

Thanks in advance for the help =):wink:

Replies

  • PureAndHealthy
    PureAndHealthy Posts: 539
    300 calories in an hour sounds reasonable to me. I'm 5'9 and 167 pounds and burn 500 calories running for HALF an hour. If you add in your exercise under the exercise tab it will automatically update your calorie goal (adding the calories burned to your daily target). So just log all your food and exercise and eat the number of calories it tells you and voila! Your weight will start dropping! :bigsmile: Welcome to MFP!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    it depends on you, everyone's calorie burn will be different, but 300 for a light cardio workout for an hour sounds reasonable.
  • MakeLifeBright
    MakeLifeBright Posts: 176
    WoW 500 Cals in half an hour. Thats awesome !!

    Thanx for your response, I will start my log today :smile:
  • dbg1
    dbg1 Posts: 208
    Congrats on joining! :flowerforyou:

    It is reasonable that you burned 300. When I do elipitcal I can burn almost 1000 in the hour. It all depends on your intensity. The machines numbers are an estimate based on formulaes built in.

    When you use this site, you can enter your goals - how much weight do you want to lose each week. Exercise cals need to be eaten. They give your body energy to keep exercising.

    PLan a slow loss - 1/2 to 1 lb a week. Build yourself up.

    You WILL succeed!
  • MakeLifeBright
    MakeLifeBright Posts: 176
    Alrighty Thanks so much!! :smile:
  • arzgirl5
    arzgirl5 Posts: 14
    300 calories sounds right. Calories burned on exercise equipment is not exact so use it more as a reference point when calculating your calories for the day. For example you say that without exercise MYP recommends that you eat 1200 calories to lose weight. When you enter your exercise for the day it will automatically adjust your calories and add the additional (in this case 300 calories). Make sure you eat those additional calories so that your body does not go into starvation mode. It sounds counter productive, but it will make it a little more difficult to lose if you are not eating enough.

    This is a great site! Good luck!
  • MOMOFTWO29
    MOMOFTWO29 Posts: 8,276 Member
    I have an Heart Rate Monitor with a chest strap that I wear when I ride my stationary bike, on my hrm I add my height, weight, birthday, female, etc. unless your bike lets you enter all that it probably isn't too accurate. I weigh 245.2, so I entered that, rode for 30 minutes today and my HRM says I burned 334 calories. :flowerforyou: This is just by what I go by and do.
  • TCASMEY
    TCASMEY Posts: 1,405 Member
    Calories burned can depend on lots of things. How hard you pushed yourself, how high or low the tension, and what kind of shape you are in. I personally do not trust the calorie count on a machine but use a Heart Rate Monitor that I have personalized for me. I then subtract about 10A% to be on the safe side. That said if you were going lightly I would say that is close as I can do 300-500 in 30 minutes but I am pushing really hard to do that . Way at the top end of my target heart rate. I also have noticed that the better shape I am in the longer it takes to burn the same amount of calories.
  • 2kaizen
    2kaizen Posts: 64
    Welcome to MFP!

    You can cross-reference the calories burned with the exercise tab on MFP and see what this site says for calories burned for 1 hour of light biking.

    The 1200 calories is what you should eat without any exercise. For days you exercise, you will actually increase your calorie intake by the number of exercise calories - so if the 300 is correct, your daily intake for today would be 1500.

    Most of the advice on the site will tell you to eat your exercise calories, or at least half of them. DO IT! If you don't you might get caught, as many of us have, in "starvation mode" where the weight refuses to come off even though you are eating light and exercising.

    Log your exercise and your food and the site will automatically adjust your daily calorie goal based on your exercise.

    You'll get the hang of it quickly ... just use the tracking and you'll see.

    Good Luck!:flowerforyou:
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