NROLFW did I do it wrong?

vicmonster
vicmonster Posts: 297 Member
edited December 20 in Fitness and Exercise
Today was my first day doing NROLFW. According to my HRM I only burned 97 calories; could that be right? I am 5'1" and close to goal weight so I know I don't burn as much as most people. I thought I worked out hard on each of the exercises though it didn't seem like a long enough workout (30 minutes or less) so I did some intervals on the treadmill.
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Replies

  • jallen1955
    jallen1955 Posts: 121
    Yes, that could be right. Weights don't burn many calories during the actual workout, it is the gain of muscle that impacts your BMR that provides the increased fat loss.
  • Sassy_Cass
    Sassy_Cass Posts: 408 Member
    I would say your heart rate monitor may not have been working especially if you did intervals afterward. Try again tomorrow in 30 minutes you should be burning at least 200 cal... give or take
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
    Weight lifting does not burn that many calories directly, but a greater % muscle will mean that you will burn more calories doing activities (or so I have been told)
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
    hrms are better for cardio based activities. if im not mistaken, nrolfw is strength training, so unless youre lifting super heavy, your heart rate will stay low and you will only register a small calorie burn.
  • Sassy_Cass
    Sassy_Cass Posts: 408 Member
    Even though weight lifting does not burn as many calories, 3 cal a min approximately is way too low - she should have been sleeping for that LoL not to mention se said she did treadmill intervals.

    Give it another go and check the placement of your monitor
  • cannonsky
    cannonsky Posts: 850 Member
    HRMS are not accurate during lifting.. they are meant for cardio only.
  • paeli
    paeli Posts: 295 Member
    Strength training generally burns less during the activity, but your body burns more afterwards and throughout the day. So that may explain the low reading. I burned twice as much as you doing about the same workout but I am 5'10" and have more to lose - so I probably tend to burn more as I have a larger body.
  • beezbee
    beezbee Posts: 87 Member
    I don't have a HRM and use the MFP estimate. I, too, was really surprised in the beginning by how few calories I was apparently burning while workin like a dog. But as other posters have stated, it's a burn that keeps on burning ;-) congratulations on getting started! Looking forward to hearing about your progress.
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
    Even though weight lifting does not burn as many calories, 3 cal a min approximately is way too low - she should have been sleeping for that LoL not to mention se said she did treadmill intervals.

    Give it another go and check the placement of your monitor

    3 cal a min seems right to me, i get 4.4 while walking, and 0.9 while sleeping...i wish i burned 3cal/min sleeping lol!! im around 3.5 while strength training
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    HRMS are not accurate during lifting.. they are meant for cardio only.

    This.
  • mes1119
    mes1119 Posts: 1,082 Member
    Yea, they aren't accurate for weight lifting. And you can't expect to burn much during lifting anyways. I think it depends on how much you exert yourself and how good of shape you are in. If you're in great shape your heart rate will lower faster after exerting yourself.
  • SLambertAlaska
    SLambertAlaska Posts: 197 Member
    lots of good advice here. one more: be sure you're wetting the leads on your hrm so that it will pick up your hr well.
    Good luck! and good job weight training!!
  • CarolynB38
    CarolynB38 Posts: 553 Member
    After lifting you continue to burn more calories for a while which is why, in the book, they recommend you eat more on your lifting days. Use the calculations in the book to determine how much you should be eating on a workout day and how much on a non-workout day if you wish to follow the programme as it is written.

    As mentioned above, HRMs are not accurate for lifting and they don't take into account the extra calories you burn in the hours after lifting. I would suggest following the calorie intake the programme recommends, at least for the first few weeks, then you will be able to see if you need more or fewer calories to lose weight.
  • jnh17
    jnh17 Posts: 838 Member
    It's probably right. The first workouts are pretty easy. I finished stage 1 Monday and it gets much harder!
  • vicmonster
    vicmonster Posts: 297 Member
    Thanks for all the feedback everyone.
  • LastTenPoundsGodDamnYou
    LastTenPoundsGodDamnYou Posts: 101 Member
    It's probably right. The first workouts are pretty easy. I finished stage 1 Monday and it gets much harder!

    Please can I have your thighs! Lucky you!!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Today was my first day doing NROLFW. According to my HRM I only burned 97 calories; could that be right? I am 5'1" and close to goal weight so I know I don't burn as much as most people. I thought I worked out hard on each of the exercises though it didn't seem like a long enough workout (30 minutes or less) so I did some intervals on the treadmill.

    97 cal in 30 min seems very reasonable for strength training. That being said HRMs are not accurate for non-cardio activity and will overestimate your burn as the calculation they use assumes a certain oxygen uptake based on an estimated intensity. This oxygen uptake does not occur from anaerobic activity and therefore the calculation will be wrong.

    Caloric burn is not the benefit of strength training, gaining or retain lean muscle is.

    30 min/workout is plenty long as long as you push yourself. I only lit 4 days/week 30 min/session, with one cardio day and have been having great results.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    HRM don't really work for lifting.

    But yes, weight lifting for a half hour burns about the same calories as a slow half hour walk. But we don't do it to burn calories. We do it to look awesome.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    if the exercises are easy then add more weight. i've never found my NROL4W workouts to easy, some have been incredibly short (like in stage 1) but I always choose weights that made those 20-25 minute workouts pretty darn tough.
  • aj_31
    aj_31 Posts: 994 Member
    So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i go by my HRM. i know it's not accurate but since my workouts have been factored into my TDEE, I dont eat my exercise calories back so it doesnt really matter
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.

    400 is probably too high. Just log strength training on MFP or estimate 3-5 cals/min (180-300/hr).
  • aj_31
    aj_31 Posts: 994 Member
    So for those that lift and keep track on MFP how do you estimate your calories for lifting or do you not track it? I usually go by my HRM but now I see it probably isn't very accurate. For 60 min of heavy lifting it says I burn anywhere from 300-400 cals.

    400 is probably too high. Just log strength training on MFP or estimate 3-5 cals/min (180-300/hr).

    Thanks for the feedback.
  • TheFunBun
    TheFunBun Posts: 793 Member
    ....But when your HRM is inaccurate, it's inaccurate upwards because if you're heavy lifting your heartrate is elevated in spurts, and depending on your health may take longer to come down after, so it gives you a high burn even though you weren't really burning the entire time. I think it just must have gone out of range and displayed a zero for a portion of your workout.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    ....But when your HRM is inaccurate, it's inaccurate upwards because if you're heavy lifting your heartrate is elevated in spurts, and depending on your health may take longer to come down after, so it gives you a high burn even though you weren't really burning the entire time. I think it just must have gone out of range and displayed a zero for a portion of your workout.

    The rest has little to do with why it is off, but will make some difference.

    The main reason is the calculation in the HRM assumes a certain oxygen uptake based on intensity (intensity is estimate by using your HR). With strength training your elevated HR happens due to different physiological responses then is done with cardio, and the oxygen uptake is not the same as with cardio leaving that portion of the question over estimating the burn based on HR, as the HRM assumes your HR is elevated due to cardio, which requires higher intake of oxygen over a given period of time.
  • jnh17
    jnh17 Posts: 838 Member
    I thought about this question at the gym today.

    I usually log 330 calories for my new rules workouts. Walking at 4.0 for 5 minutes burns about 25 calories (for me) so 90 calories doing 20 minutes of new rules vs 100 calories for walking for 20 minutes is just not right. My heart rate gets WAY up there during the lifting (step ups/lunges especially). Plus, during the 60 second breaks I walk to the other side of the gym and back. I did stage 2 A1 today and was soaked about 8 minutes in. When I got to the pushups, i finally had to lay a towel down because my hands were slipping.
  • TheFunBun
    TheFunBun Posts: 793 Member
    Yeah, I use some calculation I found on livestrong for weightlifting calorie burns and found that most of the time it was what my HRM read divided by two, pretty much. So I just use that.

    I once used this calculator that you entered in your rest times and set amounts and heart rate, but I can't find it. I would totally use that one all the time, though.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Here is a formula that was posted by TrainingwithTonya for calculating burn during strength training. She is a very well educated proffesional trainer.

    220 pound person / 2.2 = 100 Kilogram person

    Vigorous free weight training = 6 METs

    100 x 6 x 0.0175 = 10.5 Calories per minute

    60 minute workout = 10.5 x 60 = 630 Calories burned

    Note: this is for vigorous training. If the training is not vigorous, use 3 METS.

    Also, as others have alluded to, the key benefit of strength training is not the burn while doing it but the Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This increases metabolism for a period of time following the workout and results in additional calories consumption. Here is an article that explains how that works. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/epoc.html
  • susieq101178
    susieq101178 Posts: 305 Member
    I use this formula for calculating my strength-training calories.

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Here is a formula that was posted by TrainingwithTonya for calculating burn during strength training. She is a very well educated proffesional trainer.

    220 pound person / 2.2 = 100 Kilogram person

    Vigorous free weight training = 6 METs

    100 x 6 x 0.0175 = 10.5 Calories per minute

    60 minute workout = 10.5 x 60 = 630 Calories burned

    Note: this is for vigorous training. If the training is not vigorous, use 3 METS.

    Also, as others have alluded to, the key benefit of strength training is not the burn while doing it but the Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This increases metabolism for a period of time following the workout and results in additional calories consumption. Here is an article that explains how that works. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/epoc.html

    The MET calc may be correct, but how much time are you actually lifting in that 60 min window (20??) should you not use the 20 minutes instead?
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