Calorie burn?

Awake_Alive
Awake_Alive Posts: 261 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am questioning my calorie burn. I have a HRM, and I work my *kitten* off in the gym....50 minutes to an hour in the morning of HIIT on the bike for 20-30 min and the elliptical for 30 min, 6X a week, definitely pouring sweat at the end of my session. I also do strength training 3X a week for 50 minutes with my personal trainer.

When I have my double day (cardio and PT), I usually burn between 1200-1450 calories according to my HRM. I see a lot of my MFP friends doing some similar things, and burning half of what I do. When I told my trainer that after a short session of HIIT for 30 minutes, I burned 500 calories, he looked surprised and said that was REALLY good.

I am a big girl...284 pounds right now, but does that really make THAT much of a difference? I know I am working hard, but does this sound possible?

Replies

  • nettasaura
    nettasaura Posts: 173 Member
    Yes, it does. The bigger you are, the more you burn...same for me right now too. The burns will decrease as you become more fit. Enjoy the high burns while you have them!
  • JacksMom12
    JacksMom12 Posts: 1,044 Member
    At 284 pounds at a super high intensity, that does not seem too far off to me. Certainly seems possible.
  • shaycat
    shaycat Posts: 980
    I am half your size and I can burn almost 250 giving it my all doing a HIIT workout, so 500 could very well be right.
    Use it now and enjoy it now. The only down side to being really fit is you do burn less calories.
  • Awake_Alive
    Awake_Alive Posts: 261 Member
    Thanks everyone for your input. I feel much better!!!!
  • ImNotThatBob
    ImNotThatBob Posts: 371 Member
    Just be sure to keep your HRM updated with your current weight as your weight changes. Enjoy your big burns while you can because the skinnier you get... the harder you will have to work to get the same burn.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    It could be valid. But more below.

    Now, comment about your training, HIIT specifically.

    It's not HIIT if you are doing it every day.

    Why? The mere definition of HIIT means the muscles require recovery and rest the day after, it's like weight lifting.
    If they don't get it, they don't get stronger.
    Which means you aren't actually pushing yourself as hard as you think.

    You may think you are - but in comparison to what? Give yourself 2 days rest and do a HIIT session again and be amazed at how much stronger you are, how much faster you can go.

    Also, HRM's are only valid on their calorie estimates with steady-state aerobic range of heart beats, so about 90-160.
    So wearing at rest is useless as that's too low and inaccurate.
    And estimates when doing anaerobic or wrong too. Because the HRM thinks you obtained that high HR in an aerobic state, but it was anaerobic if attempting to do HIIT, or any intervals for that matter, or weight lifting.
    And that is not the case.

    So yes, it is very inflated calorie burn estimates.

    The only HRM's that will get it right is Garmin or Suunto using Firstbeat algorithm's. They can tell when the effort is anaerobic, and therefore not the high cal burn a high HR would normally indicate.

    Here is study that Polar paid for that shows the steady-state aerobic aspect. Link on this page.
    http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

    As to general accuracy of HRM's for women - can be decent, but also up to 30% off.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/459580-polar-hrm-calorie-burn-estimate-accuracy-study

    So if the purpose of your calorie burn estimates is for proper fueling of your workout to get stronger by eating the calories back, cut them in half for the anaerobic stuff.

    You might also ask your trainer about varying your workouts so you can get the most from them. All out each and every time will backfire eventually. For one thing, you are only training your body to burn glucose, carbs, not fat. There is fat burned during the limited recovery time you give it, but not as much as it could get. Plus by training only the carb burning system, you are more prone to use that system. Which is fine for now, but it's a highly stressed system, teaching the body to burn fat better would be a lot better, at least alternate.
    Because your body doesn't get a chance to recovery to get stronger. So much of your time and energy and effort is wasted really.
  • Awake_Alive
    Awake_Alive Posts: 261 Member
    Wow, THANK YOU heybales!!! I really appreciate your time and effort to help me sort this out. I had NO IDEA that doing HIIT every day was such a waste of time and effort, that's really good to know. Thank you for the links as well. That was quite a bit of really good information, that I am SURE will help others as well as myself! Thanks again!
  • MikeInAZ
    MikeInAZ Posts: 483 Member
    I'm 185 lbs. on an all out I do 900 calories in an hour. Usually more like 750, but I can get higher. I wear a Polar ft7 hrm too. So I think you're just fine
  • Awake_Alive
    Awake_Alive Posts: 261 Member
    Thank you Bob and Mike! I appreciate your input!

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