How many active exercise calories do you think you burn in a week?

[Loubilou09]

Out of interest, I am trying to see how I compare to others with my weekly exercise regime.

[ohfortuna]

I recon 3000-4000

[lljkk]

I won an active workplace challenge (big workplace) which I say to explain I'm not normal. It seems I do A LOT more than most people.
Avg ~90 minutes a day of activity that is enough to log in activity trackers.
?4000-4500 kcal/week?

[ohfortuna]

It's hard to know for sure, heart rate monitoring gives a good indication when it comes to cardio but much of what I do is strength training and thats perhaps harder to measure in terms of energy used.
My garmin stats say 3-4k per week, put if I look at the discrepancy between my TDEE and my calorie intake I'd say 4-4.5k per week

[Pippioddstocking]

On average about 7 thousand a week but I have occasionally done over 5 thousand in one go for a long distance " main event "
FWIW I don't eat much more than my 2000 calories a day and never loose weight. I think my body has found its happy place . However if I'm injured and can't exercise then I do start to gain .

[whyistherumgone]

how do you work out your active calories? I can only see my total weekly calories on my fitbit but can’t see how much of that is from exercise (I exercise every day)

[Pippioddstocking]

I have a polar watch with heart rate monitor that links to an app worth my height/ weight etc. That works out my calories .

[Freshprincess]

I run 3 times a week and average about 700 each time, although if I do some lng runs it's quite a lot more.
I do 30 day shred 3 times a week, which my monitor says is about 150 cals

I'll go for an average of around 3000

[thenewaveragebear1983]

According to Fitbit I used 823 calories running 10k.

I run 30-40 k a week so..... about 3200? Ish? I don’t know how reliable Fitbit is at calculating but I suppose it has a formula for body Mass x distance x heart rate?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Whyistherumgone if you go on the dashboard on the app, and go to the exercise tile (the one that says 4 of 5 days etc...) then tap it, it will show all your activity. Click on the little sideways arrow and it will show you your heart graph, calorie burned, steps used etc for that particular activity.

[ohfortuna]

According to Fitbit I used 823 calories running 10k
that works out at 137 calories per mile!
my garmin gives me a calorie consumption of around 80 calories per mile when I run
they all seem to use very different formulas!

[Freshprincess]

Ohfortuna - My TomTom gave me 625 cals for 5miles. It takes into account height and weight as well As heart rate, i think.
Mind you, I don't think any of them are that reliable. If I put exercise manually into MyFitnessPal, it's usually different than my watch has calculated.

[AuntieStella]

The amount that different trackers 'give' you for exercise varies, depending on what weight they think you are, and if the net off basic metabolism calories from the active ones.

DH gets more calories for a run of the same length, and that's really annoying!

I walk and run about 120 miles a month, which my tracker tells me is just under 9000 calories. So rough and ready, about 2250 exercise calories a week, which is based in running 3 or 4 times a week, walking every day and maybe one or two other classes/sports (this increases in summer). It doesn't include things like gardening, even though some of that is pretty active (well, at least it is in the hack, slash and dig months

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Yep fortuna I can’t see how that is accurate! And my treadmill gives calorie burn of about 1/3 as much again as the Fitbit! I suppose that’s why they say not to eat your exercise calories when dieting. It is probably impossible to estimate without really sophisticated equipment.

Not forgetting the fact that I would be losing more weight than I am if I were burning thousands of calories each week! I’m new to exercise and i find it amazing how few calories even really strenuous exercise burns.

[AlbertaSimmons]

I use a HRM with chest strap - more accurate than anything on your wrist. I do an exercise class every day except Sunday, when I walk or run. Classes are the full range between pure weights, HIIT and circuits. I do a PT session once a week. I weigh around 55kg and I burn around 300 cals per session, so let's say 2500 cals per week.

It largely depends upon your weight - my friend who is my height but much heavier than me burns a lot more cals than I do in the same classes. Another friend who is around the same as me uses a wrist monitor (Garmin), lifts nowhere near as heavy as I do but reckons to burn double the cals. Go figure.

[ohfortuna]

as I understand it with running the main factor is bodyweight because it takes a certain amount of energy to move a certain mass over a given distance.
this calculator
www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator
gives me 83 cals per mile based on my bodyweight.
If I run say 6 miles with my partner he will burn far more fuel because he's much heavier but we've both done the same amount of exercise in the sense that we've both run the same distance
It might be more helpful to look at exercise volume in terms of 'METS'

[ohfortuna]

if I put my partner's weight into that calculator he gets 150 calories per mile, so we both go for a run and afterwards he gets to eat nearly twice as much cake
so unfair

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Using that calculator my 10k comes in at 725 (so about 100 less). So could glean from that that Fitbit overestimated by around 10 cals per Km?

I played around a bit and took my time from 1.15 to 1 hour and the calorie burn was the same, as it was if I extended time to 2 hours. So it must be purely based on mass x distance (time/speed irrelevant)

I’m sceptical if I’m honest, if I run 10k my heart is pumping, I’m physically working hard. That’s got to burn more calorie than walking, surely? Even for twice as long?? Please tell me it can’t be true!

[ivykaty44]

I do 3xspin at 400 per class early morning
Then Saturday & Sunday 2 hours Cycling so about 500/600 a morning or if wet/to cold spin
Swimming & fitness Pilates early morning about 150 each class
Walk to work and back 60 minutes 5x 125

With the lighter nights I’ll hopefully get out on a Thursday evening for another social ride

[ivykaty44]

Chest strap with watch monitor will give accurate heart rate and calories. My gym have the straps to borrow and pair up with the spin bikes

[LaurieFairyCake]

You definitely do more if you’re a giant lardy arse like me. I’ve done an hour of yoga, 8500 steps and a 24 minute high intensity class today and my Fitbit tells me I’m in ‘fat burning’ mode for 7 hrs - but that’s because I’m 14 stone I think

[thenewaveragebear1983]

That is likely true (not the Lardy arse bit!!) but those heart rate zones are simply based upon your age and nothing to do with any other factors. So your peak heart rate is calculated at 220- your age. Therefore it would figure that if you were bigger and also I suppose anyone who was unfit regardless of their size (therefore would get heart beat raised more easily for less) would be in the raised heart rate zone for more of their normal day?

[Bluntness100]

I exercise for about 75 mins a day, 30of which are cardio. The rest weights. I've no idea but would say about a max of 300 per session. So about 2000 a week. I'd rather under estimate than over estimate.

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yep, just shifting my wobbly frame takes so much more effort than slim dh’s. I’m bloody weight training with every move !

[LaurieFairyCake]

My resting heart rate though is very consistent at 69 and good for my age. No idea what that means though

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Laurie since having your Fitbit has your resting heart rate improved? There’s a cardio fitness score- I find that really interesting. I was so unfit in January when I started, my resting heart rate is now about 43 which must be as a result of exercising but I don’t know how that would happen. These are the things I love about the Fitbit, the steps don’t fuss me except to remind me if I’ve had a lazy day. It’s all these little functions that I find so fascinating! I do lots of steps each day but they’re all at toddler speed, so I do look at the active minutes bit and try and get over 100 a day.