Calories Burned Calculation + Exercise??
03-09-2011, 10:17 AM
#1
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 5
Calories Burned Calculation + Exercise??
Hey all.
New to Fitday. I have a question concerning the daily calories burned calculation, and how to enter daily exercise.
If I enter 'Standing Work' as my Lifestyle Activity Level, then add all of the specific exercise I do daily, my daily calorie requirement comes in at around 4500...which seems much too high. Am I effectively 'doubling up' on the exercise calorie calculations by adding both my individual daily exercises and setting my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work'?
When I set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Sedentary' (which it's not) my Maintenance (or Basal) calorie needs are 2326 per day, then when I add my individual daily exercises my total moves to around 3500 per day, which seems closer to the number I get when calculating using the Harris-B Equation.
So, to have an accurate calorie-burn number, I can either:
A) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work' and NOT add daily exercise.
b) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to "Sedentary' and add all daily exercise, including anything at work.
Correct?
Thanks!
New to Fitday. I have a question concerning the daily calories burned calculation, and how to enter daily exercise.
If I enter 'Standing Work' as my Lifestyle Activity Level, then add all of the specific exercise I do daily, my daily calorie requirement comes in at around 4500...which seems much too high. Am I effectively 'doubling up' on the exercise calorie calculations by adding both my individual daily exercises and setting my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work'?
When I set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Sedentary' (which it's not) my Maintenance (or Basal) calorie needs are 2326 per day, then when I add my individual daily exercises my total moves to around 3500 per day, which seems closer to the number I get when calculating using the Harris-B Equation.
So, to have an accurate calorie-burn number, I can either:
A) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work' and NOT add daily exercise.
b) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to "Sedentary' and add all daily exercise, including anything at work.
Correct?
Thanks!
03-10-2011, 08:39 AM
#2
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posts: 8,228
Hey all.
New to Fitday. I have a question concerning the daily calories burned calculation, and how to enter daily exercise.
If I enter 'Standing Work' as my Lifestyle Activity Level, then add all of the specific exercise I do daily, my daily calorie requirement comes in at around 4500...which seems much too high. Am I effectively 'doubling up' on the exercise calorie calculations by adding both my individual daily exercises and setting my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work'?
When I set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Sedentary' (which it's not) my Maintenance (or Basal) calorie needs are 2326 per day, then when I add my individual daily exercises my total moves to around 3500 per day, which seems closer to the number I get when calculating using the Harris-B Equation.
So, to have an accurate calorie-burn number, I can either:
A) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work' and NOT add daily exercise.
b) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to "Sedentary' and add all daily exercise, including anything at work.
Correct?
Thanks!
New to Fitday. I have a question concerning the daily calories burned calculation, and how to enter daily exercise.
If I enter 'Standing Work' as my Lifestyle Activity Level, then add all of the specific exercise I do daily, my daily calorie requirement comes in at around 4500...which seems much too high. Am I effectively 'doubling up' on the exercise calorie calculations by adding both my individual daily exercises and setting my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work'?
When I set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Sedentary' (which it's not) my Maintenance (or Basal) calorie needs are 2326 per day, then when I add my individual daily exercises my total moves to around 3500 per day, which seems closer to the number I get when calculating using the Harris-B Equation.
So, to have an accurate calorie-burn number, I can either:
A) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to 'Standing Work' and NOT add daily exercise.
b) Set my Lifestyle Activity Level to "Sedentary' and add all daily exercise, including anything at work.
Correct?
Thanks!
Lets say your lifestyle is 2400 cals (100 cals/ per hour) and you go to the gym for an hour and burn 300 cals, then you get on the treadmill for an hour and burn another 200 cals. You don't add the 500 to the 2400. B/C during your 2 hours of exercise your body would have burned 200 cals by just standing there. So you only burned 300 cals from exercise.
03-10-2011, 03:36 PM
#3
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,085
Lets say your lifestyle is 2400 cals (100 cals/ per hour) and you go to the gym for an hour and burn 300 cals, then you get on the treadmill for an hour and burn another 200 cals. You don't add the 500 to the 2400. B/C during your 2 hours of exercise your body would have burned 200 cals by just standing there. So you only burned 300 cals from exercise.
My daily lifestyle burn, for example, is roughly 2200 calories. I burned about 600 calories at the gym today in an hour at the elliptical. I added that in through the activities tab (by adding it as stair-treadmill ergonometer) It's showing my burn to be 2800, so it doesn't seem to be subtracting for the hour of "standing" I'd be doing. Though... I have my lifestyle set to "Seated All Day" as this is mostly true... does that matter?
The real numbers:
Lifestyle: 2,225 (Seated)
Activities: 632 (Stair-treadmill ergonometer, 1:02) <--- I set this time to be close to what the heart rate monitor says I burned, which was 636 in an hour. I don't think the four cals matter
Total: 2,857
If this is just due to the "Seated" Lifestyle, feel free to tell me that I'm being silly
03-10-2011, 07:04 PM
#4
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 5
thanks for the reply. i have been using the Activities Tab to add in calories spent on a specific exercise. so, for example, yesterday's activities looked like this:
biking 10-11 mph: 30mins / 239 cal
stationary biking (vigorous effort 250 Watts): 1:00 / 996 cal
custodial work: 4:00 / 1115 cal
lifestyle (sedentary): 18:30 / 1793 cal
TOTAL BURNED: 4144*
* incidentally, i use a HR monitor on my stationary bike and it calculates my calories burned to be around 1100 per hour, averaging 310 Watts.
this is about an average day as far as exercise goes. twice a week (rest days) will be less, and two other days will be more when i double up with swimming, etc.
the confusion is this: if i set my lifestyle tab to "Standing" (which is accurate; I do custodial/maintenance work), my lifestyle calories burned jumps to 2653, and when i add my exercises for the day using the exercise tab, my total calories burned jumps to over 5000, which is too high.
this is because the computer has already calculated my increased 'Standing' activity level, and then I go along and later ADD "Custodial Work" in as an activity in the activity tab, effectively doubling up on that calculation.
on other websites, the Lifestyle Calculation will say something like "Active: Exercises 5+ days per week", and if you use that as a baseline, and then add your daily exercises individually, you are effectively doubling your calories burned calculation because the computer has already adjusted your calories burned for someone who does almost daily exercise.
or, i can choose 'Sedentary' (which I'm not) to give me a baseline basal daily calorie requirement of 1793, and just add ALL my daily activities.
so i think the danger is it's very easy to overestimate daily calories burned by using both the Lifestyle Activity Level and the separate Exercise Tab.
biking 10-11 mph: 30mins / 239 cal
stationary biking (vigorous effort 250 Watts): 1:00 / 996 cal
custodial work: 4:00 / 1115 cal
lifestyle (sedentary): 18:30 / 1793 cal
TOTAL BURNED: 4144*
* incidentally, i use a HR monitor on my stationary bike and it calculates my calories burned to be around 1100 per hour, averaging 310 Watts.
this is about an average day as far as exercise goes. twice a week (rest days) will be less, and two other days will be more when i double up with swimming, etc.
the confusion is this: if i set my lifestyle tab to "Standing" (which is accurate; I do custodial/maintenance work), my lifestyle calories burned jumps to 2653, and when i add my exercises for the day using the exercise tab, my total calories burned jumps to over 5000, which is too high.
this is because the computer has already calculated my increased 'Standing' activity level, and then I go along and later ADD "Custodial Work" in as an activity in the activity tab, effectively doubling up on that calculation.
on other websites, the Lifestyle Calculation will say something like "Active: Exercises 5+ days per week", and if you use that as a baseline, and then add your daily exercises individually, you are effectively doubling your calories burned calculation because the computer has already adjusted your calories burned for someone who does almost daily exercise.
or, i can choose 'Sedentary' (which I'm not) to give me a baseline basal daily calorie requirement of 1793, and just add ALL my daily activities.
so i think the danger is it's very easy to overestimate daily calories burned by using both the Lifestyle Activity Level and the separate Exercise Tab.
03-11-2011, 08:03 AM
#5
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posts: 8,228
Hmmmm, now I'm confused, as the Activities tab seems to add things straight up for me.
My daily lifestyle burn, for example, is roughly 2200 calories. I burned about 600 calories at the gym today in an hour at the elliptical. I added that in through the activities tab (by adding it as stair-treadmill ergonometer) It's showing my burn to be 2800, so it doesn't seem to be subtracting for the hour of "standing" I'd be doing. Though... I have my lifestyle set to "Seated All Day" as this is mostly true... does that matter?
The real numbers:
Lifestyle: 2,225 (Seated)
Activities: 632 (Stair-treadmill ergonometer, 1:02) <--- I set this time to be close to what the heart rate monitor says I burned, which was 636 in an hour. I don't think the four cals matter
Total: 2,857
If this is just due to the "Seated" Lifestyle, feel free to tell me that I'm being silly
My daily lifestyle burn, for example, is roughly 2200 calories. I burned about 600 calories at the gym today in an hour at the elliptical. I added that in through the activities tab (by adding it as stair-treadmill ergonometer) It's showing my burn to be 2800, so it doesn't seem to be subtracting for the hour of "standing" I'd be doing. Though... I have my lifestyle set to "Seated All Day" as this is mostly true... does that matter?
The real numbers:
Lifestyle: 2,225 (Seated)
Activities: 632 (Stair-treadmill ergonometer, 1:02) <--- I set this time to be close to what the heart rate monitor says I burned, which was 636 in an hour. I don't think the four cals matter
Total: 2,857
If this is just due to the "Seated" Lifestyle, feel free to tell me that I'm being silly
Before my work out was added in I was at 2180 calories burned
My workout was 421 calories burned.
2180 + 421 = 2601
in all actuality I only burned an EXTRA 321 calories during that workout b/c I would have normally burned a 100 cals with my daily activity.
That's why it shows my total as 2501 and NOT 2601. To calculate this correctly you'll see that it subtracted the hour spent doing the exercise from my Lifestyle. Notice Lifestyle went from 18 hours to 17 hours.
Last edited by 01gt4.6; 03-11-2011 at 08:10 AM.
03-11-2011, 08:27 AM
#6
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,085
look at this example here, this is a typical day for me. (to the left is before adding in my work out, right is after)
Before my work out was added in I was at 2180 calories burned
My workout was 421 calories burned.
2180 + 421 = 2601
in all actuality I only burned an EXTRA 321 calories during that workout b/c I would have normally burned a 100 cals with my daily activity.
That's why it shows my total as 2501 and NOT 2601. To calculate this correctly you'll see that it subtracted the hour spent doing the exercise from my Lifestyle. Notice Lifestyle went from 18 hours to 17 hours.
Before my work out was added in I was at 2180 calories burned
My workout was 421 calories burned.
2180 + 421 = 2601
in all actuality I only burned an EXTRA 321 calories during that workout b/c I would have normally burned a 100 cals with my daily activity.
That's why it shows my total as 2501 and NOT 2601. To calculate this correctly you'll see that it subtracted the hour spent doing the exercise from my Lifestyle. Notice Lifestyle went from 18 hours to 17 hours.
03-11-2011, 08:28 AM
#7
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posts: 8,228
thanks for the reply. i have been using the Activities Tab to add in calories spent on a specific exercise. so, for example, yesterday's activities looked like this:
biking 10-11 mph: 30mins / 239 cal
stationary biking (vigorous effort 250 Watts): 1:00 / 996 cal
custodial work: 4:00 / 1115 cal
lifestyle (sedentary): 18:30 / 1793 cal
TOTAL BURNED: 4144*
* incidentally, i use a HR monitor on my stationary bike and it calculates my calories burned to be around 1100 per hour, averaging 310 Watts.
this is about an average day as far as exercise goes. twice a week (rest days) will be less, and two other days will be more when i double up with swimming, etc.
the confusion is this: if i set my lifestyle tab to "Standing" (which is accurate; I do custodial/maintenance work), my lifestyle calories burned jumps to 2653, and when i add my exercises for the day using the exercise tab, my total calories burned jumps to over 5000, which is too high.
this is because the computer has already calculated my increased 'Standing' activity level, and then I go along and later ADD "Custodial Work" in as an activity in the activity tab, effectively doubling up on that calculation.
on other websites, the Lifestyle Calculation will say something like "Active: Exercises 5+ days per week", and if you use that as a baseline, and then add your daily exercises individually, you are effectively doubling your calories burned calculation because the computer has already adjusted your calories burned for someone who does almost daily exercise.
or, i can choose 'Sedentary' (which I'm not) to give me a baseline basal daily calorie requirement of 1793, and just add ALL my daily activities.
so i think the danger is it's very easy to overestimate daily calories burned by using both the Lifestyle Activity Level and the separate Exercise Tab.
biking 10-11 mph: 30mins / 239 cal
stationary biking (vigorous effort 250 Watts): 1:00 / 996 cal
custodial work: 4:00 / 1115 cal
lifestyle (sedentary): 18:30 / 1793 cal
TOTAL BURNED: 4144*
* incidentally, i use a HR monitor on my stationary bike and it calculates my calories burned to be around 1100 per hour, averaging 310 Watts.
this is about an average day as far as exercise goes. twice a week (rest days) will be less, and two other days will be more when i double up with swimming, etc.
the confusion is this: if i set my lifestyle tab to "Standing" (which is accurate; I do custodial/maintenance work), my lifestyle calories burned jumps to 2653, and when i add my exercises for the day using the exercise tab, my total calories burned jumps to over 5000, which is too high.
this is because the computer has already calculated my increased 'Standing' activity level, and then I go along and later ADD "Custodial Work" in as an activity in the activity tab, effectively doubling up on that calculation.
on other websites, the Lifestyle Calculation will say something like "Active: Exercises 5+ days per week", and if you use that as a baseline, and then add your daily exercises individually, you are effectively doubling your calories burned calculation because the computer has already adjusted your calories burned for someone who does almost daily exercise.
or, i can choose 'Sedentary' (which I'm not) to give me a baseline basal daily calorie requirement of 1793, and just add ALL my daily activities.
so i think the danger is it's very easy to overestimate daily calories burned by using both the Lifestyle Activity Level and the separate Exercise Tab.
For you:
Standing = 2653 cals/day which breaks down to 110.54 cals per hour.
Between biking and stationary bike, you spent 1.5 hrs. This leaves you lifestyle at 22.5hrs.
22.5 hours x 110.54 cals/hr = 2487.15 cals for Lifestyle
2487.15 + 239 (biking cals) + 996 (stationary bike cals) = 3722.15 cals burned
IMO everyone should log sleep and I'd bet that if you logged 8hrs of sleep that number would go DOWN to about 3400 cals burned TOTAL
Would that seem accurate, If not, try entering it like that... don't forget to enter sleep if you feel the # is too high!!!
03-11-2011, 08:29 AM
#8
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posts: 8,228
03-11-2011, 11:47 AM
#9
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 5
01gt4.6:
your math explained it perfectly, and i had forgotten to log 'Sleep' in the activity log. when i log sleep and change my Lifestyle to 'Standing, the total calories burned average between 3400-3600 depending on how heavy my exercise day is.
this correlates to my current rate of weekly loss (around 2.4 pounds or so) when i eat between 2000 and 2600 calories daily.
so the answer(s) to my question are:
a) set Lifestyle to 'Standing' but don't log custodial hours as extra activities, and,
b) include 'Sleep' on the activity log.
Thanks for your help!
your math explained it perfectly, and i had forgotten to log 'Sleep' in the activity log. when i log sleep and change my Lifestyle to 'Standing, the total calories burned average between 3400-3600 depending on how heavy my exercise day is.
this correlates to my current rate of weekly loss (around 2.4 pounds or so) when i eat between 2000 and 2600 calories daily.
so the answer(s) to my question are:
a) set Lifestyle to 'Standing' but don't log custodial hours as extra activities, and,
b) include 'Sleep' on the activity log.
Thanks for your help!
03-11-2011, 02:09 PM
#10
Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Slidell, Louisiana
Posts: 8,228
If you don't do the custodial work every day, you changing option "a" to sedentary and add in the in the custodial work (keep in mind that there are different levels of effort for this) on the days you do it. Make sure you still log sleep. Either way is probably better than how it was originally done. Just check to see which looks more accurate.
I'm glad I was able to help.
