Burn Meter

Hi, I don't often use the tools on the site but I excercised for once, 20 mins of spin, and added it to the activity log which amounted to about 140 calories. 

shouldn't my burn meter have 140 added to it?  it only added 60 calories.

thanks

What a coincidence. I just posted about this same issue.

I burned 112 calories according to the calculator, but my burn meter only went up 40 calories. Barely 1/3 of the amount I actually burned.  40 calories is nothing. :(

I don't get it.

lol? sorry, didnt see your post but i dont get it??

i thought the burn meter should add those calories burned from excercise??  why only a fraction added?

I think the burn meter accounts for the calories you are burning throughout the day just existing. Your activity, when you enter it into the log, shows a number that includes this normal amount of calories burned plus the extra from exercise. When you added it to the log it subtracts the amount already accounted for in the burn meter. Does that make any sense? (I'm not good at explaining lol)

but if 1600 is what i burn in a day, sedentary, then shouldn't the 140 cals from excercise be in addition to the "just existing cals"?

No, here's how it works. I'll use example numbers.

Say I burn 100 calories being alive, sitting around, breathing, whatever. I burn 140 calories doing yoga in the same amount of time. That's only 40 calories more than the burn I'm already accoutning for. If it added 140 to the burn meter that would be double counting the 100 "just existing" calories. You're not burning 240 calories doing your exercise, you're going to be burning so many calories anyway. What's misleading is that the activity is listed so when you log it it looks like  "140 cals per 20 minutes" when it should really say "40 additional cals per 20 minutes"

Does that make sense?

damn! thanks! i get it now and damn! lol  it must be hard to burn a substantial amount of cals then if thats how it works, man!

so w hen ppl say they burned X cals, are they already subtracting it from their "existing cals" or so?

i thought that since you burn 1600 cals a day thats 66.6 cals per hour

so then you subtract the 20 minutes of exercise 140 cals of spinning you did with 1/3 that 66# (22.2 calories) existing anyway # 140-22.2 = what you burned extra (117.8).

i'm confused more by this thread.  for some reason i thought cc did this calculation for you so i can't understand the  60 # 
i mean even if you subtract the whole hour and only workout for 20 minutes..
that would be 140-66.6= 73.4 i can't see what is wrong here...

hope you had a good workout anyway - i'd say you burnt more then 60 calories NET

EDIT: double post sorry

The calulator here subtracts the number of calories you would be burning even if you were at home just sitting around.

So, for me, I use 400 calories at one of my workouts in an hour.  From that my hourly rate is subracted, making it a grand total of 340 EXTRA calories i burned.  I questioned this, too, a few months back.  I couldn't understand how my activity level/calories burned did not equal to the amount said.

Do remember that you calories burned during and after cardio are still burning.  HOWEVER, if you really want to see results you MUST be weight training as that burns calories for hours and hours after you've actually finished your work out.

I don't know HOW to calculate this, however.  I don't know how long my own body metabolizes these calories, as everyone is different, and it depends on the intensity with which you burn.

Eg.  yesterday I did 75 minutes of weights, including stability ball routines.  Then I ran on the track for 43 minutes at 10mph.  HOW do I really figure all that out?  I don't know. 

AND, to make things more confusing-sorry about this-a member wrote and said the calories stated here are not accurate, according to her heart rate monitor!

OY! 
I don't get it.  Since we've been told even an extra 50 or 100 calories a day can get you to gain weight-why are these numbers not more accurate, right!

I say let's ban together and demand more precise calculations!

I for one, will start.  I'll be mailing this message to one of the moderators/owners of this site. 

Whose behind me here???

I don't know how you expect CC volunteer moderators to know exactly how much you burn while you're exercising.

Totally agree - this is a FREE site.  If you want exact science, you will need to pay for a personal trainer / nutritionalist!  I LOVE this site, I have lost 5lb in 3weeks and am understanding more about how to manage my nutrition and balance food/exercise.  It helps me plan my family's weekly food and motivates me to exercise.

OMG - the only way anyone would know how many calories you need is trial and error!  Try what is suggested - if that doesn't work modify it! 

Each person is different - different metabolism - different amount of exertion during exercise, different fitness levels... really the only way to know is to experiment!

hmm, altho the first answer from LAFOUTLOUD sucked, lol, i understood what she was saying, now im just confused by everything else said!

ahh??!!

is it the 140 or just 40 or something? lol

Don't let anyone confuse me, that's how it works :-P

my understanding is you burnt 117 extra calories.
lafoutloud - calculate it with agruskins numbers and her 20 minute spin exercise..

anyway spin is great - i hope you enjoyed your workout.

im deff torn on what this all means, like yes, im burning cals just sitting but it never dawned on me that when excercising to get the total cals burned, id subtract the "just living cals", i dont know, it is sooo odd!  i dont even k now what the "just living cals" would be to then subtract them?! lol

it was fun, deff toguh!  deff enjoyed the bagels lox and cream cheese i had afterwards tho!!

haha i hear ya.

i think it has to do with NET calories.  either way you still burned a total of 140 for what you did.

never had the {lox} and cream cheese... with a bagel, glad it was good.  the spin is tough to start but it gets you in shape ;)  my gym closed down recent, so i haven't been doing spin...

i think i confuse you more but your just living calories are 1600 or (your sedentary burn) so divide that by 24 hours - 66.6 calories per hour you will burn everyday.

so 10minutes of working out (minus) 11.1 calories = NET
20 minutes of work out (minus) 22.2 calories = NET the extra calories you actually burned
30 minutes of workout (minus) 33.3 just living calories = NET exersice burn
so on....

i hope lafoutload can do it with your numbers.  and correct me if i am wrong

 believe it adds only the difference from what you burned to what you would have burned in that time frame. so if you ran for 20 minutes and burned 100 calories. and if you did nothing for 20 minutes and would burn 30 calories. the difference  is 70 calories so that is what it adds to the burn meter

wow, im 25 and NEVER heard this or even thought of it, never ever would have thought of living cals, excercise cals, and having to subtract, that SUCKS!

thats what scares me about becoming overweight, that losing seems rediculously tough especially when you dont burn as much as i had thought.