How many calories REALLY?

A

annararr

New member
Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum and to weight loss in general. I'd put this in the intro section but I suppose you'll need to know a bit about me in order to help, so here goes. I'm 22, female and started off at 137lb, and my goal weight is 100lb (I'm 5ft so I think that's a pretty reasonable goal). I used to be 100lb just a few years ago but when I turned 18 my metabolism slowed down and suddenly I could no longer eat burgers and pizzas every day and stay at that weight. So I've been gaining about 10lb a year since then. Just recently I decided to put a stop to that and have been steadily losing about 2.2lb (1kg) a week for about 6 weeks, with diet and exercise. I'm at 121lb now. I've been smoking a lot less too so I'm sure that's contributing to my overall health!

What I'd like to know is if the calories shown on the calorie counter on the gym's stationary bike is accurate. I cycle for an hour several times a week and my average heart rate is about 160-170 while I'm on the bike. At the end of the hour it shows I've burned about 280 calories. I've read online that it "should" be much more than that, in fact in some cases even twice that amount. One online calculator I've tried even said I may be burning up to 500-600 per hour. Might the bike's counter be way off? Does 400-500 calories per hour sound more likely? I hope you guys can offer some thoughts on this matter. I look forward to hearing from you! :)
 
no, not really. It's a very, very rough estimate, at best. Heart rate is only one factor in burning calories. Your body burns calories through muscle and a treadmill doesn't know how much muscle you have.

To make matters worse, if you are counting calories, it's about as accurate as trying to figure out how many calories you've eaten in a day, since, unless you eat everything completely prepackaged, you don't really know how many calories you are really consuming, either.

It's all just estimates and educated guesses. Probably not the answer you were looking for :)
 
Haha I thought so, thanks! Actually about 80% of what I eat is prepackaged because I am that obsessed with calorie counting! I know it's impossible to figure out exactly how many calories I'm burning but 280 calories for an hour of cycling (22km/ph or 13mph) just barely seems worth it, I'm really hoping it's more than that!
 
it's really all based on how hard you work. If you work hard and keep the heart rate up, it's probably more. Take a look at a few websites that list various exercises and their intensity, match yourself up and see what they come up with.
 
Thanks, most sites/charts/calculators estimate it to be about twice the amount (there's even a chart in the gym itself that states you can shed 280 calories in 30 minutes instead of an hour at my weight and activity level) so I'll just add on about 30% more burned calories at the end of my workout to be safe!
 
I have the same problem trying to figure out calories burned while lifting. I do heavy deadlifts and squats and most calculators and body measuring devices put me at 200 calories burned....I feel like I'm ready to fall over afterwards and it says 200 calories?! point is these things are all very rough estimates....would be nice to know an accurate amount
 
hey.... it is easy for you to achieve 100lbs in some time. Exercise is so far the most recommended factor for losing weight. There are number of physical exercises through which one can get rid of extra weight and look slim and gorgeous. Exercise helps one to burn extra fat in the body and it also prevents one from cardiovascular problems.
 
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