Calories burned

I got a new Garmin fitness watch for Christmas and I was so excited to try it out today. It tracks your workout time, calories burned, and heart rate. Plus, it's a watch and I don't have to worry about messing up my dressy watches on days when I have exercises classes or go straight to the gym after work. I will probably get the foot pod accessory to track distance, elevation, etc.

I think it's funny that my watch said that I burned over 700 calories when all I did was 45 mins of pretty intense walking on an incline and then weights. That seems really high to me. But, it's just a number and doesn't matter too much to me anyway.

Which brings me to my point of the blog, when people say they burned a crapload of calories in a short amount of time. I see that all the time on Facebook. People say "I burned 800 calories in 30 minutes on the elliptical" or whatever. The machines exaggerate a little if you are watching those and I think my watch does too. It helps if you put in your weight, but I still think they exaggerate. Especially if you are holding on while working out, because that causes less calorie burn than pumping your arms. I see people on the treadmills that incline a lot and they hold on the entire time, which makes the calorie burn a lot less than it actually says on there.

If you think about it, running is probably one of the most intense activities. Not the most, but it's up there and a good comparison. Depending on weight, you probably burn about 125 calories per mile. So, let's say you run a 10 minute mile and you run 6 miles in 60 minutes, you would burn about  750 calories. So if you only ran for 30 minutes, at a 10 minute mile pace, you would burn 375 calories. If you ran a faster pace, let's say a 6 minute mile (which is not the average exerciser's pace) you would run 10 miles in 60 minutes, thus burning 1250 calories.

So, now can you see why I am doubtful when people say they burned 800 calories in 30 minutes? Of course, it does depend on your body weight. And, your intensity matters too.

What is also interesting is how many calories you have to burn and how hard you have to workout to burn off  those unhealthy things we eat. Some desserts have upwards of 500-700 calories. You would have to run for an hour at a good pace to burn off 750 calories from your dessert. Or even better, for those people who drink regular soda. A 20 ounce bottle of soda has 250 calories. You will have to run (or walk at a good pace) about 2 miles to burn that off. It takes a whole lot less time to finish that soda than it takes you to do the 2 miles.

Those numbers are just generalizations, and the other thing is that you do burn calories all the time anyway. The more muscle you have, the more you burn. The more often you eat, the more your metabolism goes (so don't skip breakfast!!). You also burn calories during weight training as well as hours after too.

The moral of the blog is, don't worry about how many calories you burn, just get off your butt and do something! Doing something burns more calories than doing nothing.