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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 4 Feb 2006 10:33 pm |
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Do the activity calculators take into account a person's frame size? Would a small framed person of the same weight burn less calories? Would a higher-fat percentage person of the same weight burn less calories?
I am asking because my activity calculator numbers seem off. I'm a 130 pound female, and a typical working day came out to 2500 calories burned!! I have a fairly active job. In fact, if I use "bakery work, light" instead of "food preparation, home", I come out to 3200 calories. The other activities I used were sleeping, typing, showering, dressing, driving, yoga, reading, walking, and cleaning.
I feel like a roughly 2000 calorie diet is maintenance for me, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something?!? I have a small-to-medium frame size. And hoping to change my previously high fat diet.
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Peter
Founder of this forum
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Posted: 5 Feb 2006 12:55 am |
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Please read the FAQ on the calculator, how it works and about its accuracy. I don't know of any other website that provides such information.
In regards to frame size and body fat percentage... as the FAQ explains, calories burned calculations are based simply on your weight. It takes energy to move weight, and the more you weigh the more energy it will take... thus the more calories it will burn. (This is also why you have to re-calculate as you lose weight!)
I'm sure that frame size, body fat percentage, and just about every factor have some effect on calories burned. But the calculator operates simply on weight because that's how the data for the different activities was collected.
If you make estimates based on the calculators, you will have a place to start. Only trial and error will prove just what works for you.
Peter
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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 Feb 2006 04:17 pm |
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| I almost didn't even ask the question, because I was pretty sure I would just get referred to a FAQ. But at least I took a shortcut straight to the one that I needed. I compared my activity calculator values with my RMR using the "active" number, and it is just under 2000. As this seems more realistic to me, I will use the RMR number instead of the calculator. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 5 Feb 2006 04:45 pm |
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| All questions are good questions.
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KICKIN_IT_IN_MI
Member
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Posted: 6 Feb 2006 12:40 am |
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| Peter, if you wear or exercise with weights and keep adding to them as you loose fat/pounds do you burn the same amount of calories as when you started?
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Peter
Founder of this forum
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Posted: 6 Feb 2006 02:22 am |
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I don't have the education to answer that question, but I'd guess that it depends on the exercise. Remember, it's all about expending energy.
Let's say the exercise was walking up stairs. It would get easier as you weighed less and you'd burn few calories. But it would seem logical that if you started carrying weights up the stairs to match the weight you had lost it would keep the energy expenditure or calories burned something near the same level.
If you were riding a stationary bike where your weight is absorbed by the bike, it wouldn't seem that it would make such a difference. In fact it wouldn't even get much easier as you lost weight.
Make sense?
Peter
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Marcy
New Member
| Joined: | 31 Jan 2006 |
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| Posts: | 24 |
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Posted: 7 Feb 2006 03:22 pm |
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I guess I have a similar question. I am eating roughly 800 calories a day. My activites average 1200-2000 calories burned. God only knows what my calorie intake used to be. My friend said I can't count the activites like sleeping, eating, showering, etc toward my weight loss. Something about BMI. I have tried pretty hard at getting educated from this website, yet I am completed confussed now since I was counting those activites towards my calorie deficit. Any advice?
-Marcy Rochester, NY
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 7 Feb 2006 04:21 pm |
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We answered that question here:
view_topic.php?id=1059&forum_id=19&jump_to=8366#p8366
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Javan
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 Feb 2006 04:21 pm |
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I have been using the data on this site (and others) and have been tracking my daily input/output such that I have come up with a average daily calorie deficit of about -950 calories. Tod date, I have lost about 9 lbs since Jan 3rd.
Here is a list of the activities that I try and track daily:
Cleaning
Computer
Dress/un
Drive
Eat
Food prep
Reading
Shopping
Shower
Sleep
TV
Walking
work
Biking
Biking (Ex Vigorous)
Biking (vigorous)
Calisthenics
Rowing
Skiing (lgt)
Skiing (vig)
Stretching
It may seem excessive, but I tend to get compulsive with these things. And it is not hard to keep track of. Just keep in mind that as you lose weight, your values will change. I.e. your calorie burn per hour for walking will go down as your weight goes down..
Good Luck!!
Last edited on 7 Feb 2006 04:30 pm by Javan
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Marcy
New Member
| Joined: | 31 Jan 2006 |
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| Posts: | 24 |
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Posted: 7 Feb 2006 07:58 pm |
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| Thanks Peter. I have been keeping a journal of everything I eat and what activities I have done in a day. Can I count OFFICE WORK and add in PHONE ....My sales job leaves me at my desk most of the day spending about 3 hrs on the phone and about an hour total on the PC.
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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Posted: 8 Feb 2006 05:55 am |
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Calories burned calculations include all the calories you are burning... what it takes to keep your body running and perform the activity that goes beyond that. So you can't add two for the same time period, or you'd be counting what it takes to keep your body going (RMR... see FAQ) twice.
In other words, the total for a day must add up to 24 hours.
Peter
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