How do you guestimate how many calories??

Posted on March 25, 2016

I go to a few exercise classes at my gym, and some of them it's fairly easy to describe on MFP to get a calorie burning estimate, but tonight I went to a step class (which didn't seem vigorous enough to describe as step aerobics) and I have no clue how to guestimate the amount of calories burned.

Any ideas?? I've currently no money to splurge on a fit bit or something so feel a bit lost.

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Ashley

03/26/2016 11:34AM

I use a Polar Heart Rate monitor and I swear, it has boosted my weight loss a LOT! I bought the cheapest one I could find (FT4) and it has worked great for the last year! I do bootcamp workouts and never knew how many calories I was burning. It felt like 1000, but really, most workouts were only about 400-500. It definitely makes me work harder when I check it throughout class. I refuse to leave class without burning 500 now, and sometimes that means me staying a few minutes extra to do some jumping jacks with a friend.It's hard to get a general idea on calories. Your weight and heart rate have everything to do with that calculation. Invest $50 in a heart rate monitor, and I PROMISE you won't be disappointed! :o)

Katie

Thank you!! This sounds great, I think I just might!!

PDXJael

03/26/2016 7:24AM

I use sparkpeople too. I've read quite a few articles about how these apps probably overestimate calories burned, so I also just find something similar and then enter less time. For example, if I do Zumba for an hour, I might find a "dance aerobics" on the app and enter 45 minutes instead of the full 60. In general I try to overestimate calories and underestimate exercise to keep myself honest.

Judy and Katie like this comment.

Referee Jenn

03/25/2016 2:33PM

Hi Katie! I use SparkPeople to calculate all of my calories and exercises so you could try that - I am not sure if you can use the exercise calculator without signing up for an account though.Also, a quick google search brought up http://www.prohealth.com/weightloss/tools/exercise/calculator1_2.cfm and it looks like they have an Aerobics (low impact and high impact) which might be helpful!