How many calories should you burn when working out?

[sa1976 221]

I am asking this question to make sure my goal is realistic in the gym. I ate 800 calories and I burned 400 calories during my workout. Should I be striving to burn more?

[JamieLogical 8,708]

You definitely should NOT be burning more that 400 calories if you are only eating 800. That would make you essentially anorexic. Look up anorexia athletica.... it's a form of anorexia where people intentionally burn as many or more calories through exercise than they consume.

How are you calculating your calorie burn? It's an inexact science. If you are just going by the readout on the machine, it's probably woefully inaccurate. The most accurate methods are a heart rate monitor (only accurate for cardio) or something like a BodyBugg (has contacts that touch your skin and measure skin temperature and conductivity).

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

It's less about how much you are burning and more about consistency. You want to get your heart rate up and you want to work out for at least 30 mins a minimum of 2 times a week. Personally I know my body and I lose when I work out at least 3 times a week. However for me I don't lose unless I am also eating well and drinking Water.

[sa1976 221]

I work out 5-7 times a week mostly I do 30-45 minutes of cardio and 15-20 minutes of weight lifting. I use a heart monitor with the watch and chest strap to calculate my calories burned. Thank you for the info. My calories burn is realistic. I keeping my heart rate between 130-135.

[JamieLogical 8,708]

Well then I would definitely say you shouldn't be trying to burn any more calories. If anything you should be trying to consume more calories in order to sustain that level of activity.

[ProjectMe 909]

Before surgery, I would play the numbers game of how many calories consumed vs. How many I burned during exercise, to determine how many more I could consume after exercising, etc. None of it has the same weight after surgery. I'm lucky if I can consume 800 calories a day. I exercise 4-5xs a week for 45min-hr. My weight loss stops when I haven't consumed enough calories...so now I make sure to eat 3 meals a day and 2 Snacks and I try to change my mentality about calories out vs. Calories in.

Edited February 20, 2015 by ProjectMe

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Agreed. I work out 4 - 5 days a week for at least an hour. However I noticed that as long as I ate well AND exercised at least 3 days a week I would lose. @@sa1976 - It sounds like you're doing a reasonable work out. I wouldn't worry about the calories burn thing.

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Here's a good blog to follow. BGGTWL

[sa1976 221]

Thank you all for your advice.