How do we track calories burned?

[rawpersonaltrai]

Here's your equation: MET value multiplied by weight in kilograms tells you calories burned per hour (MET*weight in kg=calories/hour). If you only want to know how many calories you burned in a half hour, divide that number by two. If you want to know about 15 minutes, divide that number by four.

 

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[JAJT]

A little vague and without context but I had a moment, googled it, and found it interesting, so here's some extra info for those curious:

"MET" is short for "metabolic equivalent" and is defined as the ratio of the work metabolic rate to the resting metabolic rate. One MET is defined as 1 kcal/kg/hour and is roughly equivalent to the energy cost of sitting quietly.

This site seems to be a go-to resource for looking up different values (and where I got that above definition): Compendium of Physical Activities

For an example, under activities there's a category for "walking, 3.5 mph, level, brisk, firm surface, walking for exercise " which lists a MET value of 4.3. If you weigh 81 kg (180 lbs) that works out to 4.3 x 81 = 348 calories burned per hour.

A random google search for "calories burned walking" shows a "rule of thumb" of 100 calories per mile for a 180 lb person and 20 minutes to walk a mile on average , which puts us right at 300, which is close - especially considering my super vague searches.

It's a neat system and seemingly a lot more scientific and specific than most general calorie counting tools.

Likely look into this a bit more as for some reason I've never heard of any of this before. Although, it's not like I was looking either.

 

[458]

OR

We can just skip trying to be smart; and stop stuffin our faces with double whoppers.

 

[ZCP]

how close are these to the numbers spit out by the fitbit?

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

Great intro post