Okay, so I've been trying to keep up with my daily calorie deficit. I haven't been adding excercise to the deficit because I am not sure how to find out the *correct* amount of calories burned in an activity.

For instance, I usually do a WATP 30 minute video, then the elliptical for 30 minutes. Some days just the elliptical for 45-60 minutes. Some days I also do weight excercises. My question is- how do you know how many calories you burn doing a certain activity- is it just a best guess?

How about a best guess with a bit of educated reading behind it
I've been at this for a couple of years so while it sound like a lot of research, it's actually been spread over time. I've fool with my fitday.com account. I've studied other online calculators. I've taken a weightloss and figured backward from there. I've taken a 'stand still' amount of calorie intake and figured my expenditures must be the same then.
It's very individual and not very scientific but it's good enough for me to work with. Did that make sense?

Because it is so hard to do accurately, I don't do it. Plain and simple. I have my eating calorie range...and then I exercise every day, and strive for a MINIMUM of 30 minutes-but it is usually about an hour-more some days.

It is just too hard to calculate correctly-because your age, fitness level, and current weight are part of the equation as well. Someone who is 140 is going to burn a different amount of calories walking 2 miles than someone who weighs 200. Someone who uses 3 pound weights in a strength video is going to burn a different amount than someone using 5 pound weights-plus the differences because of weight, age, etc.

I know some like to do it-but I would concentrate more on the amount of exercise, and the intensity of it, that you are doing-rather than how many calories it burns.

thanks y'all, that makes more sense now!!

This is a pretty cool site to check out just to give you some idea!


http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspart...e/calculat.htm

Maybe this will help a little!!

There are all sorts of online calculators you can find, but I think the best would be ones that factor in your weight. Generally they're probably all way off, but at least you get some kind of idea of the work you're doing!