How 2 accurately calculate physical activity?

[C33]

I have started logging in my fitness progress, but am at a loss to fairly report my physical activity. I need to calculate how many calories I burn, and am not sure if I am doing it right. I use a free fitness assistant online.


How do you calculate cardio activity/ calorie burning?
I have a DVD that runs for 45 minutes, out of those 45 minutes, 8 minutes are introduction and a brief warm up ( 5 mins) that is pretty stationary, then the real moving/ walking/ jumping/ movement part starts at 8 minutes, and ends at 40 minutes.The end of the DVD is a brief cool down. Does it mean that my actual cardio workout is 32 minutes? (45 minutes total DVD duration minus 8 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down).

Also, today I walked for 40 minutes, I went to the bookstore from my home, so it was nothing strenuous, I stayed in the bookstore for 1 hour, enjoying my favorite activity: moving my eyes from left to right following words on a page! ( It s 20 minutes to the bookstore, one way). I didn t make any stops, only at red lights. I didn t walk fast nor leisurely,(no window browsing). Does it count in physical activity or is it just part of moving your body, proving you are not dead? This is my regular everyday activity: 30 minutes to 40 minutes of normal, urban walking.

I' d appreciate any insight. Thank you.

[Jason McIsaac]

One thing that may help is to spend several sessions on a treadmill or other cardio machine with a calorie burn counter function [On a treadmill, it's the kind that asks you to input your weight].

You can get a feel for how hard you are working at any point in time by looking at the 'calories per minute' function.

This should give you a very rough estimate of how many calories you're burning per minute in your every day life by feeling how hard your body is working at any given time.

The longer you work out and more you get to know your body, the better you'll be at doing this.

Of course, there is no really good way to test how accurate you are, but it's something.

[WanderingOak]

I found this link a few weeks ago. Using your body weight as a baseline, it calculates the number of calories burned per minute for daily activities as well as exercises. Hopefully, this should be what you need.

[Wormwood]

Hi, C33.

I’m brand new to this board and in fact this is my first post! It seems only natural that I first gravitated to the Health and Fitness forum. My wife and I own a gym and a personal training business and I am certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Calculating calories burned is performed in terms of METS (short for “metabolic equivalents”). Check out this site and SolutionsInFitness.com Estimate Caloric Expenditure for a better understanding of how to calculate METS.

Cheers,
Mike