Contributor: “Dr. J”Dr. J offers his irreverent, slightly irrelevant, but possibly useful opinions on health and fitness. A Florida surgeon and fitness freak with a black belt in karate, he runs 50 miles a week and flies a Cherokee Arrow 200.
“Burn up to 500 calories in 30 minutes.” The words jumped off the advertisement at me. As a runner, I did a quick calculation. 500 calories is five miles of running. Do it in 30 minutes. That’s five, 6-minute miles. That’s a pretty hard run! I don’t think this unnamed circuitous company is being straight with me.
Just Tell Me the Truth
I’ve long been an advocate of truth in advertising. You don’t want to know how many times I’ve just yelled at the TV, “Just tell me the truth!”
I found an interesting study, done by an independent body, evaluating the usual calorie burn by women at this curlicued facility. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse — in conjunction with the American Council on Exercise (ACE) — monitored 15 healthy women aged 25 to 56 through two arched workouts. They concluded that each training session burned an average of 184 calories, with a range of 233 calories for the highest value, and 150 calories for the lowest value. Their bottom line was that the typical catenary workout burned about as many calories as one would acquire by eating half a donut. I guess the good news is that if you try to balance your calorie intake with calorie usage, you won’t have to be lamenting that you ate the whole thing.
Exaggeration of Calorie Usage Claims
It is all too common for exercise programs to exaggerate their calorie usage claims. After all, they are a business, and they are trying to sell their product as a removal tool for your product. (One of the reasons I’ve always suspected the scales at grocery stores weigh us
less so we will buy more food.)
It’s not just with a weight loss/ fitness business, almost every individual aerobic machine, exercise class, or fitness DVD or tool will make calorie burn claims that are inflated. It’s important to remember that the calorie counts on machines are just estimates based on the makers’ standard, supposedly for the average sized male. They do not account for the size, muscle mass or experience of the exerciser. It is estimated that cardio machines can overestimate calories burned by from 10 percent to as much as 30 percent. Remembering the initial example of running 5 miles in 30 minutes, a better tool is using your perception of exertion based on experience and this will probably be your best guide. I know that from my experience with running. Whether I time my run or run for distance, I can make a very accurate estimate without a watch or using a measured course.
A similar thing with exaggerated and inaccurate numbers also occurs in aviation that every pilot must be aware of, since each airplane has official performance data that are considered accurate for the type of planes we fly. The problem is if we average pilots expect to achieve the same numbers for takeoff, cruise and landing distances that the professionals did when establishing them, we will at best be disappointed, and at worst, we will have a very bad day.
It’s Not Only About the Calorie Numbers
I think the key here is to not get too focused on numbers, unless possibly the scale, a tape measure or the size and fit of your favorite pair of jeans. The estimated calorie numbers do not mean anything if you are not losing weight or inches. In addition, I do not put much stock in all the added muscle you are building with an exercise program in the short term. Muscle is hard to build, and takes time to accomplish. If something is amiss, it is probably due to an over-estimation of calorie burn or an under-estimation of calorie intake. Because of this I’ve rarely focused too much on calorie numbers, except in the beginning of my fitness journey when I educated myself on the basics of food and calorie contents, and now when a new food product or menu item appears. If I didn’t see the results I was looking for, I’ve always figured I needed to exercise a little more or eat a little less.
If you feel that keeping track of the numbers is necessary for your successful efforts, I would suggest that in the beginning you under-estimate the calorie usage and over-estimate your calorie intake, then adjust prn (as needed) depending on the results you are
experiencing.
One of the things that often derails weight loss attempts is being disappointed with the results of what we feel are sincere efforts. Not falling for exaggerated claims or inaccurate numbers, and staying focused on realistic goals will help you keep on keeping on.
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Dr. J Discusses Burning up to 500 Calories in 30 Minutes — Is it Possible?