How many Calories Do You burn during a workout?

Āahlā w Sahlā família! You ‘ve asked me this question so many times!

You might have different motives for having this question on your minds like being curious about how many calories you burned during pilates, or your goal is to lose weight, and maybe you want to know how much to fuel your body post a workout. Whatever the case may be let’s dive in! shall we?

Well there is NO MAGICAL number! To simplify things let me tell you that calories burnt depend on each person and there are several factors that play a role such as:

Your weight

Kimberly Caines wrote for the AZcentral, the more you weigh, the more calories you burn when exercising, because your body has to use more energy and work harder to move itself. So a person weighing 65kg doing the same workout as someone weighing 90kg, will burn less calories.

Body Composition and Muscle Mass

A person with more muscle will often burn more calories than a person with higher body fat. A kg of muscle burns 3 times more than a kg of Fat. Not too bad huh, so next time you see your weight has increase on that scale, or you’re maintaining your weight, don’t freak out just yet! You might have gained muscle and lost some fat, that’s all, and it’s all good news!

Type and Intensity of the workout

And let’s state the obvious here, Cardio = more calories burnt and Strength Training = Less calories burnt during the session! Right?

Yes Correct! But and oh my GOD that BUT is huge (you see what I just did there? 😉 )

What about calories burnt while you rest? Yes this is called the afterburn and it happens when your body continues to burn calories even when you’re done with the workout. But you may ask yourselves how?

When you do low impact exercises such as Pilates you are changing your body mass, you are adding on muscle which will help you burn more calories after your workout.

Duration of the workout

The time you spend doing a certain physical activity impacts the calories you burn. So for example if you walk for 15 mins you will burn less calories than if you walk for 30 mins.

Gender and Age

Men and Women have different body compositions which affect how many calories they burn respectively. In general, men have more muscle tissue and less fat than women do, hence they burn more calories during exercise. According to the Fitness Magazine website, a man’s metabolism is about 10%-15% higher than that of a woman. 

Also, as we age, we lose muscle tissue which affects our metabolism. To combat this try incorporating strength based exercises such as Pilates at least twice a week.

Why not start with this Pilates Workout available on my Youtube channel? Let me know how it goes if you do try it!

Diet

Your metabolism is affected by the food you eat and impacts the rate at which you burn calories. For example, If you eat far too less calories than you need (Yes I am talking to you guys following the “Less than 800 calories” fad diet), loads of unhealthy foods or skip meals you’re going to burn less calories. Checkout some highly nutritious and healthy recipes here

Sleep

Not getting your beauty sleep makes you feel more fatigued and possibly exercise less or cancel sessions with your trainer. Inadequate sleep can slow down your metabolism which means you burn less calories.

Oxygen Intake

According to Pete Mcall, heath and Fitness expert, the more you breath during a workout, the more calories you burn. YAY did you know you much you breath in PILATES! LOADS!

It indicates that you’re working harder and for every liter of oxygen you take in, you’re burning 5 calories. Sweet! Sign me up please!

It’s only an estimate

If you are interested in knowing how many calories you burnt during a workout you can use this Formula by Very Well Fit.

However, Always remember this is a rough estimate. According to this calculator someone having 64kg (me!) practicing pilates for 55 mins will burn 185 calories which is not bad at all! And keep in mind that the calculator does not know when your instructor (also me!) decides to go with a fast paced class, where you’ll increase your heart rate and work many combo exercises which will elevate your heart rate and make you break a sweat!

Of course, a fitness tracker can provide a clearer estimate of calories burned, but you can still use this number as a base.

The Takeaway

So what do you think of all that? I would say let’s not get overwhelmed with all the numbers. It’s true to achieve weight loss or gain we need to be counting calories we take through food and calories burnt through activities. But try to focus on the goals of staying active and eating healthy and you should notice some weight changes in your favor!

Don’t forget to let me know what you think in the comments below!

gg