Calculating calories burned helps you determine the amount of exercise needed to work off calories you take in. By using a simple calculation method, you can determine your calorie burn for your cardio workouts. You can use a pedometer with a speedometer function, a GPS unit, or a GPS-enabled phone to calculate your speed and distance. The calculation will determine an average calorie burn during the time you have exercised.
Step 1
Weigh yourself. In order to calculate calories burned, you first must determine your own weight. Weigh yourself wearing your exercise clothes so you have an accurate assessment of the demand you are placing on your body.
Step 2
Begin your cardio activity and use a stopwatch to determine your exercise time. Alternatively, if you are using the speedometer function on a GPS unit or smart phone, begin a new tracking session or trip. Your owner's manual or software has information on this.
Step 3
Time your activity from start to finish with your device. For the most accurate assessment, exercise continuously while timing, avoiding stops or breaks, which will skew the actual time exercising.
Step 4
Finish your exercise and use your stopwatch to figure out how long you exercised. Alternatively, stop your session or trip on your device. Note the length of time you exercised, the distance you exercised, and the average speed depending upon the capability of your timing device.
Step 5
Calculate your speed by multiplying your distance by your time. This figure will determine the intensity of your exercise, and thus, the calorie burn. The more intensely you work out, the greater number of calories you will burn.
Step 6
Use a calorie burn calculator to determine the calories burned. Health Status and the University of Maryland Medical Center have health calculators on their websites. You will need your weight, the time of activity and your speed, depending on the calculation. Mayo Clinic includes a table with estimations of calories burned per hour for common activities.
Step 7
Calculate calories burned per minute for a more detailed look at your calorie burn based on your activity. Divide the total calories burned by the number of minutes you exercised.
Step 8
Use this figure as a motivational tool for keeping you on track with your weight maintenance or weight loss effort. If you learn that you have to run jog 15 minutes to burn off the calories of a 16-oz. bottle of soda, you may find yourself less likely to indulge in sugary treats or other high caloric foods.
Tips and Warnings
- Check your weight periodically, especially if you feel you've been losing weight. Your calorie burn will be less as you lose weight. To increase your calorie burn, increase your speed to boost the intensity of the activity.
- Consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program if you are over 50 or have a pre-existing medical condition.
Things You'll Need
- Scale
- Speedometer
- Stopwatch
- GPS device (optional)
- GPS-enabled smart phone (optional)
- Calculator
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