VO2 Max and Calorie Expenditure

[shandi76]

I got my VO2 max tested earlier in the week and it came out as 64 (Not bad for a woman in her 30s.)

The thing is, I re-set my heart rate monitor with this data, and now it has dramatically increased my estimated calorie expenditure during workouts. It was previously programmed to assume my VO2 max was 44, I think.

It has gone from saying I have burned 650 calories an hour in Body Combat, to saying I am burning 1000 calories. I do go all out, but even so, is it really possible I can be burning that many calories?

I only weight about 136lbs, with 21% bodyfat. I also thought that as you got fitter you had to work harder to burn the same number of calories because you would be losing weight and becoming more efficient at doing the same exercises?

[azphx1972]

This may answer some of your questions:

www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/an-explanation-of-exercise-efficiency.html

I found the above link from this discussion:

caloriecount.about.com/question-exercise-efficiency-ft186869

[pig]

Consider this: It takes the same amount of energy to life a pound. That does not change. Your ability to transport oxygen does not affect that energy expenditure in any way shape or form. I'd be suspicious of it changing like that.

[shandi76]

Thanks for the links azphx.

Pig, from what I have read, it seems that because my VO2 max has increased, I have to work much harder to get my heart rate up. So working out at 160bpm for me involves much more exertion than it does for someone of average fitness.

I see what you are saying about it taking the same amount of energy to lift a pound, but for some people it takes a lot more effort than others. So I would take it from that, that someone effortlessly squatting 300lbs is burning 10 times as many calories as someone who is mustering all their strength to squat 30lbs? In which case, that would support the argument that as you get fitter, you can increase your exercise intensity so what seems easy for you could burn more calories than what is causing extreme discomfort for the new folk who are running much slower but sweating and going beetroot?

I am suspicious as to how accurate the VO2 max tests are though. I'd also forgotten to re-set my weight (I've lost 3Kg since I set it), which was partly why the readings were so high.

I'm not changing my calorie intake anyway, so it doesn't really matter if they're not all that accurate: it just feels better psychologically if I can say I'm burning 5000 calories a week rather than 3800.

[pig]

I'd disagree Shandi. Physics would say otherwise. It takes one foot pound of energy to raise one pound one foot off the ground. Whether it takes all your strength or you can do it easily, they both exert one foot pound to raise the weight which means the same caloric expenditure.

It doesn't matter how efficient your body works it still takes the same energy expenditure. As far as heart rate I'd buy that it would take your heart longer to reach the same rate as a sedintary individual. However, if you weigh the same it will still require you both the same enerty to move the same distance.

[shandi76]

Pig, I think we are actually agreeing. I'm maybe just not explaining things very well?

I burn more calories in Body Pump than most others in the class because I lift heavier weights, even if I struggle less than they do.

I also think I burn more in my cardio classes because my level of physical activity is higher (I punch harder, kick harder, run faster, skip faster,...) than most others in the class, even if I don't sweat as much as some folk. We're doing the same activities, but not quite because I never take the 'low options' or slack off for a few seconds now and then.

I agree that, assuming my friends were the same weight as me, we burned the same amount of calories doing the half marathon, even though I ran it 1/2 hour faster than they did. So if we ran for exactly the same amount of time, I would cover a greater distance and therefore burn more calories in that timescale.

[Artemis Windsong]

I am not an expert but I think it is called body efficiency. The more you do something, the more your body becomes adjusted to it and you have to do more to get the same results. It's like capitalism and weight lifting, there always has to be increase!

The body remembers and figures out a way to make the work easier a.k.a conditioning.

ETA: Sputter, sputter, cough, cough. I'm eatin' your dust Shandi! I am glad for you. ;D

[pig]

That's not the same thing at all. It doesn't matter if you're Arnold or Ralphie May, it takes the same amount of energy for either of them to raise the same weight, that's physics and there is no way around that fact.