Now that you know what
gross calorie burn is, net calorie burn is easily understood.
This article explains the difference between net and
gross calorie burn, and why it is important to understand these concepts if you are tracking your caloric balance.
Gross calorie burn is the absolute total amount of calories burned while performing any given activity.
Do you know the difference between net calorie burn and
gross calorie burn?
The mistake here, which is extremely common, is that a typical calorie burn calculator on a treadmill provides
gross calorie burn estimates.
After 30 minutes of running, at about 5.2 miles per hour, a treadmill calorie burn calculator (one that provides
gross calorie burn estimates) will show that you have burned about 250 calories.
As opposed to
gross calorie burn, net calorie burn does not include calories burned to support your RMR.
Now that you understand the meaning of net and
gross calorie burn, you should be able to avoid one of the most common mistakes that people make when tracking their calorie burn, illustrated by the following scenario:
Typical calorie burn calculators, including those usually built into treadmills, stair climbers, bikes, elliptical machines, etc., provide
gross calorie burn estimates, but some calculators provide net calorie burn estimates.
If you want to convert the estimate to
gross calorie burn, memorize the number and click here.
The first calculator converts known
gross calorie burn values to net calorie burn, and the second calculator converts known net calorie burn values to
gross calorie burn.
If you want to learn more about net and
gross calorie burn, what the difference between them is, and how they impact your calorie tracking efforts, read our Net Versus
Gross Calorie Burn article.
If you track how many calories you burn during physical activity for weight management, it is important to know if the numbers that you are working with are
gross calorie burn estimates or net calorie burn estimates, because over time the unaccounted for cumulative difference between net and
gross calorie burn can become significant.
Not exact matches
Therefore, to use these calculators correctly you must have already determined your
calorie burn estimate for a given activity and you must know if that
calorie burn estimate is a
gross or net value.
Tracking how many
calories you
burn while exercising, or performing any type of physical activity, can be a useful weight management technique (especially when combined with
calorie consumption tracking) but if you don't know whether your
calorie burn estimates are net or
gross, or what the difference is, then you might not achieve the results you were expecting.