I’ve been working out for about 4 months now (HIIT on a spin bike and a bit of weightlifting ~20 mins.) three times a week. I’m seeing good improvement in health and physique despite having no idea what I’m doing.
My motivator was calories, but now when I work out I burn way less calories because my body is getting used to the stress, I think. What’s happening? Is my workout less useful than before? Can I not eat as much or is my body burning more fuel now?
In: 54
**Calories**: When you workout you don’t actually burn calories. The number of calories burned that your workout app or site tells you is an approximation using a mathematical formula. What you produce during a workout is watts and watts over time is energy measured in kilojoules. Those kilojoules can be approximated into calories.
**Movement efficiency**: When you start working out more frequently over time your body becomes more efficient at whatever movement you are performing. It could be running or cycling or pretty much any movement. As efficiency increases your body expends fewer calories in order to perform the same work.
**So the fitter you become and the more efficient your body becomes the more kilojoules you need use up during a workout to burn the same amount of calories.**
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