A few weeks ago, I presented at a Weight Management & Chronic Disease Teaching Day on “Exercise Considerations for Diabetes and Obesity.” I talked about calories burned during certain exercises, noting those that burn few and others that burn many.

At that time, I was counting calories to lose my holiday weight gain. (Which holiday? From Halloween to New Year’s!) To do this, I was staying below 1500 calories/day as we encourage for females in our weight-management program (1800 for males). This was a bit of a challenge that day since I wasn’t home with my own foods; a real-life situation for many patients/clients that are trying to lose weight. I had a bagel for breakfast (calorie-dense), was careful at the lunch buffet (salad bar and soup), and then got in the car to drive home. I got hungry, looked in my bag, and found a granola bar; a healthy snack but this bar had 190 calories. This isn’t too bad but, for a snack, it was taking lots of calories toward my total; too calorie-dense.

I reflected on my talk, the snack, and exercise. In our work as diabetes educators, we guide people toward exercises that suit their goals. If weight loss is part of the goal, we should encourage exercise that is efficient at burning calories; those that use lots of muscles, preferably of the arms, legs and trunk. The idea of “calorie-dense exercise” came to mind. We talk about calorie-dense or energy-dense foods; those that contain high amounts of calories per serving and should be limited if trying to lose weight. The same notion fits when thinking about choosing the best exercise to lose weight but opposite; try to choose “calorie-dense exercise.” What do you think about the phrase “calorie-dense exercise?” Can you think of a better term?

For example, if that person says “I am trying to lose my belly weight so I am doing 10 sit ups each day” or “I do stretches 3 times a week but am not losing weight,” we should be providing accurate information about other options that might better help them reach their goal.

By doing a search on a phone app or the computer, we can help the individual find an exercise that they might enjoy, that suits them, and that is “calorie-dense.” There will be individual variability depending on the person’s ability, weight, and intensity of the activity. Any exercise done for longer or higher intensity will burn more calories than shorter duration, lower intensity.

Below are some examples of calories (estimated) that a person weighing 200 pounds will burn when doing one hour of some common exercises/physical activities, from high calorie-dense to low calorie-dense. (If a person weighs less, they will burn fewer calories and if a person weighs more, they will burn more calories per minute.) We can lead an individual who is trying to lose weight go to a good source, put in their weight, and determine which exercises best suit their interests and needs.

(Adapted from: Ainsworth BE, et al. 2011 compendium of physical activities: A second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011;43:1575.