How do you calculate calories burned?

[OakLeaf]

I can't even remember where I ran across this discussion, probably someone linked to it here so apologies if it's a duplicate. But I thought it was interesting and it concords with what I know about the subject. (FTR, even though I have a couple of devices with one of the more sophisticated algorithms, I ignore the calorie count too.)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azd...sing-one-21472


One thing that no one's mentioned is recovery nutrition. Your window to replace muscle glycogen starts closing half an hour after your workout ends, and returns to baseline within two hours. If I let my muscles stay depleted after a long workout, I'll be ravenous, literally, for days, because my body thinks it's starving. I pretty much have to force myself to eat after long runs and especially longer tempo runs, I have no appetite whatever at that point, but I know I need to do it, both for the sake of my next workout and also so I won't be guaranteed to overeat for the next few days. The general rule I've read is 2-300 calories immediately after your workout ends, ideally at a 4:1 carb to protein ratio, then a full healthy meal within two hours.