How off the calories burned on MFP is...........

gostumpy
gostumpy Posts: 156 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
I just shovelled mine and two neighbours driveways of 8" of snow... took about an hour, maybe a little bit more.

I put in 1 hour of shoveling snow in MFP, and it tells me I burned 580 calories..... I doubt I burned even half that...

Do you just manually adjust the calories burned to something more reasonable? I'm not gonna wear a fitbit so don't bother :)

Replies

  • sexymonicat
    sexymonicat Posts: 111
    Ive seen some peope think they burned 2 thousand calories cleaning and I dont say anything cause I dont want to rain on Anyones parade .
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    For some activities, it's fairly accurate . For others, it's just as much of a guess as any other site. Snow shoveling is how many pounds, exactly, per shovel full ... lifted at what angle and speed ... lifted how high ... without those force and work are impossible to calculate ... and therein lies the issue.
  • gostumpy
    gostumpy Posts: 156 Member
    I remember being on a stationary bike, even riding hard and sweating it was gruellingly slow how many calories were burned.. by it's calculations... then I see things like 'Yard Work' burning 600+ calories per hour...
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    edited January 2015
    Guess it depends on how wet the snow was, but I wouldn't consider 580 calories gross (roughly 480 calories net) to be particularly out of line. Like most calorie burn calculators, the MFP one gives a gross burn, so you need to subtract off your baseline burn (I use 100 calories an hour just to make the math easy, YMMV). Hell, you don't have to enter exercise at all...whatever works for you.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    MFP's database is OK for some activities (running and walking seem pretty good) and terrible for others (bicycling is laughably off, compared with my Garmin Edge 800 cycle computer, which uses heart rate, speed, elevation, and my and my bike's weight to estimate calories).

    If you're shoveling heavy snow non-stop for an hour, 580 calories is in the realm of possibility. I burn that many if I bicycle at 18 mph for an hour or a bit more, or if I run 5.5 miles at an 8:00 pace. When I clear my walk, I probably burn calories at that rate, but that's after I have used a self-propelled snowthrower to clear most of the drive, so I'm not doing it very long.
  • krysmuree
    krysmuree Posts: 326 Member
    edited January 2015
    For me, MyFitnessPal is extremely off as far as calculations go. Depending on the exercise, what it says and what my HRM says are dramatically different. I believe MFP bases it on a person of a certain height and weight and doesn't have several samples to compare to your height and weight, hence why it might be more or less than your real burn.

    I'm sorry you're not interested in a HRM, but they really are your best bet to accurately tell.
  • gostumpy
    gostumpy Posts: 156 Member
    KrissyMuree wrote: »
    There's no real accurate way to tell. For me, MyFitnessPal is extremely off as far as calculations go. Depending on the exercise, what it says and what my HRM says are dramatically different. I believe MFP bases it on a person of a certain height and weight and doesn't have several samples to compare to your height and weight, hence why it might be more or less than your real burn.

    I'm sorry you're not interested in a HRM, but they really are your best bet to accurately tell.

    That's actually a nice point, nerdy motivation to see the number stay higher for longer :)
  • krysmuree
    krysmuree Posts: 326 Member
    Yes! :) It really pushes me to keep going when I see my HR up and my (more) realistic burn! When I start feeling like I want to give up, I see it and go, .. okay, just burn 50 calories more .. just 50! Haha.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    KrissyMuree wrote: »
    For me, MyFitnessPal is extremely off as far as calculations go. Depending on the exercise, what it says and what my HRM says are dramatically different.

    The evaluation of which one is more accurate depends on whether one is using the HRM appropriately or not. Most people on here aren't using them in the way they were designed to operate.


  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    gostumpy wrote: »
    Do you just manually adjust the calories burned to something more reasonable? I'm not gonna wear a fitbit so don't bother :)

    For stuff like shovelling snow, gardening and the like there's no way to meaningfully determine calorie expenditure. Manually adjusting down to something you think is more realistic is probably fair.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
    When I shovel snow... I go hard, with no rest, and come out drenched. I'll use my hrm, and it's not uncommon for it to say I'm burning 450+ per 45mins. My heart rate sits at around 155bpm the whole time.

    I will usually report a figure about 100-150 cals less than that.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    MireyGal76 wrote: »
    When I shovel snow... I go hard, with no rest, and come out drenched. I'll use my hrm, and it's not uncommon for it to say I'm burning 450+ per 45mins. My heart rate sits at around 155bpm the whole time.

    I will usually report a figure about 100-150 cals less than that.

    would still be wrong, as there would be a large anaerobic component to shoveling which HRM's are not designed to calculate cals burned for. Not to mention HRMs calculate total cals burned which included maintenance cals which you would have burned anyway, even sitting on the couch. Probably best to back off 1-2 cals/minute to account for what you would have burned anyway, so you don't double count those cals burned.
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