We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Calories burned?

k900
k900 Posts: 140 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
How accurate is the calories burned tool ? I have noticed that the machine I'm using gives me a different amount of calories burned than mfp does.

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    For which activities?
    For you?
    For me?
    What machine?

    Every means of estimating calories will give a different result.
  • MeiannaLee
    MeiannaLee Posts: 338 Member
    Its accurate if a person is very overweight. Otherwise machines tend to overestimate calories burned by about 100. I would recommend a heart rate tracker.
  • louubelle16
    louubelle16 Posts: 579 Member
    I wouldn't pay much attention to the machines. As someone above has said, a heart rate monitor is the way to go if you want to keep track. Otherwise, as long as you don't eat back more than 50% of the calories MFP or machines say you have burnt, you should be fine :)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    louubelle16 wrote: »
    I wouldn't pay much attention to the machines. As someone above has said, a heart rate monitor is the way to go if you want to keep track. Otherwise, as long as you don't eat back more than 50% of the calories MFP or machines say you have burnt, you should be fine :)

    But some machines are far more accurate than a basic HRM (which is inappropriate for some activities anyway) - you would be introducing a huge error margin.

    The real answer is pick a method of estimating, try to verify against other sources so that's it's "reasonable", be consistent and adjust based on actual results over time.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories