Inaccurate Estimates on the Web (Post them here)

tmoneyag99

At lunch I age a 1200 calorie fried stuffed avocado ball. (Man it was gloriously delicious) But that's pretty much my food today.

So I started looking up "how many calories per flight of steps" Everywhere on the web there are a wide variety on the estimate. I am 45lbs heavier than what the estimates are based on therefore I *should* burn more calories. The most common is "10 calories per floor based on 12 step flights with 2 flights per floor"

So my trusty Garmin vivosmart HR and I climbed up 5 floors to go to the bathroom. I set the "Workout mode" on right before my climb. At the end of my climb I burned 18 kCal. Based on the internet it should have been 50. I personally like to trust the more conservative numbers. I realize that my Garmin is not 100% accurate but based on my previous numbers that I calculated while wearing the BodyBug in the past it's on par and the numbers don't appear too far off.

SO! Conclusion: 10 kCal per floor climbed is not accurate. It's more like <4kCal/floor climbed. That is a HUGE difference. If you're far thinner than I, then you'll burn even fewer calories.

So post them here. If you find an estimate on the web and you think it's grossly off write it down.

Anyone want to take on the "100 kCal/mile ran/walked" estimate?

NorthCascades

It's a huge difference if you look at it as 4 kCal * 250 % = 10 kCal. But it's a very small difference if you look at it as 6 kCal per flight of stairs. I don't know how many stairs the average person walks in a day but when you do the math out I doubt it comes to an apple.

Gamliela

So whats 30 minutes of vigourous housework, like vacuming or mopping floors?

Sorry if its not on topic...

tmoneyag99

I have no idea what 30 minutes of Housework is. That is absolutely on topic. I'm just trying to point out that so often those widely accepted estimates that so many of us rely on are Wildly off. And usually in the over estimation direction. Personally I would rather an under estimate than the crazy over estimates.

_incogNEATo_

It's commonly shared around here to only use a small portion of your calorie burn. When the question is asked about "how much of my exercise calories should I eat back," most would recommend eating back only half (or less) of what MFP gives for calories burned.

I would dare say that we can all assume that every burned calorie estimate is grossly overestimated on MFP.

tmoneyag99

I pretty much never eat back my calories. A LONG LONG LONG Time ago I figured out that my body *typically* (thank you bodybug) burns about 10 calores per pound during rest. (ie being sedentary/alive/Desk Job/ normal day to day functions)

What I also determined was that if your Goal weight is 120lbs, it makes sense to eat the calories for your goal weight. (120lbs * 10 = 1200) Granted, so you don't crazy if you have a long way to go, it also makes sense to pre-plan your plateau. Ie if you are 250 calories it's just not mentally or biologically sustainable to do 1200 calories a day if your body is burning 2500 per day.

But yeah... I don't eat back my calories. I just consider them the "edge" needed to get me to the goal sooner and increase my resting calorie burn.

NorthCascades

In keeping with the theme of this thread:

Gamliela wrote: »

So whats 30 minutes of vigourous housework, like vacuming or mopping floors?

Sorry if its not on topic...

20 billion calories!!!!!