MFP stats

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tgardi
tgardi Posts: 54 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Am I the only one that isn't sure about how many calories MFP tells you that you burn with certain things? Take the regular strength training one. 285 calories? Nah I'm not feeling that.

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  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
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    Most online activity calculators use the published metabolic equivalent of tasks (METs) values that provide an estimate for Calories burned per minute, which are estimates for a general population and may differ for you as an individual based on your level of intensity. MFP generally uses the 2011 METs values compiled in the Compendium of Physical Activities for cardiovascular exercise activities; although they have not included all of these in the pre-loaded Cardiovascular list.​

    The METs values in the Compendium and MFP include your BMR (METs = 1.0). This means that the estimated Calories per minute logged in MFP include the Calories you would burn during that time period even if you were not actively exercising.

    You can determine your MFP BMR by using the web version feature at APPS > BMR. Once you have the BMR per day value, divide the BMR by 1440 minutes/day to get your MFP BMR per minute rate. For example, my BMR is about 1470 Cals/day. 1470 Cals/day divided by 1440 minutes/day equals 1.02 Cals/minute. For every ten minutes of exercise, I subtract 10.2 Calories from the MFP estimate.

    If you don't want to go to the trouble of subtracting your BMR Cals/minute from the amount of estimated Calories MFP provides, you can reduce the amount of time logged or only eat back a portion of the earned Calories. This is one of the reasons some people recommend to eat back only about 50-75% of the estimated Calories if you log the entire amount of time. The percentage you choose is dependent on how high your BMR is, how long you do a sustained cardiovascular activity, and your intensity.

    I would suggest choosing one percentage, log that amount for a few weeks, then readjust if your rate of weight loss/gain is not what is expected. Of course, make sure that you are logging Calories In completely and accurately by choosing the appropriate food items and verifying those items using online resources.

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