myfitnesspal not accurate in measuring calories burned

kameronacole

The most disappointing thing about every fitness app I've ever seen is that they don't actually measure the calories burned. With all the technology at our disposal, the number of calories burned is simply a "canned" number - someone's idea of what the average person burns doing "this brand" of exercise, for this amount of time. See, I want to actually see the improvement in my calorie burning, or lack thereof. Yoga is a great example. Most people fail at yoga, really, because they hyperventilate. They sweat like pigs and probably DO burn 700 calories in an hour! But once you get past the beginner stage in yoga, and you get some breath training, the object is to NOT sweat like a pig. In fact, using CO2 effectively will reduce your heart rate, and you will burn fewer calories.

At this point, for me, the myfitnesspal is worthless in terms of calorie counting. I guess that in an hour of ashtanga yoga, I might burn 400 calories max. But myfitnesspal always shows me 700 per hour! Wow! I should be losing weight like mad ;-) Actu

Really, I have the same problem with most of my training - when you become advanced at jogging, walking, whatever, the intensity decreases - and you need to increase it. But this is not reflected in the app's calories measurement.

Heart rate is useful, but again, not so much

"There are so many factors that go into how many calories you burn that the gym machines don't consider, such as the level of intensity you're working out at, your body temperature, your workout environment (temperature, wind, rain), your muscle mass, your resting metabolic rate, your fitness level, and they're also horrible at tracking your heart rate." says Heather Milton, M.S., C.S.C.S., exercise physiologist at the Sports Performance Center at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Now, for every one liter of oxygen you breathe in, you burn five calories. So people who huff and puff more during their workouts will be burning more calories than people who don't breathe as heavily. This means that a workout will be more taxing — and will therefore burn more calories — for someone who is in worse shape.

"As long as an app or wearable takes into consideration your heart rate, the duration of your exercise, the type of exercise, and your weight, age, gender, and fitness level, it should be able to give you a good estimate," Milton says.

She recommends MyFitnessPal for getting an estimate of calories burned during specific exercises, but says to keep in mind the number is only based on the duration you exercised for, the type of exercise, and your weight.

So, my question is: what is preventing myfitnesspal from simply adding in all the factors? For example, why NOT include heartrate? The app is measuring it already?! Gender should be a no-brainer to add. And if you have really good programmers, you should be able to determine a person's fitness level programatically, using heartrate - just like the treadmill test.

wizzybeth

I use MyFitnessPal for keeping track of the calories I consumed. I only guesstimate at the calories I burn. As long as the scale is moving for me I really don't care if it's a hundred percent to the point accurate to the decimal. Not sure what you can do to get an accurate calorie burn apart from investing in a very expensive heart rate monitor of some sort.

wizzybeth

And my app doesn't measure my heart rate. I have a very basic Fitbit that does not do heart rate. My phone will measure my heart rate if I put my finger over the sensor but somehow I doubt that has a whole lot of accuracy either.

TavistockToad

MFP exercise cals are spot on for me actually...

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

What type of yoga do you think burns 700 calories an hour?

I don't get that running for an hour.

I calculate my morning 20 minutes hatha yoga to be around 60 calories and my weight over the years shows this to be about right.

oocdc2

There are calorie burn calculators online that are (probably) more accurate. This is my favorite one for running: https://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator

sijomial

You do realise that heartrate and calorie burns don't have a simple and direct correlation don't you?
Ask yourself how many heartbeats there are to a calorie......
Quite apart from the huge differences in exercise HR between different people doing the same amount of work.

Yoga burning 700 cals in an hour? Sorry but that's comically wrong.
There's lots of different ways to estimate calorie burns for different exercises and it depends what people are actually doing which method, or methods, are best for them personally.

Azdak

kameronacole wrote: »

The most disappointing thing about every fitness app I've ever seen is that they don't actually measure the calories burned. With all the technology at our disposal, the number of calories burned is simply a "canned" number - someone's idea of what the average person burns doing "this brand" of exercise, for this amount of time. See, I want to actually see the improvement in my calorie burning, or lack thereof. Yoga is a great example. Most people fail at yoga, really, because they hyperventilate. They sweat like pigs and probably DO burn 700 calories in an hour! But once you get past the beginner stage in yoga, and you get some breath training, the object is to NOT sweat like a pig. In fact, using CO2 effectively will reduce your heart rate, and you will burn fewer calories.

At this point, for me, the myfitnesspal is worthless in terms of calorie counting. I guess that in an hour of ashtanga yoga, I might burn 400 calories max. But myfitnesspal always shows me 700 per hour! Wow! I should be losing weight like mad ;-) Actu

Really, I have the same problem with most of my training - when you become advanced at jogging, walking, whatever, the intensity decreases - and you need to increase it. But this is not reflected in the app's calories measurement.

Heart rate is useful, but again, not so much

"There are so many factors that go into how many calories you burn that the gym machines don't consider, such as the level of intensity you're working out at, your body temperature, your workout environment (temperature, wind, rain), your muscle mass, your resting metabolic rate, your fitness level, and they're also horrible at tracking your heart rate." says Heather Milton, M.S., C.S.C.S., exercise physiologist at the Sports Performance Center at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Now, for every one liter of oxygen you breathe in, you burn five calories. So people who huff and puff more during their workouts will be burning more calories than people who don't breathe as heavily. This means that a workout will be more taxing — and will therefore burn more calories — for someone who is in worse shape.

"As long as an app or wearable takes into consideration your heart rate, the duration of your exercise, the type of exercise, and your weight, age, gender, and fitness level, it should be able to give you a good estimate," Milton says.

She recommends MyFitnessPal for getting an estimate of calories burned during specific exercises, but says to keep in mind the number is only based on the duration you exercised for, the type of exercise, and your weight.

So, my question is: what is preventing myfitnesspal from simply adding in all the factors? For example, why NOT include heartrate? The app is measuring it already?! Gender should be a no-brainer to add. And if you have really good programmers, you should be able to determine a person's fitness level programatically, using heartrate - just like the treadmill test.

There is so much wrong here, it’s hard to know where to begin. I don’t have time to dive deep into this except to say that:

1. Estimating exercise calories is really hard, takes a lot of time, and is very expensive. MFP is not a scientific lab; it is a central source for a lot of different information. The quality of the info in MFP reflects the quality of the information generally available, which means rough estimates. There is no other way to get more specific info for the general population.
2. Adding HR data to MFP estimates would makes things 10 times worse, not better.
3. I don’t know where the person you are quoting got her degree, but her information is more wrong than right. It’s kind of embarrassing actually. The fact that she is running around with a CSCS is even worse.

Sharon_C

Of course the app isn't going to be accurate for everyone. It's ridiculous to even think such a thing. You have to put the work in and figure it out for yourself.

After 5+ years using MFP, and much trial and error, I've learned that if I subtract 20% from what MFP says I burned, it's accurate.

karl317

What's really sad about this thread and millions of others is that people still unequivocally believe that exercise automagically means you'll "lose weight like crazy". Sure, exercise might burn calories, but that doesn't mean you're losing weight. Exercise is a lousy tool for losing weight (science proves this!) when compared with changing diet. Diet accounts for 80% or more of the weight loss equation... why does anyone bellyache over how many calories get burned during exercise when it's such a small part of the equation?

Exercise to live longer. Your heart will thank you. Exercise to look good naked. Your mirror and SO will thank you. But if you're exercising to burn calories with weight loss as a goal, you're kinda doing it wrong.

NorthCascades

Gandhi said be the change you wish to see in the world.

Instead of complaining that you can't find an app that does what you want, make one.

NorthCascades

wizzybeth wrote: »

And my app doesn't measure my heart rate. I have a very basic Fitbit that does not do heart rate. My phone will measure my heart rate if I put my finger over the sensor but somehow I doubt that has a whole lot of accuracy either.

It'll probably be pretty close to the truth, but without context. Your HR was 78 bpm at one point during the day, what does that tell you?

Purplebunnysarah

karl317 wrote: »

What's really sad about this thread and millions of others is that people still unequivocally believe that exercise automagically means you'll "lose weight like crazy". Sure, exercise might burn calories, but that doesn't mean you're losing weight. Exercise is a lousy tool for losing weight (science proves this!) when compared with changing diet. Diet accounts for 80% or more of the weight loss equation... why does anyone bellyache over how many calories get burned during exercise when it's such a small part of the equation?

Exercise to live longer. Your heart will thank you. Exercise to look good naked. Your mirror and SO will thank you. But if you're exercising to burn calories with weight loss as a goal, you're kinda doing it wrong.

Can't outrun a *kitten* diet.

try2again

You seem to have very high expectations of a free app.

californiagirl2012

For the most part, even with the HRM's, fitness gadgets, and even all the calculations we learn in college for nutrition and kinesiology, it's still an ART. None of us gets the exact answer, we all have to experiment with trial and error to sort of figure it out and even then, our metabolism ebbs and flows. It's better to focus on energy balance with food, listen to your body when you need "just a little more, not much". Most of us fail if we try to estimate exercise burn and eat all of that back when we are trying to achieve fat loss. The more body fat you have the easier it will be to eat lower, the less body fat you have the more stress the deficit provides.