Strava vs IOS. Which to believe?

wendykayt

Stats: I'm a 5'4" 48 yr old female that weighs 121.

Issue: My phone syncs with MFP faster than Strava does. I went on an 8.23 mile walk today. The MFP iOS calorie adjustment claims this earned me an extra 139 calories for the day. But Strava claims I burned 547 calories walking that far, and when it finally syncs then MFP will accept that as fact and change the iOS calorie adjustment to 0 and say I've earned the 547.

Question: Which one should I believe?

cwolfman13

Walking is an easy calculation for net calorie burn...

.31 x weight x distance

so .31 x 121 x 8.23 = about 310 (rounded)

Everything is as estimate, but that formula from Runner's World is pretty on point.

erickirb

does the iOS give you calories for the day? if so it is saying you are that much over for the day, not 139 due to just that walk, whereas strava is giving you an estimate for the 8.23 miles.

If both are giving you burned from exercise only, dead centre seems about right

ritzvin

Your activity setting may already be including a portion of the 8.23 mile walk in your original calories before the exercise adjustment depending on how much you did the rest of the day.

sijomial

Think you might find that Strava is estimating gross calories rather than net calories, for walking (as a long duration but low rate of calorie burn exercise) that creates a significant difference.