Accuracy of calories burned

jenabee333
jenabee333 Posts: 16
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm new here and a little confused about the amount of calories burned for exercise. Today, I cycled for about 80 minutes-- maybe more-- and for 80 minutes, the calories burned is upwards of 900???

Is this accurate? I'm not losing at the rate i want to and I'm wondering if this could be why. I know when I use the elliptical for 30 minutes, the machine says 320 cal burned. But when i plug it in here, it says 410. I have to adjust it daily for accuracy.

Replies

  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    Both your exercise machines and MFP estimates are off. I have seen MFP being as much as 50% exaggerated. If you wish to know a more accurate burn, look into buying a HRM.

    However, I do not own a HRM and used to go by MFP burns. I would just assume that its off by 50% and so would only eat back 50% of the calories I burned.

    Now, I go by my TDEE which suits me best. If you wish to look into it, check this thread out. With this method, you don't have to track calories burned but rather eat back the calories based on a weekly average. I still log my workouts but only enter 1 calorie burned. This is done purely to keep track of what/when I worked out.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    Good luck. The thread is made in a private group and I encourage you to join that group and read more of the stickies in there and ask further questions if you have any :)
  • jenabee333
    jenabee333 Posts: 16
    Thanks,

    I checked out that thread. Looks helpful, but I'm going to need some help with all the math. All those numbers made my head spin, so I'll have to come back to it later.

    Any idea why the numbers are so far off?
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    Thanks,

    I checked out that thread. Looks helpful, but I'm going to need some help with all the math. All those numbers made my head spin, so I'll have to come back to it later.

    Any idea why the numbers are so far off?

    Well, the numbers will usually be off because they are estimates. And for some they're closer than others. You have to realize that many things go into how much calories are burned. Your weight, your intensity, your temperature, how long you've been doing it etc so it will usually be off. Which is why HRM is one of the best things for accuracy.

    As for the numbers confusing you, for starters just use this part of the thread
    Estimating TDEE

    There are many TDEE calculators available on the interwebz. A couple of good ones are:

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ (but ignore the rest of the site as it's full of bs).

    The threads and the information in them could be overwhelming and I apologize for not taking that into account. I learned many things (and still consider myself a noob) over 1.5 years so take the information slowly. The main thing in the beginning is to stay under calories. Don't even worry about macros. Once you get hold of staying within calories regularly, then your next phase of macros etc will come in.

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