Is just walking actually this good or did I math wrong somewhere?

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wingedcatgirl
wingedcatgirl Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
(alternate possibility is that my perception of "good" is skewed by the fact that I've spent most of my life doing almost no appreciable exercise at all but like in terms of effort:calorie ratio this still feels... broken. like i've found a loophole in reality.)

THE STORY OF TODAY:
"Time to input my incidental walking as exercise. Hey google maps how far was it there and back. 1.8 miles? All right and stopwatch how much time did I spend walking. 29 minutes? Right, now to math that up... '3.5 mph, brisk pace, 258 calories burnt'.
"... Really? That can't be right. That's practically cheating."

I was walking just barely fast enough to make it feel like any effort at all.

"Oh yes I'm drenched in sweat but surely that's only because it's 300% humidity"

I guess if it's really this good and I'm somehow not off base I'm just gonna walk places again on future days. why not. exercise is exercise. it's free real estate.

Replies

  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,293 Member
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    ‘Zak lee
  • wingedcatgirl
    wingedcatgirl Posts: 10 Member
    edited July 2021
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    Huh, what's the difference? (Other than 66 calories, apparently 😛)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited July 2021
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    wingedcatgirl wrote: »
    Huh, what's the difference? (Other than 66 calories, apparently 😛)

    MyFitnessPal has already allocated the calories you would have burned by existing (BMR) multiplied by your selected activity level for the entire 24hrs of your day including the time you walked. Which means a gross calorie estimate is double counting those calories for that 29 minute walk.

    Net calorie estimates are just for the extra calories burned by your exercise.
    Not massively significant for short duration exercise, more of an issue as your duration goes up.

    (It's lazy programming by MyFitnessPal.)
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
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    Lietchi, can you post the link to net for working out on weight? I went to that website and found the regular calorie burn for lifting but not for the net. Thank You!
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,109 Member
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    donjtomasco wrote: »
    Lietchi, can you post the link to net for working out on weight? I went to that website and found the regular calorie burn for lifting but not for the net. Thank You!

    You mean for walking/running? It's the link I posted, you need to select 'net' where it says 'gross' (third drop-down list).
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 789 Member
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    That one is for walking, yes, and it was very helpful. Thank you! Is there also one for a lifting weights workout that shows net also? Or is the walking one that you posted the same or close enough?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    That is just walking/running.

    Find what MFP thought you'd burn in a day by your selected activity level - say 2400.

    2400 / 1440 min in a day = 1.67 cal per min to remove from any calorie burn estimate that doesn't say NET.

    Memorize the value for 15 min and just round for other times - close enough.

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