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Runtastic Calories

romyhorse
romyhorse Posts: 694 Member
edited February 2 in Social Groups
I misplaced my HRM back in May and have been using Runtastic's calories burned for my exercise calories. Since I started cycling I felt Runtastic was underestimating my cycling calories burned so I tracked down my HRM. Yesterday I went out and cycled my usual 7 mile route and my HRM measured that I burned 80 calories more, which was what I expected. This morning I wore it during my run and discovered Runtastic has been overestimating my calorie burn for running, not by a small margin, but by a whopping 40%! Runtastic has me burning 100 calories per km but my HRM has it at 60 calories. On Sunday I ran 8km and thought I had an extra 800 calories to eat, but it would have only have been 480. Maybe this is why I have been stuck at this weight for nearly 4 months!

Replies

  • bttrthanevr
    bttrthanevr Posts: 615 Member
    That's eye opening! It makes sense that as you become better conditioned, you become more efficient in your running, and therefore burn less. Runtastic wouldn't reflect that. That might partly explain my slowdown in weight loss too. I will be sure to eat only 1/2 my calories back!
  • yamsteroo
    yamsteroo Posts: 480 Member
    Arrgghh! I feel your pain, must be very frustrating when you're trying to do everything right. I'd a similar set back when I found my other half was 'guesstimating' the amount of rice in his lovely risotto despite telling me it was a certain amount!

    I'd never worked out calories per KM before but I've done it just now and using my Garmin and a HRM for my running sections I'm burning 68 per KM - I've no idea if this is accurate the overall calories burnt is what I base my extra calorie intake on.

    My initial weight loss in February was great but now it's about 1lb every two or three weeks but still losing so I can only guess that it must be reasonably accurate - or as accurate as this whole calorie in/out guessing game can get :)
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    I generally just stick to 100 calories per mile.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    Some of the apps estimate your total calories used for the time - not just the additional ones from the exercise. Love rduhlir's equation. That looks about right - this isn't rocket science.
  • romyhorse
    romyhorse Posts: 694 Member
    I generally just stick to 100 calories per mile.

    I run in kms so 60 per km would be about right.

    I am curious, why does the US still use miles and lbs when the rest of the modern world uses kms and kgs?
  • yamsteroo
    yamsteroo Posts: 480 Member
    I generally just stick to 100 calories per mile.

    I run in kms so 60 per km would be about right.

    I am curious, why does the US still use miles and lbs when the rest of the modern world uses kms and kgs?

    I use both depending on what I'm doing. Must be an age thing for me as at school we got taught both when I was there - probably to prepare us for total absorption into Europe!

    I only use KM for running references to distance but not speed and probably only because it sounds better saying I can run 5k rather than only 3 miles lol

    For my own weight I use lbs (or stones to be precise) but for food I weigh in grammes.

    For work I use mm not inches as I work with engineering applications but I'm 5'3" tall rather than 160cm (I had to use a calculator just now to get my metric height).

    Weird old world - I kind of envy Americans with only one system to worry about :)
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    That's a huge difference! I ran 4.55 miles this morning so that should be roughly 450 calories vs. the 820 that Endomondo gave me. Good to know. I keep debating the HRM. I'm so ready to stop running with my phone so it would be nice to have a Polar or Garmin watch with GPS & HRM.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    When I was in elementary school we (USA) were going to switch to the metric system too, so they started teaching it to us. As I recall that didn't last long. Even if adults were resistant they should have kept teaching it to kids and eventually it would have caught on. The only thing that seems to have stuck is the 2 liter bottle of soda.
  • romyhorse
    romyhorse Posts: 694 Member
    The only thing that seems to have stuck is the 2 liter bottle of soda.

    Lol, had to laugh at this. In the UK one of the first things to go metric was petrol, I'm pretty sure this was to hide the fact it was getting so expensive!
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    The general 100/mile equation is still just a rough estimate. But it is a lot closer than some apps are to calories burnt. It will be off of course, but if anything it will be an under estimate rather than an over estimate.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
    I just used the Runner's World Calories Burned Calculator for my run this morning. According to them it was 623, which is less than Endomondo gave me (820) but higher than the 100 calorie a mile estimate (which seems right since my weight is higher than average too). According to that:

    Distance: 4.55 miles
    Duration: 57:18
    Pace: 12:36 / mile
    Calories Burned: 623

    Calorie Burn Rates:
    136.96 / mile
    652.5 / hour
    10.88/ minute
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    That's a huge difference! I ran 4.55 miles this morning so that should be roughly 450 calories vs. the 820 that Endomondo gave me. Good to know. I keep debating the HRM. I'm so ready to stop running with my phone so it would be nice to have a Polar or Garmin watch with GPS & HRM.

    Endomondo includes the breathing and being awake calories in their estimate of calories burned.
This discussion has been closed.