MyFitnessPal realllllly over estimates on calories..

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  • ayalowich
    ayalowich Posts: 242 Member
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    Nobody is burning 900 calories walking for an hour...sorry people.

    So true. Not happening no matter how big you are.
  • MikeInAZ
    MikeInAZ Posts: 483 Member
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    Get a Polar Heart Rate Monitor, wear it, you will know how many calories you burn when you work out. Sometimes, MFP is very close to my calories burned when I use mine, But other times, it's WAY off!

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EKPXJTU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EKPXJTU&linkCode=as2&tag=digimedidire-20
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Seems like we have a lot of Doctors on this site...

    At 415 pounds my HRM showed me a burn of 1302 calories for 60 minutes of walking at a 8.2 min/km.

    Now at 339.8 pounds my HRM shows me a burn of 1156 calories for 60 minutes of walking at a 7.2 min/km.

    I think people need to stop, relax, and realize some people burn more, before they speak out of their *kitten*.

    Rob

    A lot of people aren't just talking about of their *kitten*. The energy required for walking is quite established and a lot of data to support it. Some here have spent some time learning about it.
    HRMs are not infallible. That is not saying yours is wrong, just making a point in general.

    I do agree with you in a way though, without knowing all the info (as I mentioned in my first response) it is hard to say how accurate that 900 calorie estimate is. But the fact remains, for a lot of people, 900 calories for walking for an hour is just not realistic.

    I think people need to stop, relax, and stop trying to achieve monster burns. And if it is extraordinarily high, it may not be correct regardless of the source.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Regarding HRMs and accuracy, a few good posts.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/773451-is-my-hrm-giving-me-incorrect-calorie-burn
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1044313-this-is-why-hrms-have-limited-use-for-tracking-calories
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    MFP always gives me relatively low burns, although it does seem to give others high burns.
  • kklucas0303
    kklucas0303 Posts: 2 Member
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    I am an avid runner logging 50+ miles/week. If I run 7 miles/hour it says I burn about 510 calories. I'm 105 pounds so sounds about right. Depressing, but right. The smaller you are, less you burn, and less you can eat.
  • Cherise1
    Cherise1 Posts: 8
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    I go off of what my elliptical tells me I burn. My elliptical tracks my heart rate, etc and I can change the resistance with a touch of a button which makes me work harder and in turn a higher resistance allows me to burn more calories. So I can walk 30 min at resistance level 3 and it gives me a certain amount that I burned, if I went 30 min. at resistance 4 I burn close to 100 calories more, if I stay at the same mph, etc. as the previous level 3. So I'm sure my pals are thinking," what is she doing?" too lol.
  • eddiesmith1
    eddiesmith1 Posts: 1,550 Member
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    Walking has pretty predictable burns and they are well documented, the MFP #s are all over the place though It boils down to weight, speed(or distance) and Time
    About.com has a decent calculator for auditing apps and mfp #s and will be pretty clkose to what a HRM will come up with

    http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc2.htm

    to get a number like 900 you'd need to be quite large and very fast 250 lbs and 5 MPH which is a very very fast pace - I weigh 194 have been walking a minimum of 7 km a day for most of 3 months and when I push it I come in at 8 minutes per km which is 4.66 mph and that is hard to hit consistently for an hour (and I couldn't do that when I was 215 even)

    So it's possible but I'd be surprised (People overestimate the distance they walk then enter a number)
    I use Map My Ride/Walk/Run App - I've fine tuned it and it comes in line with about.com now but originally it was nuts (because for some reason it thought I weighed 463 lbs so i was getting 2500 calorie burns)
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    A HRM will give you a BETTER idea.

    Just as with calories eaten never being THAT precise (maybe this chicken who's breast you are eating worked out so had more muscle and less fat?), nor will HRM calorie data - it's worked out on algorithm which averaged a load of people's results, rather than telling you exactly what you burnt at that second with those weather conditions, footwear and so on.

    As for not believing you can have big burns walking - taking the 400lb example - if you're a 175lb person, say - go and get a 225lb barbell and try going for a normal 'walk' while carrying that weight and see how many calories you burn!

    Typically MFP does seem to be a bit over. Recently I've found it seems to be not TOO far off when compared to HRM + GPS + (if cycling) other sensor data. Presumably depends how much my body matches their model.

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