difference in burned calories in different apps

reneemcdonut
reneemcdonut Posts: 11
in Getting Started
Hoping someone can answer this question: Why are the exercise apps calculating the calories burned different than mfp? I use run keeper everytime I run or walk and when I input the exercise the calories burned is totally different. run keeper is higher. How do I know how many calories I actually burned?

Replies

  • marialynn2014
    marialynn2014 Posts: 89 Member
    Invest in a heart rate monitor, you won't be sorry! Those apps can't read your HR, so it can't actually count calories correctly. I found the best prices for HRMs are on amazon. I have the polar FT4. Love it!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Because it's all an estimate and different apps and databases utilize different formulas to arrive at that estimate. You will never know bang on how many calories you burned doing X, Y, or Z.

    A HRM is relatively accurate for calorie burn provided a steady state aerobic event...even then, it's still an estimate and you'd at least want to knock off your BMR calories. The further away you get from a steady state aerobic event, the less accurate a HRM is.

    There are about a gazillion variables involved with calorie burn...so it is impossible for any database or calculator to be accurate. Just estimate on the conservative side when eating back calories and understand that we actually don't burn that many calories with exercise...it is really hard to burn much more than 10 calories per minute above your BMR and I always kinda used that as a guide when I was doing the MFP method.
  • my_transformation2014
    my_transformation2014 Posts: 19
    Invest in a heart rate monitor, you won't be sorry! Those apps can't read your HR, so it can't actually count calories correctly. I found the best prices for HRMs are on amazon. I have the polar FT4. Love it!

    ^^^ This!!! Best thing ever! I have used the Fitbit Force and it was a waste of money. A heartrate monitor is great!

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