How Accurate is MFP @ Calorie Burn

chelleymae1105

The elliptical trainer, kickboxing, etc seem to have a huge calorie burn (818 cals for 45 mins of kickboxing). Is this because of my weight that it's calculating it so high? Are these accurate and if not, how should I be inputing my calorie burn? I need to make sure i'm staying within my cals and if it looks like I'm burning 800 cals, but I'm actually not, that could def hurt my weight loss, lol. I'm relatively new here and I'm sure this question has been asked before.

shaweetie

I don't have an answer for you, as that's one of my questions too! I hope some great answers pop up on here!

sabrinafaith

It's not so accurate. Everything depends on resistance and heart rate. The only way to be 100% accurate is to get a heart rate monitor with a calorie counter.

ckehoe89

MFP isn't very accurate. The best way to have an accurate read of calories is to purchase a heart rate monitor. That takes in account not only height and weight, but it also tracks your heart rate which is important when burning calories. Someone who is 125lbs is going to burn a different amount of calories than someone who is 150. But also someone of the same weight will have different heart rates depending on how intense their workouts are so thats why a heart rate monitor is important.

carolww

Why not look up the exercise on MFP and then take the number that is the smallest - to be on the safe side.

janelle1993

It has to do with how much you weight and how long you do the exercise like for me it would only be 600 calories for an hour of kickboxing.

nelsaphine

The elliptical trainer is close to my HRM, for me personally it's like 40-50 calories off...but it all depends on your weight, the intensity of the workout and the machine.

messyhare

When I first started exercising I didn't have a hrm so I used whatever was given in the mfp database. I have since gotten a very inexpensive hrm at Walmart - I paid under $30 for it. I always plug in the exercise into the database here and compare it to what my hrm says I have burned calorie wise and I have actually found the database to be fairly accurate. Sometimes my hrm says I burn more or less but its never a huge variation.

That is just my personal experience! I do recommend getting an hrm as then you really know what's going on.

4lafz

For me - with my height, weight, sex and age - I go by my HRM and the MFP numbers are quite inaccurate. When I started and went by the numbers here I just made sure that I did not eat half of the exercise calories - at least!

mongrel666

The "calories burned" by any exercise is dependant on so many variables that it is virtually impossible to calculate accurately. Heart rate is relative to fitness level, so if you are unfit it doesn't take too much to get to your target aerobic zone (popular formula is (220 - age) and your aerobic zone is between 65% and 85% of that.) but if you are fit then it can take a lot more effort. So who uses the most calories?
My standing HR is 47 and I do not consider myself to be particularly fit, so I have to nearly triple my HR to hit my zone. XO
The main thing (in my opinion) is to maintain yourself in the aerobic zone for a comfortable period of time to a maximum of 45 minutes. DO NOT make the mistake of OVER doing it and going into the ANAEROBIC zone. That is the point where your body is unable to provide oxygen sufficient to your exertions and so steals it from your muscles and organs to try to maintain a sufficient oxygen level to your brain. If you are unable to talk to someone while exercising then you may be doing it too hard...

If you are serious then class your aerobic zone exercise as 4 calories per minute, this is an under-calculation by far but it means that you are erring on the side of caution and means you are supporting youself in your weight loss goals.
If someone tells you you are burning inexcess of 10 cals per min then you are either being led down the garden path (so to speak) or you are getting into the anaerobic zone which is a big no no for weight loss and general wellness. I once did a work-out that was supposed to burn 1000 cals in an hour and it nearly killed me. I was so drained that I was unable to exercise properly for the next two days. Stupid really...