To many people concerned with accuracy of everything

CelticWarrior

I have seen many people posting for accuracy, in calories,bmi,body fat,you name it they wanna have accurate readings.

I personally find it gratifying not to be so accurate because this can hurt your progress at times.

Say you just did 60 minutes of running and calories burned says 300, how would that make you feel ?

I suggest not to worry about the accuracy as much as just doing it ,instead just put in what you find on MFP, say is 450 for 60 minutes of running, maybe your off by 150 calories that you burned, but you will continue to do it seeing these numbers opposed to seeing 300 and you will build confidence and you will still lose weight and get healthy.

I have based my exercises like this the whole time and it has kept me encouraged and this is what you need more than accuracy .

GL and HF ,stay healthy

Barelmy

I think most people gain confidence based on seeing results, not grossly exaggerated numbers.

MelissaL582

I agree Celtic!

SheliaN1960

Well said! I do not put my trust in these computers anyway. It is all about how you feel! I hope many of our peeps on here read this! Best wishes!

ajbeans

I agree -- I like some degree of accuracy, but if I'm off by a little bit, it's not going to hurt me as long as I'm still staying within my goal range. I don't want to measure every little thing. I do measure some things, like my morning cereal, because I know I'd dump a whole bowl full and it would be too much. But mostly I eyeball it, and I know I'm getting close.

I do think it's important for some people to be precise because sometimes they're drastically underestimating what they're eating or overestimating what they're burning, and that can stall progress. So in cases like that, I think it's ok to shift the other way and try to be super-accurate for a while to get you back on track. I don't think it's *wrong* to try to be accurate down to the calorie. As long as it doesn't become an obsession (which it probably would for me), it's ok if that's the route someone wants to take.

skinimin

I'm afraid of underestimation calorie worth and over estimating on calories burned. These inaccuracies would not be good.

wewon

For a lot of people (myself) the reason for coming to mfp was to get some accuracy, both in their diets and exercise. So much of my past frustrations was that the results that I thought that I should get were not in alignment with what I felt that I was doing.

After making some progress and experience it becomes easier to loosen up on some of the strictness since you have a "feel" for how things are working. But that's the way it is with most things in life.

tmaksparkie

I agree, I don't even now what I burn during exercise I have a bodybugg and could wear it but I decided that I am not going to logg my exercise I am just going to do it, just like I don't logg calories, I do put in what I eat but the only numbers I look at are my macros.

acknan

I totally agree! I often try to overestimate my food so that the error goes in a direction that helps me lose... I use a HRM, so I'd like to think that my calories burned are accurate, but even if they are not, I assume I am making a consistent mistake. Either direction will still help me see what is and isn't working. It's up to me to make changes based on patterns, not hard and fast numbers!

Thanks for posting!

EbonyGemstoneHealth

This is true! BUMP

cgipson165

This is exactly why I stopped entering my workouts on here. I think it may be a good tool for someone to have a guideline maybe? But if they are depending on the accuracy of these tools... they will be disappointed.

Mairgheal

I do try to be as accurate as possible (my GPS tracker gives way lower calories than MFP and I prefer to go by the lower ones to be on the safe side), but at the same time, I try not to obsess about it all too much.

No way I'll be measuring out a tablespoon of peanutbutter or half a cup of broccoli. At the end of the day a gramme more or less are not going to make a difference.

ybba12490

Agree! I posted a topic last night where I was wondering how often people weigh themselves. I don't weigh myself often, maybe every 2 weeks or so, because I feel like having numbers in my head would put pressure on. With food, I eyeball my portions and watch what I eat. I don't even use the food diary of MFP but I do write down what I eat on a log on my computer. For exercise, I don't really trust the machines giving accurate numbers because some don't even ask for your age, weight, etc, and don't account for your body type. So I look at how many calories I'm "burning" on those machines but it doesn't really bother me if I only burn 300 cals in one session. I'm starting to focus more on just feeling and looking better, but I do understand why some people want to be as accurate as possible, especially if you have set goals. For someone like me, I'm just going with the flow, and while I have "target numbers" I'm not stressing over them. Thanks for this post!

jenbusick

For some of us, accuracy really matters. The closer I get to my goal, the more my body wants to hang onto its remaining weight, and accurate measures of calories in/calories burned become more critical than they were when I was 40 lb overweight.

There's really no reason to dump on other people who are just trying to hit their goal and need an accurate tool to do it.

Hinto

Well, I'm mainly looking for consistency rather than accuracy I guess. I always tend to 'round' up for food and 'round' down for excercise, I figure this way is the safest for me as I try to lose weight. I do like all of the good information I get from logging what I eat, and I do put EVERYTHING in there, even when I'm binging. I do think keeping that food journal is very helpful because it helps me see what works and what doesn't. In terms of exercise, I log everything I do. I use a HRM, even if it's not 100% accurate, it's at least consistent and it helps me judge a 'good' workout versus a 'bad' one. I do find that the calories reported from my HRM is lower than what MFP spits out.

CelticWarrior

I think most people gain confidence based on seeing results, not grossly exaggerated numbers.

yes that is true , but you take exercising 1 day at time and visual has a big impact on how you see an impact. I don't know about others but for me ,exercise was and is a fragile thing that can be broken easily if Im not seeing a daily result and you cant see daily results based off weight lose. But you can see progress in calories burned vs calories consumed and that visual progress or failure has an impact on you getting up the next day and wanting to perform your exercise duties. That is the most important part of exercising to me. The confidence from results still will come the same whether your exaggerating numbers or not ,but the motivation that doing this can produce by far outweighs the accuracy of what your doing.

CelticWarrior

For some of us, accuracy really matters. The closer I get to my goal, the more my body wants to hang onto its remaining weight, and accurate measures of calories in/calories burned become more critical than they were when I was 40 lb overweight.

There's really no reason to dump on other people who are just trying to hit their goal and need an accurate tool to do it.

Dumping on people that want to be accurate ? no way . Im simply saying ( mostly for the benefit of those that get discouraged easily , Like myself) accuracy doesn't really matter as much as staying motivated to keep going. I was basically passing on what I learned, that worked to keep me motivated to get up every morning and keep doing what I did.

JeanneTops

The key is to only do what you are sure you can do for the rest of your life. Some folks are great at being precise in everything, others can be comfortable eyeballing it all.

But it won't do you any good to be very precise about it all until you hit goal and then stop, figuring you've learned new ways. It won't do you any good thinking of measuring, exercising, logging, refusing treats etc. as "hard work" and that you won't have to work so hard when you reach goal.

The reports I've read about people who successfully don't gain the weight back are those who continue doing what they did while they lost the weight. So if you are the kind of person who needs to be accurate about everything in your life, then you are probably right to be accurate about calories and exercise while you're losing weight.

But if you see it as a pain to do now, then you're not likely to continue when you reach goal and you will be at great risk for gaining the weight back. It's best to find the middle ground where what you're doing feels comfortable for you and you're still losing weight.

JennDoesKeto

i log everything food wise i mainly make sure im under my calorie goals for the day. i don't pay too close attention to the other columns. i really dont track all my water as i get over 100oz a day. i measure everything i eat unless i go out to eat then i eyeball it and preplan what i am going to have so i can prep beforehand. i log my exercise but i don't eat those calories ive gained from them as i just look it at is as bonus loss. and i weigh in the am and pm. i love seeing the scale go up and down. im a scale a holic. it works for me. it always has. i know what ive had to eat and i can see where the scale is. i log my weight every morning. i want to be able if i need to go back and see what worked one day and know what i ate that helped me lose. i have a long journey so these habits will probably change over time and i will be more lax but for now im doing what works for me. you do what works for you.

CelticWarrior

i log everything food wise i mainly make sure im under my calorie goals for the day. i don't pay too close attention to the other columns. i really dont track all my water as i get over 100oz a day. i measure everything i eat unless i go out to eat then i eyeball it and preplan what i am going to have so i can prep beforehand. i log my exercise but i don't eat those calories ive gained from them as i just look it at is as bonus loss. and i weigh in the am and pm. i love seeing the scale go up and down. im a scale a holic. it works for me. it always has. i know what ive had to eat and i can see where the scale is. i log my weight every morning. i want to be able if i need to go back and see what worked one day and know what i ate that helped me lose. i have a long journey so these habits will probably change over time and i will be more lax but for now im doing what works for me. you do what works for you.

your goals will always change with progress I think, mine did . I started my goal with wanting to get to 235 pounds, around 250 my goal changed to getting to 220, then 210, now 200, Im not sure if that goal will change to I get there ,or closer to it. My exercises evolved and changed over time. I always challenged my body to push a little harder once I got to a place where I felt comfortable at doing the exercises I did.

sunshine79

Totally agree. At a point I became so obsessed with the minutiae of every morsel that entered my mouth and every calorie burned through work out almost to the point of obsession.

I stopped wearing my HRM for workouts for a while and I also stopped entering calories burned and just logged my exercise in the notes section and doing this was mentally, such a release.

I also stopped weighing myself and just measured instead :happy:

What has now become more important for me is just getting on with it. Making the wises food choices, eating a balanced diet and being active for the sake of being active and not to clock up a number on my HRM as this is now a life style for me and not something I'm 'doing' for a while.

The outcome has been that I am able to maintain my weight (which is a huge achievement for me), without micro managing every aspect of my life. I do still have 9lbs left to go but I'm confident I WILL get there.

Great post.

jewelzz

There was a post last week that said,if you use an hrm or machine that you are not really getting accurate calorie counts.Now I dont agree i use them both and take the average.I dont think you can ever get a total accurate count so there for I use common sence.being close is ok with me'I'm not obssesed with total accuracy

emmascott

Lol lol, I can see all sides here, but I am such a list and numbers freak that I'm afraid I'll never change.

Off to write some more lists about some lists I need to write.

Xxx

heidiberr

There is an awesome post here about HRM and how they aren't any more accurate than the guestimations or what the machine churns out: 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

I think it's all about being honest with yourself and cutting yourself some slack from time to time.

If you become a perfectionist about this, that's going to cause stress which will make it harder to drop the weight.

Thanks for this topic!

jenbusick

For some of us, accuracy really matters. The closer I get to my goal, the more my body wants to hang onto its remaining weight, and accurate measures of calories in/calories burned become more critical than they were when I was 40 lb overweight.

There's really no reason to dump on other people who are just trying to hit their goal and need an accurate tool to do it.

Dumping on people that want to be accurate ? no way . Im simply saying ( mostly for the benefit of those that get discouraged easily , Like myself) accuracy doesn't really matter as much as staying motivated to keep going. I was basically passing on what I learned, that worked to keep me motivated to get up every morning and keep doing what I did.

Fair enough. We all have to find what works for us.

Sasha_Bear

Well I'm gonna have to disagree, I have been going by what MFP says I burned since I started, but I wanted some accuracy I don't wanna have to guesstimate my calories if I don't have too. I just recently purchased a HRM for this reason and I thought about how disappointed I would be if I wasn't burning as many calories as I thought I was, but decided if that was case I will just have to work that much harder.

I used that HRM for the first time yesterday ,and come to find out all this time I have been grossly underestimating the calories I was burning needless to say I was excited to see all the effort I put in to my workout was truly paying off.

heidiberr

As the previous post I put, HRM only track your heart rate which is not ness. the determining factor of how many calories you burn. Check out the link from my earlier post--it sheds some light on HRM.

They can be great tool, but they are not a perfect solution to knowing exactly how many calories are burned per exercise session.

Sasha_Bear

As the previous post I put, HRM only track your heart rate which is not ness. the determining factor of how many calories you burn. Check out the link from my earlier post--it sheds some light on HRM.

They can be great tool, but they are not a perfect solution to knowing exactly how many calories are burned per exercise session.

Did you read the whole article because I pulled the following from the bottom? So I'm not seeing where it sates they don't work?

Even if you have purchased a quality HRM, the readings will only be as good as your setup information. An accurate estimation of caloric expenditure requires the following input:

Resting heart rate (HR rest)

Maximum heart rate (HR max)

VO2 max

Weight

Age

Gender

Not only must this data be accurate when you set up the HRM, it must be updated as well if your fitness level increases or if your weight decreases.

heidiberr

As the previous post I put, HRM only track your heart rate which is not ness. the determining factor of how many calories you burn. Check out the link from my earlier post--it sheds some light on HRM.

They can be great tool, but they are not a perfect solution to knowing exactly how many calories are burned per exercise session.

Did you read the whole article because I pulled the following from the bottom? So I'm not seeing where it sates they don't work?

Even if you have purchased a quality HRM, the readings will only be as good as your setup information. An accurate estimation of caloric expenditure requires the following input:

Resting heart rate (HR rest)

Maximum heart rate (HR max)

VO2 max

Weight

Age

Gender

Not only must this data be accurate when you set up the HRM, it must be updated as well if your fitness level increases or if your weight decreases.

It also states: So, it must be emphasized again: HRMs calorie counts are only accurate when there is a consistent and measurable relationship between heart rate and oxygen uptake. That means exercises and exercise movements that are aerobic in nature and that are performed at intensities between 40% of VO2 max and the lactate threshold

There are a number of conditions under which heart rate can increase, but without an increase in oxygen uptake:

-Stress, Illness

-Dehydration

-Environment (high heat and humidity)

-Heavy strength training (HR increases because of increased pressure)

-Changes in posture

-Cardiovascular drift during extended aerobic exercise

In other conditions--arm work, overhead work, "anaerobic" or sprint exercise--an HR increase will reflect in increase in VO2, but it is not a consistently measurable and reproducible relationship, therefore the HRM calorie count is not as accurate.

I'm not saying they don't work--I'm just saying that they aren't perfect.

Sasha_Bear

Well I'll agree with that nothing works flawlessly.

Spitfirex007

I agree 110% man! People put way to much in the numbers! Eat right, go hard in the gym and you will see results! Stop worrying about every little detail.