Calories Burned- I question the calculation

stubbysticks

I'm in the camp that doesn't really trust readings from anything not attached to your body while you're working out. I wear a Bodymedia Fit & I find that over the past year+ I've been wearing it, the readings are pretty consistent with my calorie deficits. I have definitely raised an eyebrow at some of the calorie burn posts that come through my feed, but I can't say it really bothers me. Whether a website says someone burned 200 or 1,000 during their workout isn't going to impact my weight loss, or theirs for that matter. They still did whatever exercise they did & burned however much it burned.

Now, if that person does the "eat back your calories" thing & goes exclusively by what this site says they've burned, they could run into trouble there, because if the site is indeed overstating calorie burn, they could be eating their way into maintenance, or even weight GAIN as a worst case.

Take everything with a grain of salt. It's all estimates...websites, pedometers, HRMs, Bodymedia Fits, nutritional info on food products, the food database here. All we can do is try our best to stay in a consistent range with our calories (& macros, if you manage to those) & exercise regularly. Every 3-4 weeks or so is a good time frame to look back at what you've been doing & correlate it to your WL then adjust if necessary. The only real evidence of what works for you is your own body.

bethdris

MFP"s workout numbers are estimates, not exact science. Being I didn't eat back whatever I burned, it didn't matter that I used their numbers, cut a % of their numbers off, etc. I am also an HRM user and love it!

meerkat70

I use a HRM each time I exercise.

When I take spin class I can burn 700 plus calories in 50 minutes. Last week I ran a 10k and in the 1:16 it took me to run it I burned 1055 calories. I also do crossfit and in just 20 minutes there are times when I burn over 300 calories in that short time.

Each person is different and one persons level of intensity may be different than anothers.

Personally I don't care what others are doing or saying. I only care about my workout.

Sensible. Thank you.

Realistically, I've never seen anyone who is logging using the MFP estimates either a) take them that seriously or b) eat them all back. I do about 2 hours of exercise every day (generally 90 minutes in the gym, and something else at the other end of the day). MFP gives me stupid numbers for that. But I'm not stupid enough to think I can eat that lot. That said, even if I did, why on earth does it bother the OP?

meerkat70

I agree, let's be supportive of each other not tear each other down!

Even when people are only hurting themselves? Let's not be so sensitive and lovey-dovey.

Out of interest, who's hurting themselves?

istalkzombies

I never log my calories burned on MFP for the reason it's not going to be accurate, sometiems it'll say I burned more than I did and sometimes less, like evryone said, the bigger you are the more you burn, men burn more than women usually, and different levels of instensity and other variables factor into it, for example if you go for a walk at 3.5 mph which is an option on MFP that that does factor in to weather it was outdoors or indoors or the type of terrain and how much of it was uphill (which would cause you burn more) or downhill nor the degree of slope, thats where at Heart Rate Montior with GPS would come in and be more accuarate.

Azdak

Not sure why it makes any difference, but it's all about weight vs intensity. It takes a certain blend of size, fitness level, and endurance to burn 1K calories in an hour. People who are fit enough tend to be too light, and those heavy enough often don't have the fitness ability. It's not rare, but it's also not common.

gp79

I'm sure this has already been said w/ two pages of replies but...

Look at things in terms of percentages. Consider we are both of the same fitness level, but different weights, heights etc.

My BRM is 2600. In one hour of running I burn 1000 calories

Your BRM is 1800. In one hour of running you burn 692 calories.

My higher BRM equates to being taller, heavier etc so I will actually burn more calories than you because my body is having to move THAT much more weight.

Imagine how powerful you would be with the same muscle mass as a 250lb male. You would be superhumanly strong and a calorie burning machine!!