do you rely on MFP calories burning for cardio?

diletta24

Usually I log my stat. bike and running session. BUT I know that the kcal/min you burn are related not only to effort and duration but to your BODY WEIGHT as well.

The point? MFP estimates almost THE DOUBLE of kcal I burn actually. a huge overestimation. Thereby I always adjust the kcal amounts.

Pay attention because it may affect a lot your "remaining Kcal" of the day calculation and your weight loss effectiveness on long term.!

luvbwfc

I wear a HRM and use the average HR for the exercise to calculate the calories burned. This should let me keep track of when to increase exercise intensity to get the same burn when I (hopefully) weigh less.

HonkyTonks

Yeah, no machine/MFP will be accurate. The closest you might come is a HRM, if you're doing cardio, or maybe the body Bugg. Basically it is why I don't eat all my exercise calories - always leave about 100-200 calories

EricNCSU

I rely on MFP for now because it's all I can go by (no HRM yet) but I also don't max out my food calories. I'm usually always under with 100-200 cals left.. so if my treadmill run only burned 300 and not 400, thats ok, I've still been losing weight.

FellowStriver

Definitely rely on MFP. I think it calculates lower and I figure its better to go lower than higher in order to have success in my weight going down. Sometimes its tempting to 'cheat' on MFP for me, and I figure that's really silly. I am only stopping the process.
Good luck!

rajivdubey

It is not accurate but gives out an approximation. I use Cyclemeter to assess the calories, which also shows very high calories burnt (based on body weight).

mamitosami

I've relied on it, slightly. I've checked my calories all over the internet (Runner's world, calorie counter, etc...) and I have an HRM on my Garmin watch, and the calories on here seem pretty accurate for me. I'll start keeping a closer eye on it though to make sure.

I've set my calories to incorporate my calories now, so I eat the same every day now, regardless of how much I exercise (I figured it out so that I eat a little below each day so as to lose a little).

I used to eat back all of my calories and maintained for 7 months, so I think, for me, the calories were fairly accurate. (I'm trying to lose a little now after a calorie miscalculation fiasco!! :laugh: )