How accurate is MFP's calories burned?

Alimacoo

I can't afford a HRM right now (unless anyone knows of any inexpensive ones??) so I rely on the calories burned estimator on here. Does anyone know if its accurate? My resting heart rate is anywhere between 49 and 53, so I'm thinking MFP might be overestimating.

Any ideas?

godricshollow

I found they tend to overestimate a lot of the time

Teresa527

I have a BodyBugg and I notice that MFP over-estimates by usually at least 100 calories. It depends on what exercises I am doing. It is more with some and closer accuracy with others. If you are eating back your exercise calories and are unsure of the calories burned accuracy, I would only eat back 1/2 the calories and go from there.

KokomoJoe

i have found that my HRM says I burn more than what MFP says. I have been using the numbers from MFP. I just recently bought a polar FT1 and it does what I need it to do. It was $69 and survived travelling with me etc. I will probably update to a better model, when a little more money is around.

LorinaLynn

It depends on the individual and the exercise. I don't use an HRM and was perfectly satisfied with my results using mostly MFP's estimates (sometimes estimates from gym machines or runkeeper.com) and eating back most of my exercise calories. MFP's estimates are always really close to those machines or other website estimates for running or biking. Not so much for vague entries, like elliptical, which doesn't go by pace or resistance.