Calories burned exaggerations

xafricanqueen07x

The important question is why are YOU so concerned? If you know whats working for you..then you should keep doing what works for you. But to put a whole post up because you "see" people on MFP putting what you deem "exaggerated" calorie burnt amounts is a bit sad. How do you know they aren't using HRMs?, How do you know that they don't way more than you? Everyone is different, learn to use constructive criticism or hold your tongue.

EYE (needed to spell it that way for mrs sassytude over here) am NOT concerned, I am merely making a statement about people who are sad when they are not making progress, so maybe they can look at this possible reason why.

I do not know why some of you are slamming on the defense when I am not attacking anyone. I'm not obsessed with what you guys are doing, what I'm doing IS working for me, and good for me, but I was merely pointing something out. Some of you act like I am in angst over what others are doing...take a chill pill. WOOSAH

As an individual who regularly burnes 1200 calories a day WITH my HRM..that reports 200 more than MFP, I still stand by what I said. There is no attitude, but unless I"m mistaken, I'm postive that you aren't a certified fitness expert or a Doctor. If people asked, send them messages. Dont blast a generic post with the the first sentence being "YOU GUYS". Take a Chill PIll? because I don't agree with you and I find your "perceived" "know it all" attitude annoying. THere are other constructive ways to talk to people. You aren't an expert and untill I see a PHD in front of your name..you so-called "advice" is moot and null.
And with that I DIGRESS

Willbenchforcupcakes

You guys can't keep going off the numbers in MFP, nor what your elliptical/spin/treadmills say. If you went on the elliptical for an hour, as I do (level 17/20), and it says you burned 1200 calories...chances are you most likely did half. In the end isn't it better to underestimate it and NOT eat back those hard earned calories. Just sayin'....

I find this constructive. A lot of people I see on here burn extreme amounts of calories doing very light activity, eat all of their calories back and wonder why they are gaining weight. I think this helps those who are having problems.

I see several members every once in a while post they burned 400 calories for 1 minute of breastfeeding. I don't know much about breastfeeding, but if their next post is that they gained 2lbs that week I would direct them here.

Just going to hit on the breastfeeding point .... some of us enter it as a food, some enter it as an activity. 400 calories is perfectly reasonable for a slightly older baby just starting to get established on solids.

LisaMom2Lucas

Personally, I log what mfp says, but I only eat about half of my exercise calories.

I think this is a great way to go about it.. I feel like if you're questioning whether it's accurate or not to err on the side of caution. I also say this when I haven't been able to stick to my calories at all, period.. boooo

HauteP1nk

I always underestimate calories burned, and overestimate calories eaten (within reason).

jchrisman717

I just read an article in women's health about how so many people overestimate their burn because they are going off of the gym machine's numbers. It said that those numbers can be way off especially if the equipment is older. It also said that most HRM's are also off and estimate too high as even though its properly more accurate - you can't get an exact calorie burn unless you have more sophisticated equipment. It says that is why so many people get frustrated with their "diet" because they don't lose. Also, interestingly - it said that when someone starts a workout program - like a class or walking - they estimate their burn for that class - but don't realize that they don't do the same things to be active the rest of the day that they used to - they think they did a class or walked so they don't have to take the stairs - can sit on the couch that night, etc. So in fact they really aren't upping their calorie burn as much as they thought. There was a reference to Zumba, I can't remember exactly what it said - but it did say something about people thinking they burned 800 to 1000 calories a class and that is an over-exageration for most people. I use a fitness program on Iphone and it tracks me with my pace and miles, and I have input my age and weight, and my calories burned for a 2 mile jog are way less than I was logging on MFP. Not that I care what someone else does - we each have our own way but I just thought the article was interesting considering what I see on MFP a lot of times.

EnchantedEvening

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

I burn 487 calories walking for twenty minutes, according to my HRM.

If someone is obese and putting a lot of effort into it, then that number is not an exaggeration. Please don't make assumptions.

impyimpyaj

You guys can't keep going off the numbers in MFP, nor what your elliptical/spin/treadmills say. If you went on the elliptical for an hour, as I do (level 17/20), and it says you burned 1200 calories...chances are you most likely did half. In the end isn't it better to underestimate it and NOT eat back those hard earned calories. Just sayin'....

I find this constructive. A lot of people I see on here burn extreme amounts of calories doing very light activity, eat all of their calories back and wonder why they are gaining weight. I think this helps those who are having problems.

I see several members every once in a while post they burned 400 calories for 1 minute of breastfeeding. I don't know much about breastfeeding, but if their next post is that they gained 2lbs that week I would direct them here.

They add that because breastfeeding burns about 400 to 500 calories per day. It's not by the minute, it's by the ounce, but MFP doesn't allow you to go by ounces. Not that you can really measure that accurately anyway unless you weigh the baby before and after nursing. So if you know you're burning roughly 400 cals a day with breastfeeding, you put in the cal number, and 1 minute because it's easier than trying to come up with a calculation that works out with the actual minutes you spent nursing.

It's the same reason that people who use a Body Bugg or something similar to determine their daily calorie goals might put in "1 calorie burned for 60 minutes of jogging." Because they don't want to add the calories, since they're already accounted for, but they want to log the minutes they worked out.

amusgrave

I weight 262, and i do burn nearly 1000 cals in an hour because i used an hrm, and checked the numbers on mfp and the zumbacalorie.com site and they were all within 10calories

Lady_Bane

The important question is why are YOU so concerned? If you know whats working for you..then you should keep doing what works for you. But to put a whole post up because you "see" people on MFP putting what you deem "exaggerated" calorie burnt amounts is a bit sad. How do you know they aren't using HRMs?, How do you know that they don't weigh more than you? Everyone is different, learn to use constructive criticism or hold your tongue.

well said.......this place is about being positive and helping others say positive till we are reach our goal, why be neg. about what others are doing. live and let live........dont waste your time stressing on what other people do

I was never negative....if you read it to be so, I cannot help that. Im a blunt person. I mean well, but it may not come out the way people like. My apologies.

rfhoward

The hardest part of the estimate is that the amount of calories you would have burned if you were not exercing are not taken into account. When I run 30 minutes and do a 5 minute cool down the treadmill may say 429 calories burned but I immediatly reduce it by 50 calories. I did have a full resting metabloic rate test done so I know what i do burn just breathing!

It does take a few weeks or months before you can fully understand how the euiptment reading can be worked into your daily routine. I very rarely add in any extra calories for exercising but I do go over occasioanly and it all seems to work outin the end.

justrun52

I do think it tends to overestimate a little, I only burn about 200 for 30 minutes of jogging.

stephvaile

I don't have a HRM and use the database for my workout calories. I typically walk fast( used a video to determin it was 4 mph) for 35-45 minutes. It calculates around 300-350. I also live in fl and it is hot as all get out. Do you think I should be using a different number?

i have run for alot of years and a mile is a mile most people burn approx depending on weight 105 cals per mile wether you walk jog or run the only difference is you burn it quicker running so yes if you were going at 4mph you will have done 3 miles so yes your 300-350 is spot on outdoors burns slightly more than treadmill and speed does again only slightly so mfp is correct .an obese person carrying alot of weight will burn alot more most machines are set to a standard 11 stone man .

ibbray04

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

I have a Polar HMR. Walked last night: 50 min, at 4.5 mph, burned over 460 calories, and MFP said it should be 299. So yes, while some MFP entires are overestimated, some are underestimated. Best bet: get a HRM.

nettasaura

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

I burn about 400-500 walking for 30 minutes, but I use an HRM and I am still in the obese category, and my walk has big hills, so I get a free pass to high calorie burn......for now.

Sabine_Stroehm

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

I burn about 400-500 walking for 30 minutes, but I use an HRM and I am still in the obese category, and my walk has big hills, so I get a free pass to high calorie burn......for now.

What a great example. I burn between 150-200 depending on terrain. My work commute is 30 minutes. I did it with a HRM once and I burned 190.

UpEarly

For the record, my Polar FT4 wasn't accurate either! Heart rate is just one way to make an educated guess at overall calorie burn. It's accurate only to a degree.

Personally, I go with the numbers off my Body Media Fit instead of HRM now. They're always lower than the HRM (sometimes by A LOT), but based on how my weight is tracking, they're probably closer to accurate.

I'd rather estimate a bit too low than grossly overestimate my calorie burn.

EnchantedEvening

I've seen people say they burned 1,000 calories for an hour of Zumba. That's impossible. Plus, an hour long zumba class includes warm up and warm downs. You need to RUN 10/mph for an hour to burn that.

Wrong. I burned 1487 calories doing Turbo Jam for 45 minutes last weekend. It depends on the person, their build, their heart rate, etc. I often burn around 1000 doing Zumba if I put a ton of effort into it.

I get so tired of everyone acting like they know everything about everything. Everyone's situation is different.

To the OP, you said, "You guys," so people feel attacked. Plus, they're trying to correct your error. We didn't know you meant people your weight because you didn't specify that. Perhaps this will prevent you from making broad, sweeping, accusatory posts in the future.

luvsherhubby

The ellipticals I use are almost exactly spot-on compared to my HRM. That's around 80% resistance nearly as fast as I can go for an hour. If you've got pools of sweat under the machine when you're done, it's probably accurate.

Yup. the mfp estimations... NOOO way over. but machines usualy are right on.

JBott84

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

I burn 487 calories walking for twenty minutes, according to my HRM.

If someone is obese and putting a lot of effort into it, then that number is not an exaggeration. Please don't make assumptions.

My HRM is usually more than what MFP says it should be, sometimes I don't want to believe that I burned that much...My husband tells me I'm a hummingbird...lol. But I choose to believe my HRM since the chest strap is on me every second including my warm ups and cool downs it's got to be the most accurate out of my options.
Edit: I guess my point was that I agree everyone is different and burns calories differently...and in the end all you really have to worry about is yourself...right? Regardless I am always happy and cheer on my friends when they do an awesome workout.

beachloe

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

How does it hurt you?

This is true. When I was heavier I burned a lot more calories than I do now doing the same activity. Also, I do not always use MFP's estimate and almost always manually change the calories burned when logging. I don't always change the minutes, however, so sometimes mine will say 30 minutes and 400 calories burned for example. I really walked for an hour, but since I really only care about logging the calories I don't bother with the minutes. That may be what you are seeing sometimes.

Jewels_Ka

I just read an article in women's health about how so many people overestimate their burn because they are going off of the gym machine's numbers. It said that those numbers can be way off especially if the equipment is older. It also said that most HRM's are also off and estimate too high as even though its properly more accurate - you can't get an exact calorie burn unless you have more sophisticated equipment. It says that is why so many people get frustrated with their "diet" because they don't lose. Also, interestingly - it said that when someone starts a workout program - like a class or walking - they estimate their burn for that class - but don't realize that they don't do the same things to be active the rest of the day that they used to - they think they did a class or walked so they don't have to take the stairs - can sit on the couch that night, etc. So in fact they really aren't upping their calorie burn as much as they thought. There was a reference to Zumba, I can't remember exactly what it said - but it did say something about people thinking they burned 800 to 1000 calories a class and that is an over-exageration for most people. I use a fitness program on Iphone and it tracks me with my pace and miles, and I have input my age and weight, and my calories burned for a 2 mile jog are way less than I was logging on MFP. Not that I care what someone else does - we each have our own way but I just thought the article was interesting considering what I see on MFP a lot of times.

Please dont be offended, but most articles in magazines are rarely backed up by reserch. Most of the time "the magazine" needs to publish an issue and " a writer" just does a quick reserch online and formulates her or his oppinionm. Not to say that some or most of it is true or false. I think now a days HR monitors are pritty sofiaticates and are capable of giving a fair estimates

kmoore02

What baffles me is when I read someone burned calories doing "desk work". Can somebody explain that to me?

luvsherhubby

For the record, my Polar FT4 wasn't accurate either! Heart rate is just one way to make an educated guess at overall calorie burn. It's accurate only to a degree.

Personally, I go with the numbers off my Body Media Fit instead of HRM now. They're always lower than the HRM (sometimes by A LOT), but based on how my weight is tracking, they're probably closer to accurate.

I'd rather estimate a bit too low than grossly overestimate my calorie burn.

I had a BMF. The heart rate moniter over estimates for stuff like weight lifting & are better for cardio, running & walking ect. BMF just has a motion senson ( and that skin thing that I think doesnt change much because my fit bit ran the same as my bmf without it) it will give a lower burn for weights and usualy the same or lower for cardio. Some people adverage the 2 numbers. But I think its all guestimates anyway, tools like the bmf, hrm & fitbits just help us make an educated guess

Lady_Bane

I've seen people say they burned 1,000 calories for an hour of Zumba. That's impossible. Plus, an hour long zumba class includes warm up and warm downs. You need to RUN 10/mph for an hour to burn that.

Wrong. I burned 1487 calories doing Turbo Jam for 45 minutes last weekend. It depends on the person, their build, their heart rate, etc. I often burn around 1000 doing Zumba if I put a ton of effort into it.

I get so tired of everyone acting like they know everything about everything. Everyone's situation is different.

To the OP, you said, "You guys," so people feel attacked. Plus, they're trying to correct your error. We didn't know you meant people your weight because you didn't specify that. Perhaps this will prevent you from making broad, sweeping, accusatory posts in the future.

Please do not get offended when i say this, because it is AWESOME you burned that many calories, but it is IMPOSSIBLE for ME to burn those. Its body type. I said that earlier. I did not make an error, I may have made one by excluding certain body types.

zumbaabby

I've seen people say they burned 1,000 calories for an hour of Zumba. That's impossible. Plus, an hour long zumba class includes warm up and warm downs. You need to RUN 10/mph for an hour to burn that.

I haven't seen 1000 cals for zumba but I had been using what MFP gave me (595 calories in one hour) and I always thought that was a little excessive.. today used a heart rate monitor w/ chest strap and showed I burned almost 700.

I do think the #s it gives me for my elliptical are out of this world.. can't wait to use the HRM for that to find out.

I am a Zumba Instructor, and you can in fact burn 1000 calories if you do roughly an hour and a half class. I weigh 204 and when I teach an hour, my HRM says 850 (mid impact, to the higher side), however, I tend to only log roughly 2/3 of that. I don't count warm up and cool down in the calories that I've burnt. A big calorie burn is possible, but it all depends on the weight of the person and the extent of impact (high, med, low) etc, that they work at.

JBott84

HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

How does it hurt you?

This is true. When I was heavier I burned a lot more calories than I do now doing the same activity. Also, I do not always use MFP's estimate and almost always manually change the calories burned when logging. I don't always change the minutes, however, so sometimes mine will say 30 minutes and 400 calories burned for example. I really walked for an hour, but since I really only care about logging the calories I don't bother with the minutes. That may be what you are seeing sometimes.

^THIS^ I have done this, being lazyish and not wanting to alter this and that or create a new exercise... it's just easier....lol

RuthieCass

The important question is why are YOU so concerned? If you know whats working for you..then you should keep doing what works for you. But to put a whole post up because you "see" people on MFP putting what you deem "exaggerated" calorie burnt amounts is a bit sad. How do you know they aren't using HRMs?, How do you know that they don't way more than you? Everyone is different, learn to use constructive criticism or hold your tongue.

EYE (needed to spell it that way for mrs sassytude over here) am NOT concerned, I am merely making a statement about people who are sad when they are not making progress, so maybe they can look at this possible reason why.

I do not know why some of you are slamming on the defense when I am not attacking anyone. I'm not obsessed with what you guys are doing, what I'm doing IS working for me, and good for me, but I was merely pointing something out. Some of you act like I am in angst over what others are doing...take a chill pill. WOOSAH

Some people really like seeing the huge numbers and get upset when you tell them it's not accurate. I don't know why anyone would like to live in a state of denial, but some do. Same thing goes for people who don't like it when they hear that they are probably eating more than they think cause they're not using a food scale. Anyhow, I think this is useful to know, especially for those that are "plateaued."

I don't know why some think they are must be so different. They must be burning over 1000 calories in a work out. Guess what? Someone 250 lbs would not even burn 1000 calories running for an hour at 10 min/mile. So compare that to your own situation. And yes, very high intensity exercise may burn more per hour, but if your exercise is at that high of an intensity, I can bet that you won't be able to do it for an hour straight!

The other thing they forget is that, if you want to "eat back" exercise calories, you should eat back the net, not the total. Otherwise you are counting your BMR calories twice!

XXXMinnieXXX

I've seen people say they burned 1,000 calories for an hour of Zumba. That's impossible. Plus, an hour long zumba class includes warm up and warm downs. You need to RUN 10/mph for an hour to burn that.

i now burn 400-500 cals per hour doing zumba, but at my heaviest 301 and badly out of shape i used to burn damn near 1000! true story! it all depends on peoples weight, if your really heavy you burn more, men tend to burn more too. I used to get 7-800 calories walking for an hour too, now about 300-350, because i am a lot lighter and fitter...

Lady_Bane

What baffles me is when I read someone burned calories doing "desk work". Can somebody explain that to me?

ahhahahah

schroer94

I use a Bodybugg so I know exactly what I burned, that way I am not guessing or trusting a machine that tends to give a generic estimate for every person, regardless of age and size.