How do they calculate calories burned during cardio???

Swinter82

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to MFP...signed up beginning of July. LOVE this website/app. Use it on my phone all the time and find it sooo helpful in keeping track of my eating habits. Just wondering if anyone knows how they calculate the calories you burn when doing cardio activities. Is there any sort of formula or anything for that? I have a friend who is also on MFP and I have noticed that our calories burned are different when doing the exact same activity for the same amount of time. Does it have something to do with the difference in iour weight? Just wondering how trustworthy/accurate the numbers are........ Thanks!

Eloira

I have a HRM monitor so I use that to calculate more accurately how much I burn. I know it takes height, and weight into consideration and I'm guessing MFP does also



When I compare the two MFP isn't far off so it's nearly accurate ^^ (just to put your mind at ease )

mowu

Without knowing the details there are statistical models out there that can be used to predict how many calories would be expended by a person of a specific gender / weight / height doing various exercises for a specified amount of time at some defined intensity, so this may explain the differences between you and your friend.

But these statistical models are typically (also here on MFP) represented as a specific number and not correctly as a probabbility that the next sample will lie within a certain range.

So the numbers MFP gives you will by all likelyhood be somewere in the vicinity of the real number, but it does hava a margin of error on it.

Personally I use a heart rate monitor (which again uses a statistical algorithm) to estimate how many calories I burn - this is also just an estimate, but I still find it more reliable as it will actually measure the intensity at which I work rather than placing me in a bracket of [moderate] / [low] / [High]