Are MFP estimates correct? Overestimate calories burned?

martintanz
martintanz Posts: 280
in Fitness and Exercise
I noticed this when I logged in for different cardio that MFP is incredibly generous in its estimates for cardio. Don't get me wrong, if iis correct, I will take it, but I don't believe that I am actually burning 600 or 700 calories doing eliptical, or spinning. By the same token, I jogged the other day and MFP only estimated 400 calories for 30 minutes. My legs say I worked a lot harder running 30 minutes than I did spinning for 45, or eliptical for 35, by MFP says otherwise.

Replies

  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member
    Anyone on here will tell you to get a heart rate monitor (HRM) to accurately reflect your calorie burn better. MFP is a guesstimate and doesn't take in to account a lot of factors (how fast you're going, age, weight and so on).

    Personally I don't have a HRM, but I don't track and 'eat back' my exercise calories like a lot of people do.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    They are estimates... some estimates will be right for some people, others won't.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Anyone on here will tell you to get a heart rate monitor (HRM) to accurately reflect your calorie burn better.

    HRMs are just estimates as well. They are probably more reliable than MFP, but they are still just estimates.
  • SanyamKaushik
    SanyamKaushik Posts: 215 Member
    Estimates for running/jogging and walking are fairly accurate. I have checked with my HRM as well.
    cheers
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
    What I've noticed is that 10 minutes of heavy exertion burns around 100 calories. When I weighed almost 200lbs, I burned closer to 150 for 10 minutes. Now I burn under 100 for 10 minutes. So....400 for 30 mins of running for you sounds reasonable. If you're spinning for 40 or 50 minutes, 600 calories could be reasonable.
  • SavageFeast
    SavageFeast Posts: 325 Member
    MFP gives me almost double the actual amount I burn, so I just override the number and enter "1" calorie instead.
  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member
    Anyone on here will tell you to get a heart rate monitor (HRM) to accurately reflect your calorie burn better.

    HRMs are just estimates as well. They are probably more reliable than MFP, but they are still just estimates.

    Of course...I don't think anything is going to ever be completely dead on. And like I said, I don't have one personally, it's just what I see people saying in these forums a lot.
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280
    What I've noticed is that 10 minutes of heavy exertion burns around 100 calories. When I weighed almost 200lbs, I burned closer to 150 for 10 minutes. Now I burn under 100 for 10 minutes. So....400 for 30 mins of running for you sounds reasonable. If you're spinning for 40 or 50 minutes, 600 calories could be reasonable.

    That was my thought about the running, but why the high estimates for eliptical? My body tells me that jogging is much harder work than eliptical.
  • martintanz
    martintanz Posts: 280

    Personally I don't have a HRM, but I don't track and 'eat back' my exercise calories like a lot of people do.

    Because I want to keep weight loss going and because I am skeptical of MFP's estimates, I try to eat as if I don't exercise at all. MFP says I can have 1820 calories/day and I find that is usually more than enough, even on heavy exercise days. BTW, I started with a goal of 4 exercise days a week, but have since upped it to 5 or 6 exercise days a week.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member

    Personally I don't have a HRM, but I don't track and 'eat back' my exercise calories like a lot of people do.

    Because I want to keep weight loss going and because I am skeptical of MFP's estimates, I try to eat as if I don't exercise at all. MFP says I can have 1820 calories/day and I find that is usually more than enough, even on heavy exercise days. BTW, I started with a goal of 4 exercise days a week, but have since upped it to 5 or 6 exercise days a week.

    Have you calculated your TDEE? You can setup MFP's calorie goal to be TDEE - 20%, then you don't have to worry about burns, logging exercise, or eating back cals.
  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member

    Personally I don't have a HRM, but I don't track and 'eat back' my exercise calories like a lot of people do.

    Because I want to keep weight loss going and because I am skeptical of MFP's estimates, I try to eat as if I don't exercise at all. MFP says I can have 1820 calories/day and I find that is usually more than enough, even on heavy exercise days. BTW, I started with a goal of 4 exercise days a week, but have since upped it to 5 or 6 exercise days a week.

    Have you calculated your TDEE? You can setup MFP's calorie goal to be TDEE - 20%, then you don't have to worry about burns, logging exercise, or eating back cals.

    This^^^

    I've been losing weight consistently for 9 months now, 8 of those I didn't even have MFP for calorie counting one way or the other (intake vs. burned). When I got here I quickly learned that they put my calorie intake goal way too low (below my BMR) so I now go by my TDEE - 20% and am continuing to lose the same way I did before I got here.

    There are tons of wonderful resources on this site, but the most beneficial of them all is the knowledge that other users have.
  • saraphim41
    saraphim41 Posts: 205 Member
    What is TDEE?
  • soehlerking
    soehlerking Posts: 589 Member
    http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

    WOW...that TDEE -20% is having me eat over 1700 calories. Is that right?? I'm 5'4" 127lb (down 42lbs to date). I do 5 hours of cardio plus about 2 hours of strength training each week. I've been netting 1200, so hearing the number 1700 is INSANE to me.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    What is TDEE?

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure - total calories used in a day
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I don't think muscle soreness is indicative of calorie burns. I could be wrong though.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I don't think muscle soreness is indicative of calorie burns. I could be wrong though.

    No, it's not. Not an indicator of a "good" or "bad" workout either.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

    WOW...that TDEE -20% is having me eat over 1700 calories. Is that right?? I'm 5'4" 127lb (down 42lbs to date). I do 5 hours of cardio plus about 2 hours of strength training each week. I've been netting 1200, so hearing the number 1700 is INSANE to me.

    Sounds very reasonable to me.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx

    WOW...that TDEE -20% is having me eat over 1700 calories. Is that right?? I'm 5'4" 127lb (down 42lbs to date). I do 5 hours of cardio plus about 2 hours of strength training each week. I've been netting 1200, so hearing the number 1700 is INSANE to me.

    It is less than I eat at 5"4" and 227 pounds. Your TDEE is the number of calories you burn, so if you cut from that, you will lose weight. Period. (whether or not it sounds "insane," it works)
  • calitravelingal
    calitravelingal Posts: 53
    I believe the estimate are high more often than not. I don't use the eliptical, mostly just a treadmill or bike. Based on my weight range (200-230 that i've spanned during this journey so far) I have figured out that on a treadmill I burn about 130-145 cal per mile. Some miles I walk and some I run but I just take my milage and multiply by 135 to get a burn. I arived at those #'s by using diffent hrm's, fitness watch and treadmill readouts and averaging it all out. This method works for me, if you have multiple sources to draw an average from it may be worth trying this and see how it fares for you.
  • fat2fitKara
    fat2fitKara Posts: 136
    I noticed this when I logged in for different cardio that MFP is incredibly generous in its estimates for cardio. Don't get me wrong, if iis correct, I will take it, but I don't believe that I am actually burning 600 or 700 calories doing eliptical, or spinning. By the same token, I jogged the other day and MFP only estimated 400 calories for 30 minutes. My legs say I worked a lot harder running 30 minutes than I did spinning for 45, or eliptical for 35, by MFP says otherwise.

    I also think that the calories burned are severly overestimated. So I consider that when I do my logging- I take my dog out for four 15 minute walks throughout the day(at least) but I do not log this because it was giving me way too many extra calories for my "daily intake" that I didn't think I actually earned. I only log walking my dog when I walk for more then 15 minutes and I only log the time past 15 minutes. Also, my boyfriend and I hike at least 3 times a week for about 45 minutes and I do no log that either because this is something we have always done and my body is now use to it. However, if we walk more or for longer I calculate that. Since the calories burned are overestimated, when I do go on longer hikes and they give me such high numbers for calories burned I try not to eat back nearly as much, if any. I'm going to ve investing in a HRM real soon so that I will have a more accurate estimate. :)

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