MFP and calorie counts

DerbyZebra

Hey y'all!

I wanted to see if I could get an estimate on just how accurate the calorie counts are in MFP for exercises, particularly cardio. I'm serious about what I'm doing, and I want to make sure I'm not cheating due to MFP giving me higher counts for calories burned in excercise than I am actually burning.

Here's an example. I do some pretty high intensity intervals on the elliptical where I alternate between low incline, fairly low resistance and high incline, medium resistance. The idea being that I put out about 180 watts on low and 210+ on high. At the end, the machine tells me 400 something calories burned and plugging in 30 minutes of elliptical training in MFP shows 300 something calories burned. Which one will be more accurate? Also, things like cycling. Without having an expensive hub with a power meter, it's really hard to tell what you're burning. At a given speed, can anyone comment on the accuracy of the calorie counts in MFP? For what it's worth, they've been about on par with what I've seen elsewhere on the internet.

Thanks in advance