is mfp wrong??
alanahbastion
Posts: 48
iv been reading a few people saying the mfp calories arnt right and the exercise trackers calories are far off,is this right ? should i stop logging in my exercise? thankyou 
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Replies
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Anything measuring your calories is an estimate - it would be unfair to say it's "wrong", but it's certainly not exactly right. And that applies to heart rate monitors too, though they are more accurate.
But that shouldn't stop you logging your exercise. Are you eating back those calories? Or some, or none? If yes, then it's important not to over-estimate.0 -
Personally I have found the calories to usually be correct on MFP because I personally will look at the packages and compare them to the calories and nutritional info in the MFP system ... HOWEVER I have come across some that were incorrect but much fewer than I would worry about.
The exercise burns I think are slightly elevated and tend to use my HRM for a little more of an accurate number however nothing is perfect and never will be .... the more you use MFP and the more you learn about your body I think you will be able to adjust or recognize what is and is not working.0 -
I think that they will all vary. I do think my HRM is most accurate. But, i would pick one tool- and stick with that. Also, I agree with the prior post- underestimate. .. the worse thing that could happen is that you really burned more calories than you thought 0
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the problem is mfp wont say how they arrive at exercise cals, i.e when the site was set up , what info did they use to get to these figures. I asked the question a couple of weeks ago but so far no reply !!0
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By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
Happy New Year.0 -
No way....just keep logging and tracking while matching this with your result trend.iv been reading a few people saying the mfp calories arnt right and the exercise trackers calories are far off,is this right ? should i stop logging in my exercise? thankyou
I had to tweak the calorie count rates for food intake, because MFP numbers were too low.
When I cross referenced these number with other standards at LiveStrong, CalorieCount and CalorieKing, the MFP numbers were the same, so the issue was me - not MFP.
I was not logging my food properly.
You must find your own zone. There is so much here in terms of support in addition to tracking.
MFP also helps with healthy food options and complete meals before you get to the grocery store or restaurant.. Find new recipes in the MFP recipe forum. Are for those on the go, the mobile apps allow you to make good decisions when eating out by keeping the nutrition information on hand for dishes from your favorite restaurants.
We have a great tool here, but it's only as good as our input.
At day's end we still need to take ownership of our own progress and processes.
Good Luck to you:flowerforyou:0 -
I think the food calories (like others have said) are generally right but they are certainly estimates. The exercise calories though are pretty much no good because there are so many factors that change the amount of the burn. Getting an HRM or something to specifically track your movements and heart rate would be much more accurate than a website.0
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I totally disagree....but if this works for you, GO FOR IT!By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
Happy New Year.
I eat back those exercise calories; MFP is designed that way. My daily goals are set perfectly to account for 1 pound of weekly weight loss, so when I exercise, that deficit is already built into my net calories.
When I exercise, I need to eat those calories back to maintain that steady deficit.
Again, if your way is working, bully for you brother!
I enjoy the notion of eating back those exercise calories, because it motivates me to exercise more :bigsmile: and if I goof up and pig out, I can offset this through exercise.
This is how MFP is set up.
My advice: EAT BACK THOSE EXERCISE CALORIES...and enjoy!0 -
Just a thought...maybe the better question to ask is, "If a man is in charge of MFP...is he still wrong?"
Happy New Year!0 -
By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
Happy New Year.
Actually, the activity settings are for your daily life excluding exercise, i.e an office worker is sedntary, but a nurse or waitress is active as they are on their feet all day.
Exercise is on top of that, not incuded within in.0 -
Hi since I go to the gym I can use the readings from that. The same is said about any of the wii games that I use as well. I do belly dancing and have found a couple of other sites which have given me the same readings so I just adjust the figures on MFP. I would definitely log my exercises0
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I've found the numbers here to be more accurate than gym equipment especially if you don't take the time to put in your weight. I have an HRM and was surprised to find MFP wasn't actually THAT far off from my numbers. However in many cases it does over-estimate so it's better to eat back half your exercise calories OR set to your TDEE and and not them back since they will already be accounted for.0
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MFP matches my bodymedia fit within about 100 calories a day. Body media fit is supposed to be about 95% accurate. MFP is not wrong... HOWEVER, it is wrong for me and for others with serious hormonal and metabolic issues. I use MFP to log my calories but stick to the calorie limits imposed by the nutritionist who understands MY metabolic issues. Hopefully, as I lose weight my thyroid will be come easier to manage and my other non-thyroid related hormones will normalize as well. Until then I "own" my metabolism and I had to find a way to manage my weight even though my methods fly in the face of MFP's advice.0
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Short answer: yes, it is
Less short answer answer: If you set up MFP correctly, the inaccuracies don't really matter.
Long *kitten* answer: Read on
HOW TO SET UP MFP FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE
1: Weight loss goals
A: Set this to 0. In this case, you need to come in under your calorie budget to lose weight
B: Set this to some amount of weight loss per week. If you do this, you need to eat close to your total calorie burn for the day for health reasons.
2: Calorie tracking
A: Include exercises you would normally log as part of your daily activity level. If you do this, you don't log your exercises, or if you do, you don't eat those calories back.
B: Set your daily level to Sedentary, and log all exercises. In this case, you would eat back your exercise calories.
For myself I choose to set my Weight Loss goals to 0. This gives me a rough idea of my RMR, so I know I need to eat AT LEAST this many calories per day. I set my activity level to Sedentary and log all exercises. Generally speaking, I don't eat back my exercise calories.
This maximizes what MFP is good at (tracking calories consumed) and minimizes the error rate (tracking calories burned in exercise). Most of the foods in the database are highly accurate in their calorie composition. Just as importantly they are very good in tracking other health guides, such as carbs/proteins/fats and vitamin intake.
Because of this, I don't have to worry to much about the calories burned in exercise because that can only be an estimate. If I don't eat back any of my exercise calories, then I'm going to lose weight. If I want to indulge, I don't eat back more than half of my exercise calories. Know I'm going to hit a buffet later that night? Hit the elliptical for an extra 30 minutes.
However, I have enough discipline to not look at my total calories and think I can eat all of it, and I almost never go over. If that doesn't work for you, then you may want to look at other combinations. I would recommend perhaps a slight weight loss per week (say .5 to 1 lb) and Sedentary Life. Eat back most of your exercise calories in this case.
WHY CALORIES BURNED IS WRONG
This is just some additional information and isn't really needed if you set up MFP as I do. If you want to accurately track your calories burned for whatever reason, then you'll need to know this. I can't stress this enough though: Losing weight is a process. Eat less than you burn and you'll lose weight. The errors here generally average out to maybe a 1/4 lb a week, well within normal parameters.
There are actually a couple of reasons why calories burned in exercise is incorrect in both MFP and many HRMs.
1: The amount of calories your body uses even at rest (BMR) is based on a number of factors, but a big one which is routinely not asked about is your lean muscle mass. MFP assumes you are an average build. If you are average (whatever that means) then it will be close. If you are obese or very lean, it will be off. A good method to determine your BMR is the Katch-McCardle formula. I recently posted this and a user who had his calorie burn tested at a clinic said it was within 25 calories.
http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/katch-mcardle-bmr-calculator/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate
2: Your heart rate when exercising is directly related to how much oxygen your body can take in and process. This is called your VO2 Max. As this goes up your HR at a given exercise exertion level will go down.
During aerobic exercise, oxygen is combined with fat to create ATP. Your heart rate goes up as the demand for oxygen increases.
For example if I have a HR of 90 bpm while walking 3 mph and increase my VO2 Max (and no other stat changes) my HR may drop to 80 bpm. A HRM that doesn't track VO2 Max will give you an incorrect reading on calories burned. MFP, of course, doesn't track VO2 Max at all.
The first link calculates your calories burned with known VO2 Max. The last link helps you figure it out.
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx
http://www.free-online-health.com/how-fat-is-burned-article.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/vo2max-calculator.aspx0 -
The calories are wrong on some food items, others folks just enter calories and not micronutrients.
If I am eating a new food, or making a recipe for the first time I usually scan the ingredients from the food label. That way I know they are correct. And, it only takes a few seconds, probably faster than entering a new food and trying to confirm it is correct.0 -
The calories burned are higher on MFP for me according to my HRM.0
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I have found some to be really wrong and some to be really close. Things like "stair climber" or "treadmill" are very wrong. But the exercises that actually include speeds are usually really close.0
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Read and follow vorgas' post. Please. It depends on how you set your goals. Right now, I have mine set to maintain, but that only gives me just over 1700 calories to eat. I have a BodyMedia Fit Link (BMF), and as a result, I know that 1700ish is what I burn on a completely lazy day--I know this because of a day that I was sick in October and burned 1768 calories. I only got out of bed to let the dog out , to use the bathroom, and to get food/drink. So I add my exercise calories, but I use the calories from BMF because the calories in MFP are different. I used to have it set to gain .5 lb. per week but I still had to eat some exercise calories. If I don't want to eat exercise calories, I have to set mine to gain 1 lb. per week and then I come pretty close most days that I exercise, but I don't exercise every day.
As far as the food entries, you just have to be careful and read labels. If you want more accurate entries for whole foods and other things that don't come in a package with a label, try the USDA site : http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list
And I agree with vorgas that there are other places to get a more accurate burn--the numbers on the shapesense.com site mentioned are very close to the numbers on my BMF. MFP can't really accurately estimate because there are more factors that go into the burn than the information MFP gathers.
Good luck! You can do this and MFP can help!0 -
By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year!
MFP actually does not include exercise associated thermogenesis in its model. You are supposed to eat them back if you use MFPs intake recommendations.
Here's more detail: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf0 -
MFP is a user customisable tool.
Check your entries.0 -
By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
Happy New Year.
Please ignore the quoted text, it is incorrect.0 -
When searching for a food in the database, it is a good idea to either look for the number of confirmations, or check the stats with what is on the label from the food you are eating. Some entries are incorrect, or only correct in other countries, but don't match the label on what I'm eating. Some people will input their own recipes, so those numbers are only correct for the recipe that it was put in for. For example, I put in a recipe for "Molten Lava cake" that is made with protein powder, and egg whites, but if you make a different recipe for molten lava cake, and search for molten lava cake, inputting mine, instead of real molten lava cake, your numbers will be way off.
I've even had to watch the bar code scanner, as it is not always accurate. I had cinnamon rolls the other day, that I scanned with the barcode scanner, but the calories ended up being half of what the box told me.0 -
the problem I have is MFP doesn't list my work out so I have to use race walking when I log in. for whatever reason they do not do 1 mile walking on their log which is silly.0
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The food calories are generally correct. . .especially if you see it confirmed by several users. They probably all looked at the same food labels or did the math off the same food labels.
As for the exercise calories. . .I have found that early on, when i was at my highest weight, the numbers worked OK for me. But now that I've been at this awhile and my fitness has improved, I rely solely on my HRM (and I usually subtract about 10-15% from that number as well). It seems to work for me that way.
Don't stop logging. Jut realize that some things are more reliable than others and you have to pay close attention to find out what will work for you.
Good luck in 2013!!0 -
iv been reading a few people saying the mfp calories arnt right and the exercise trackers calories are far off,is this right ? should i stop logging in my exercise? thankyou
It's a estimate more or less. The food calories I am unsure of to be honest.
The only way to log your exercise calories is to get a heart rate monitor, Now I use to think I was burning 200 calories for my work outs ... it's really been more like 600-800 same with the eliptical I accodring to the machine I would burn 400 calories my HRM tells me it's 700 and change... I've only been using the HRM since I got it at chirstmas but I love the thing0 -
This is just a guide, a tool. Unless you are hooked up to some sort of indirect calorimetry (still not 100% accuarte) all of this is just an estimate. Continue to log, and youll start to see a pattern emerge where you can look at the bigger picture within weeks and months. Focus on what works for you and change what doesnt. Just think of MFP as a motivating tool.0
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the problem I have is MFP doesn't list my work out so I have to use race walking when I log in. for whatever reason they do not do 1 mile walking on their log which is silly.
I noticed that but a mile is not just a mile. If you walk that mile in 20 minutes, you are going 3.5 if you do it in 13 minutes 2.5 or something like that. So the calorie burn for 1 mile is different depending on the speed.
So when I walk the dog fast for a mile, in 15 minutes I log it as 3.5 mph walking dog.
The best way to know your calorie burn is with a heart rate monitor.
Unfortunately, I didn't use mine for so long it died:frown:
Keep on walkin!:flowerforyou:0 -
I have also set my activity level as sedentary (I am an office worker) and a 1lb week weight loss; and I very rarely add back any exercise unless it is unordinary, just try to eat just below or at the calories calculated. I have checked a lot of the calories in products with other sources (eg packaging, previous weight loss plans) and they are usually quite correct in mfp. Sometimes there are more than one option, and I look for the one with the most confirmations and that matches any other info available.
I have found following this, that the weight loss this time has been the easiest ever to lose - I have found that portion size has been my downfall in the past - now I am weighing my food. Also there is no point in cheating by not entering food I have eaten - it is only myself that I am fooling!
So I would say that mfp is a great tool to help lose weight, I have recommended it to others.0 -
MFP cals are generous...For example the treadmill says I burned 500 cal in 45 minutes...mfp says its 750 cals. I compensate by putting in whatever time = 500 call.0
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By and large, MFP's calories are correct.
I have a real issue with counting exercise calories, though - especially with how they are "added back in" to your daily target. When you create your MFP profile and tell it your stats AND your exercise level (sedentary, active, etc), you have already "built in" your exercise calories to your daily target. To go and then do what you said you were going to do anyway, and earn bonus calories for it seems particularly stupid. It negates the entire point of MFP, which is fat loss because if you follow that logic you will only maintain.
My advice: NEVER EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.
This!!
Happy New Year.0
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