Calories burned question

sdopps

How many calories do you aim to burn in a workout? Also, how accurate do you think the guesstimates that MFP gives you for exercises are?

Ma2bbk

Thanks for asking the question -- I was just wondering the same thing. It seems that MFP is far more generous is calculating calories burned in a workout than what the machines at the gym give me credit for.

bathsheba_c

I think it's better to choose a workout you enjoy and then plan around how many calories it burns. On average, I burn 500 calories a day, but I do it by burning over 1,000 calories three days a week (2 days of martial arts class, and one day of walking everywhere).

In general, I find the MFP calorie counts to be accurate, but I also tend to be conservative in my estimates. For example, I log almost all walking as 2.5 miles per hour to take into account various pauses in the walk.

phoenixgirl81

I aim to burn what I can. I don't put a number on it or else I get myself too worked up about it. Having said that, if I burn >300 when I run, woo hoo! (I usually get between 350 and 450).

Re the MFP estimates, I think they were pretty accurate when I first started out as I was 140 kg and SO unfit I could barely walk around the block. Now, I only go off my HRM. I think the numbers would be kinda accurate if I was my current weight and just starting out and as unfit as I was back then.

phoenixgirl81

Just to illustrate my point: according to mfp, the 10 minutes of toodling on the exercise bike (light effort) would have been worth 96 calories. According to my HRM, it was 36 calories. But when I first started, the sweat pouring off me and the amount of huffing and puffing probably burned what mfp says.