Amount of Calories Burned in Exercise Log

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Nicloe6
Nicloe6 Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
So in the last few days I went on a grueling uphill hike twice with a weighted pack for a bit over an hour and it says I burned 436. It seemed a bit high but I didn't think too much of it.

Then today I gardened and did yard work for 2hrs. And I thought to go a bit lighter on calories burned I'd just put in gardening. It came out to be 454 calories burned. I have no idea what kind of gardening they think I would be doing. Was I supposed to be wearing a 50lb weight belt while doing pushups between plants? So I decided to just put light cleaning for 283 which seemed a bit more reasonable.


My point to this post is that I feel like the calories burned for exercises is way too much. I'm not quite sure how they could even estimate how much is burned. Does anyone else feel the same or am I just going too hard on myself?

Replies

  • SafioraLinnea
    SafioraLinnea Posts: 628 Member
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    Some of the things I do for cardio show up differently than I would expect them to as well - however, I generally calculate more on the time spent exercising than I do on the 'calories burned' results of said exercise. I push myself to a moderate or moderately hard workout for a set number of minutes. I'm not sure what to suggest.
  • pupcamper
    pupcamper Posts: 415 Member
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    No it generally is high or way too high with the caloires burned! These are only estimates and unfortunately there are way too many variables out there for them to be that accurate! If you don't want to buy yourself a heart rate monitor and you are eating back your calories you should cut them in half to be on the safe side. I find the estimates to be about 33 - 50% to generous! Good luck with your journey!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,124 Member
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    Only you know what kind of "gardening" you did. It could have been weeding and pruning the roses, or it could have been pushing a mower or carrying bags of soil or pruning large trees and carrying the waste to the curb.

    A little common sense is required with this.

    That said, it "guessed" half as many calories for gardening as for the hike, so it could be close. You can adjust as necessary. Most of the exercises assume you worked at a moderate to strenuous pace for the entire time.



  • Nicloe6
    Nicloe6 Posts: 2
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    Thanks guys. I think I'll just cut the time I spend back on them when entering it until they seem more reasonable. I'm not very concerned about weight loss so it's not a problem :)
  • Khazara
    Khazara Posts: 8
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    This is so true!! --> http://www.barbellsandbeakers.com/2012/07/04/people-tend-to-overestimate-the-amount-of-calories-they-burn/
  • rblakeman
    rblakeman Posts: 25
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    I use a HR monitor to estimate my calorie burn. It gives me less than the treadmill (generally gives 9 to 10 calories per minute depending on my HR, where treadmill gives 12 per 0.1 mile (less than 1 minute of running). I have always found my home treadmill to be harder than the gym treadmill...and sure enough, my HR monitor indicates I burn my calories at home, even when my speed is not as high. I did a spin class today and MFP estimate less than 400 calories for 60 minutes...my HR monitor indicated I burned 477 in that hour. I trust the HR monitor, because I could not get my HR up to what I do when I run, so it would make sense that it would be less than the 600 I get from running an hour. Bottom line, I've had it go both ways, with some exercises overestimated, and some underestimated.
  • camrunner
    camrunner Posts: 363
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    I played softball for 2.5 hours the other day... it said I burned like 1100 calories, which is the same amount I burned when I ran seven miles earlier that day. I'm pretty skeptical.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
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    Invest in a HRM if you want to be more exact. I can water my flower and pluck a few weeds and I burn nearly nothing, but if I weed my grass, cut my lawn, sod, plant, transplant....yeah, very easy to burn a million calories.

    Polar FT4. Does everything I need. :)
  • Amryfal
    Amryfal Posts: 225
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    on the other hand, sometimes it's way low.

    i add "yoga" and it gives me a burn of ~100 calories per hour. um, yeah, not when i'm still very overweight, doing vinyasas, sweating like mad, and my muscles are shaking. i did that for a week when i first started, and couldn't figure out why i was OMG STARVING ALL THE TIME until i hit the end of the week and had dropped ~6 pounds.

    i'm not sure what MFP's version of yoga is. meditative deep breathing? huh. or maybe a yogi that's been doing it for 20 years.

    /cool story bro.

    for accuracy, get a HRM. for a better estimate, use a calorie calculator that includes weight and different levels of intensity. or just experiment until you find out what works :)
  • levstein
    levstein Posts: 74
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    I use my pedometer it measures steps calories burned distance covered and fat burned any activity I do I measure and the rest of the time it is in my pocket calculating normal movement. It's set to suit my personal stride. I love it!

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