myfitnesspal VERY generous on calories burned for exercizes

Siobhan1983
Siobhan1983 Posts: 24
in Fitness and Exercise
I wen to the Gym yesterday and used a "Precor" Stationary Bike, which told me I burned 120 cals.

When I go to log it on here, it gives me 220 cals burned, even if I hit light effort, it gives me 173 cals burned. I was doing an interval program on the bike btw, so light and moderate effort for 30 mins.

Is it like this for everything?

Replies

  • muddyventures
    muddyventures Posts: 360 Member
    I think it varies, and if you are concerned or believe it is wrong so some online research and just enter your activity so the calories are equal to what you believe they should be... ie tweak the time or level of exercise.
  • VegasFit
    VegasFit Posts: 1,232 Member
    I rely on my HRM but I notice with exercises I have saved that I re add often I have to adjust it up or down.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    I guess it depends on the equipment you use. MFP agrees with my treadmill within a few percentage points.
  • misty0413
    misty0413 Posts: 212
    this is why you don't eat exercise calories back. well I don't.
  • melly7171
    melly7171 Posts: 54 Member
    I have the same problem, mfp way over what the equipment at the gym says. I now only eat not even a quarter of my exercise calories if any at all
  • julieh391
    julieh391 Posts: 683 Member
    I round down from what MFP says and only eat about half back usually.
  • togden
    togden Posts: 324 Member
    MFP can be off at times but I find that they are very comparable to my heart rate monitor which takes into account my height, weight, sex and obviously heart rate.
  • ahiddenlink
    ahiddenlink Posts: 42 Member
    I tend to adjust based on what I get at the gym. I've researched some of the other things and you can get close, but I still feel like I'm attributing more exercise than I necessarily am actually doing.

    To be safe, get close to your target goal, maybe a little lower and you'd be alright I'd think.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    this is why you don't eat exercise calories back. well I don't.

    No. This is why you ensure your estimate is as accurate as possible and then eat sensibly.

    Obviously, a database isn't going to *know* what you did in your workout - how intense it was, how hard you worked. This is why so many people have heart rate monitors....
  • davisrl0
    davisrl0 Posts: 93 Member
    Ive found that MFP is over estimating on most things I do. I recently got a HRM and am seeing what I truly burn. Like today, I did a 4 mile run...went slow because of some pain, and finished in just over 43 minutes. MFP had me at almost 500 cals burned, but my HRM had me at 395. (I usually burn more than that running, but it was a slow day. But MFP still calculated it way high). Ive recently let myself start eating some exercise calories and boy am I glad I have my HRM now!!
  • EllyG08
    EllyG08 Posts: 194 Member
    I use my HRM and find that I always have to adjust (up) my calories burned when logging them. So the opposite is true for me.

    When using gym equipment, are you entering your personal data for wieght and age or just going by what's pre-set?
  • 21162
    21162 Posts: 1 Member
    I never eat back the calories I gain from exercise. I may go a little over my calories on weekends but that it. Since I been on myfitness.com I lose 25lb. It works. I love it.
  • annwyatt69
    annwyatt69 Posts: 727 Member
    Yes, I believe MFP is off on the calories burned. Also, everyone burns calories at different rates due to their BMR. And your BMR is not set in stone, either. For one female at 220lbs the next one at the same weight may burn a different amount of cals for the same exercise. It is determined by individual heart rate, metabolism, etc. That is the reason, I don't eat back all the calories they say I burned. I do some, but not all.
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
    For machine workouts, I use what the treadmill says because MFP is usually less because it doesn't know about all of the inclines/intervals. For others, I research a few sources and compare my effort to the treadmill workouts to try to estimate properly. I eat back almost all of my exercise calories, and I'm still losing slightly (about .5 per month) even though I'm on maintenance calories.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    MFP is way under on calories burned for me. The machines are even worse. I ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes the other day and MFP said 230, the machine said 267, my HRM said 348. I set my calorie goals based on my TDEE instead of an arbitrary number plus (or not) calories burned. In the grand scheme of things if you eat 100 calories more because one of the estimates of calories burned is off you aren't really doing that much damage.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    this is why you don't eat exercise calories back. well I don't.

    This is not a good solution for most people. Most people need the extra "fuel" from exercise calories. I haven't had any trouble losing weight and I eat all of my exercise calories, even the ones estimated by MFP.
  • AmyBecky74
    AmyBecky74 Posts: 437 Member
    I don't have any machines/moniters thats tell me so I check quit a few website and try to varify calories burned (average atleast) and then adjust what MFP says.
  • AmyBecky74
    AmyBecky74 Posts: 437 Member
    this is why you don't eat exercise calories back. well I don't.

    This is not a good solution for most people. Most people need the extra "fuel" from exercise calories. I haven't had any trouble losing weight and I eat all of my exercise calories, even the ones estimated by MFP.

    For me (atleast), after strength training I need to eat. Weight workouts make me so hungry. Maybe I'd have lost the weight sooner by not eating some of the calories back but the weight came off and I satisfied my belly. You gotta find the adjustment that works for your body.
  • amersmanders
    amersmanders Posts: 118 Member
    Depending on the exercise, I usually go with whatever the lowest amount of calories burned says, whether it's MFP, or the treadmill/elliptical, or Nike+, etc. I figure that if I did, in actuality, burn more calories than that, then that's a bonus, and if not, then at least I didn't eat too many calories and go over.
  • banshishi
    banshishi Posts: 197
    I have noticed that the exercise burned seem a little high, but I have also noticed that the they set the your calorie targets pretty low too..so as far as I am concerned I dont worry overly about it, I just reset my weight and goals etc, but I was 320lbs I lost 95lbs without so much as counting a single calorie...then I dithered around for a couple of years, gained a little, quit smoking gained a lot now back up to 252....so to the point I lost 95lbs in 2yrs and didnt count a single calorie, because I ate nutrient rich and low carb..that was it and I exercised, so I think that if you are exercising and eating well, its helpful to have an idea of what you are putting in and outputting but I dont think that it would harm over all eating back your total mfp calories even if they are a litte high
  • mlb929
    mlb929 Posts: 1,974 Member
    I use a HRM for my fitness. I'm older, so that taken into account, MFP is generally under-estimating for me. I never use the figures on the machines as I assume they are not accurate.
  • mbsasso
    mbsasso Posts: 2 Member
    I found this too at 1st. Then I realized that MFP is calculating the effort for my weight and it has changed as I've lost weight. The machines are set standard at 150lbs, if you weigh more than this than you burn more. I find most accurate if I put in my height, weight & age into the machine I get the closest calories burned & heart rate numbers from the machine.

    Hope this helps! =)
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    I use my HRM and find that I always have to adjust (up) my calories burned when logging them. So the opposite is true for me.

    When using gym equipment, are you entering your personal data for wieght and age or just going by what's pre-set?

    My treadmill has a weight function, which I keep up to date, but not age. It still seems to correlate pretty closely with MFP.

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