Do you trust the exercise calories burned?

nik433
nik433 Posts: 57
edited September 18 in Fitness and Exercise
I have trouble believing the site's estimations of calories burned during certain types of exercises. For example, it says gardening for one hour is over 250 calories burned! What? I don't even work up close to a sweat gardening, but when I go out for a run and walk for an hour I only burn about 190 and I'm sweatin to the oldies!
What gives? Should I be trusting the values? If I do, that means that my day of landscaping burned me 1600 calories....seems a bit too much. I'm sore and all but I was never huffing and puffing and I never broke a sweat. How could my heart rate gotten up enough to burn so many calories?? I'm so skeptical here....

Replies

  • nik433
    nik433 Posts: 57
    I have trouble believing the site's estimations of calories burned during certain types of exercises. For example, it says gardening for one hour is over 250 calories burned! What? I don't even work up close to a sweat gardening, but when I go out for a run and walk for an hour I only burn about 190 and I'm sweatin to the oldies!
    What gives? Should I be trusting the values? If I do, that means that my day of landscaping burned me 1600 calories....seems a bit too much. I'm sore and all but I was never huffing and puffing and I never broke a sweat. How could my heart rate gotten up enough to burn so many calories?? I'm so skeptical here....
  • wanderinglight
    wanderinglight Posts: 1,519 Member
    The only way to really know is to wear a Heart Rate Monitor, especially because different size people burn different calories at different activities. My HRM is the best investment I ever bought. This way I know whether the machines or the exercises on MFP are overestimated or underestimated.

    P.S. When I wore mine walking, I was shocked to see that it only burned ~300 or so in 45 minutes of FAST walking -- I was sweatin' also!
  • iojoi
    iojoi Posts: 378 Member
    it seems to make adjustments though for weight loss
    when i was swimiming 45 mins it was 357 calories
    now its 344 after the weight loss
  • deanea
    deanea Posts: 1,437
    It's pretty accurate for most of them.
    Anne
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
    It's all over the map because the calories are general estimates. Not really much good for exact measurements. If you want to know for sure, go out and get a heart rate monitor, you won't regret it.
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    Compared to my heart rate monitor, MFP (or any site really) can be anywhere from 200 to 600 or more calories off--depending on how long I exercise. I also suggest getting a HRM if you are serious about your exercise calories.
  • jamie77
    jamie77 Posts: 101
    Compared to my heart rate monitor, MFP (or any site really) can be anywhere from 200 to 600 or more calories off--depending on how long I exercise. I also suggest getting a HRM if you are serious about your exercise calories.

    Is it estimating 200 to 600 too much or too little? I'm trying to eat my exercise calories, but would like to make sure I'm not eating too many until I'm able to get the HRM.
  • laurenk182004
    laurenk182004 Posts: 1,882 Member
    I find that usually MFP or any other calories burned estimater is usually UNDER what my HRM says I actually burned.

    :flowerforyou: Lauren
  • jamie77
    jamie77 Posts: 101
    I find that usually MFP or any other calories burned estimater is usually UNDER what my HRM says I actually burned.

    :flowerforyou: Lauren

    Thanks! :happy:
  • Hopeful4757
    Hopeful4757 Posts: 138
    I was wondering the same thing. I went on the elliptical for 35 minutes and MFP said I burned 732, but the machine said I only burned 235. I didn't know what to put down. Any suggestions? That is an enormous difference!
  • douganl
    douganl Posts: 283 Member
    I agree a HRM is a good investment. I just got mine recently and was shocked to see how much the machines at the gym are off! They are WAY off. Of course, when you get off the elliptical and it reads that you burned 800 calories, you are going to feel good....but, you only burn half that so the reading on the machines are not that reliable!!
  • PrincessLaundry
    PrincessLaundry Posts: 2,758 Member
    I bought a HRM and I love it. It keeps me moving and in "the zone" when working out. I can calculate it to read my heart, not just a generalization put on a board. It is kind of like my little workout friend. I'm encouraged to go for 20 more calories or 5 more minutes. I know I owe a big shout out to my HRM for helping get fit! :drinker:
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    MFP is always over what my HRM says I burn---so be careful!
  • LML79
    LML79 Posts: 697
    oh I have never heard of a heart rate monitor.. Shows how much I know.. I usually only plug in the calories burned on my treadmill..which shows the calories.... but yeah..you still wonder how accurate everything is
  • annhjk
    annhjk Posts: 794 Member
    HRM - yep only real way to know (not that I have one, but my b-day is coming up so maybe :smile: )

    I"m not sure if gardening is counted as cardio or strength. Check out other sites and see what it says. maybe it's the combination of bending, reaching, pulling, squating, etc that are involved in gardening that make it a higher calorie burn. I think i've read that sweating isn't a way to determine how hard you've worked out.

    Here's an article I found about sweating during exercise.

    http://www.nutracheck.co.uk/Library/Exercise/why-do-we-sweat-during-exercise_1.html
  • ohthatbambi
    ohthatbambi Posts: 1,098 Member
    I find that usually MFP or any other calories burned estimater is usually UNDER what my HRM says I actually burned.

    :flowerforyou: Lauren

    I have the opposite happen. I bought a HRM just to be sure.
  • Healthier_Me
    Healthier_Me Posts: 5,600 Member
    Now that I have a HRM, I've compared the numbers and some are higher on here and some are lower.
    So you should really get a HRM... check amazon.com or ebay.

    ~Joanna:flowerforyou:
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,788 Member
    I bought a HRM and wore it gardening (haven't tried it in the heat though). It really depends on what type of gardening you're doing. If you are pulling weeds and planting annuals, you won't burn that much. If you are double digging, you'll burn a bunch. What I do is take my time gardening and cut it in half. So if I did 3 hours, I would enter in 90 minutes.
  • nik433
    nik433 Posts: 57
    So I guess I'll be asking for an HRM for my birthday this year huh?! :laugh:

    Well I have a question on those then. What are they tracking? Your calories burned? So no matter what excercise you're doing, it will tell you how many calories you burned doing it? And I've seen the kind on the wrist and around the chest, which do you all prefer and why?
  • Tess
    Tess Posts: 16
    it also depends totally on your body and motabilism, heart rate or not....Muscular bodies tend to burn fat way faster then fat bodies, even when just sitting still. And weight is a terrible gage anyway for all of this (on another note) I put my weight and height in and it would assume that i have a lot more fat then i actually do, but since muscle weighs more it's totally inaccurate.

    SO i agree with the others, while it's an estimate and a possibel starting point....it's only an estimate.
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
    It's all over the map because the calories are general estimates. Not really much good for exact measurements. If you want to know for sure, go out and get a heart rate monitor, you won't regret it.

    Do heart rate monitors tell you how many cals? Or is there some sort of equation you have to use to figure it out.. How does it work?
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    If you get one that tells you the calories burned, then yes they do. Some only give you a heart rate, so make sure you buy one that tells calories burned!

    I got mine, a Highgear Duo, for $40 from Amazon.com and love it! No problems at all.
  • andrealmt
    andrealmt Posts: 8
    where do you get the heart monitors? are they expensive? i to usually go by what my treadmill says. i used a perdometer while i used the treadmill and got totally different results the treadmill said that i burned 256 calories but the perdometer said 120 and the treadmill said that i walked 1.5 miles and the perdometer said 2.2 miles. when i use the treadmill i change up the incline throughout the session and i adjust the speed also making my workout harder. it would be nice to know exactly how many calories im burning
    andrea
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