So how do I accurately measure exercise calories then??

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SarahLou1111
SarahLou1111 Posts: 59
in Fitness and Exercise
The general opinion on these boards seems to be that MFP wildly overestimates exercise calories and I tend to agree they look a bit on the high side so I have invested in a HRM but there now seems to be a lot of comments on here saying that these are also inaccurate and cannot be relied on to give an accurate calorie burn reading.

So how do I accurately measure my exercise calories??

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  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    Most accurate way is to calculate your VO2 Max and use that information with your HR to determine your burn during a workout. Of course this only works for aerobic exercise (HR 50% - 65%). Going above or below that begins to skew those numbers, but it's not bad.

    That being said, realize that everything you enter calorie wise is an approximation. Your BMR is an approximation. Your lifestyle modifier is an approximation. The amount of calories in food is an approximation. The amount of calories you burn is an approximation. Things are going to be off by 20 to 30 calories pretty regularly.

    It is for this reason I so strongly recommend setting your MFP goal to lose 0 lbs a week. Make sure you eat all of that food and don't eat back exercise calories. This means weight loss comes from exercise, which generally results in greater overall health. And health, imo, is far more important than the number on a scale. If I cut your arm off, do you weigh less? Are you healthier? See what I mean :)

    You can find your VO2 Max by following the instructions at http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/vo2max-calculator.aspx
    You can find the formula to calculate calorie burn when HR is known at http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx
  • SarahLou1111
    SarahLou1111 Posts: 59
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    Thanks...and thanks for the links - I will take a look.
  • cdjs77
    cdjs77 Posts: 176 Member
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    I actually found that MFP was underestimating exercise calories for me. If you want to get an idea, take your total calorie consumption for the week (less the calories you burned during exercise according to MFP). Take that and subtract it from what your maintenance calories would be for one week. Take that number and divide it by 3500 to see how many pounds you should have lost and compare that to how many pounds you actually lost. For example, if your maintenance calories would be 2000 per day (14000 per week) and after exercise you net 1500 calories per day (10500 per week), you should have lost one pound (3500 calorie deficit). This isn't totally fool proof, but over a couple of weeks it should give you a better picture of how accurate your food/exercise tracking is. After a couple weeks, I found that I had been losing a half pound per week more than MFP was telling me I would lose.

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