Runtastic vs Endomondo - calories burned?

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DaveyGravy
DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey :) I've been happily using Endomondo for a long time now and had no problems with it but I did feel that the calories it said I had burned seemed very high. I switched to Runtastic and the calories are a lot lower (220 vs 120 cals per mile walking) so I was wondering why such a large difference? Is it to do with gross and net calories burned? Which is the one I should be using?

Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • Trimi
    Trimi Posts: 57
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    Are you sure you have both apps properly calibrated for your weight/height/age?
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Yeah they are both set to my correct height, gender, age and weight
  • Trimi
    Trimi Posts: 57
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    Frankly, unless you're around 300 pounds, you should not be burning more than 120-150 calories per mile. So it seems like Endomondo is vastly overestimating your calories, while Runtastic is being slightly conservative with your calories burned. I use Runtastic myself and have found it to be pretty accurate.
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    I'm 271lbs so 120 is probably about right, yeah it was showing 1000 calories for a 4.5 mile walk, that is what prompted me to check because I will burn 750 in the gym and be about dead and 1000 walking and i was fine.
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Thanks for your help :)
  • MzDfy
    MzDfy Posts: 14
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    I have used both and this is what I've learned, don't eat those calories back! Just go with your allotted calories for the day unless you've been lifting weights. When I do heavy lifting then I eat all my calories back, and I do it with high protein, such as a shake or bar.
  • jonchew
    jonchew Posts: 239 Member
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    When you mention calories burned per mile - are you using what you know to be the actual distance (a measured course) or Endo's GPS-computed miles?

    I ask, because the GPS in my phone is horrible, I can run what I know to be 5K, but Endomondo will log it as much more than 5K, & if you look at the map generated, it looks like I've bopped from place-to-place, instead of running a nice linear path.

    Also, do you use a heart rate monitor? Endomondo may be using your heart rate in it's calculations (I don't know whether they actually do that or not - just a thought).
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Well I tend to walk the same route a lot of the time, I know approx how far the route is and the apps both say it's the same distance give or take a tiny bit, but the calories are miles apart. I don't use a HRM or anything with either app.

    My first thought was the Endo displays gross calories burned whilst Runtastic displays net calories but I don't know the difference between these lol
  • Maalea
    Maalea Posts: 16,193 Member
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    Endomondo overestimates the calories by about 50%, unless you provide some heart rate data, then it is roughly okay.

    Runtastic has a major bug when calculating calories from walking - it just gives you 300 cals per hour, regardless of your speed (so if you walk 1 mile, it is 300, if you walk 10 miles, it is also 300). Just try it out and manually enter a workout...
    For other types of sport (like running) it works better, although it does not take the heart rate into account, even if you provide it.

    I have used Endomondo for more than a year, but finally got too frustrated with the calorie calculation and with being ignored on the Help forums, so now I am testing some other apps...
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Well I walked for 1 hr 45 mins and burned 781 cals, so I don't think that bug is present in this version? Who knows though lol
  • sylnova
    sylnova Posts: 100 Member
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    I never tried Endomondo, but I've been using Runtastic for a while now. I think it still overestimates calories burnt. I usually run with my Garmin + HRM and the calories burnt are always lower on this device than those calculated by Runtastic. I guess that if Endomondo is even higher, than it overestimates quite a lot.
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Thanks, yeah it's not that important as I don't usually eat back ALL my calories burned but it's nice to know if it's accurate or not all the same lol
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    I'm 271lbs so 120 is probably about right, yeah it was showing 1000 calories for a 4.5 mile walk, that is what prompted me to check because I will burn 750 in the gym and be about dead and 1000 walking and i was fine.

    That seems really high regardless of your size! My longest run is probably 75 minutes (7 miles) and I still burned under 1000 calories (I think it was 700 something). I use map my run for cal estimation.
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    I know right! That's why I wanted to investigate it because I wasn't even close to a heart attack and had apparently burned that much lol. I walked 11.1 miles last month and it said 2600 cals which is just not right.
  • Maalea
    Maalea Posts: 16,193 Member
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    Well I walked for 1 hr 45 mins and burned 781 cals, so I don't think that bug is present in this version? Who knows though lol

    If I enter a walk manually on the website, it is still the same. But perhaps they are fixing it and only started with the mobile app - I have to check it next week again :-) Would be great if it worked!
  • DaveyGravy
    DaveyGravy Posts: 283 Member
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    Yeah, try it out! :) Definitely going to go with Runtastic's numbers I think, prefer the Endo app however...argh lol
  • troy0
    troy0 Posts: 37 Member
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    I use endomondo and a Polar rs800cx hrm which is calibrated with a vO2 max value (which itself is admittedly estimated using cooper scores and run distance formulas) and it's always within 10% of the reported endomondo calorie burn. The Polar is generally the lower reading but not always.
    If I felt endomondo were 50% out I wouldnt use it.
    I've used strava for a while recently and It reports much higher calorie burns for the same run than endo does. Its always about 15 to 20% more than the polar hrm.
  • kaotik2003
    kaotik2003 Posts: 21 Member
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    I was also an Endomondo Pro user, but since I discover Runtastic, specially their road bike app I changed and I found this thread because I had the same issue with Endomondo calculating huge calories amount
  • lewandt
    lewandt Posts: 566
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    I use Endomondo and May my Ride (or run) and Endomondo is always high. May My Run is closest to what my heart rate monitor says so i usually go by that one.

    I have not tried any others

    I do love the Endomondo web-site though as i can track my workouts nicely there (slip speeds, etc). And i think the Endomondo app is more user friendly.
  • RunBrew
    RunBrew Posts: 220 Member
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    I've been using Endomondo for about 8 months and its never been very far off for me. In fact, on the infrequent occasions that I have used a HRM, the calories actually go UP compared to the same run with no HR data.
    Example:
    ran a relatively flat google earth confirmed 12.01 mile loop at a moderate pace (total avg pace (8:03/mile) total time ~1:37.00
    Without HR data- estimated 1280 cals burned.

    Same loop, 12 days later, at 8:05/mile avg
    With HR data, avg HR 161, max Hr 167 (yes that's typical for me)- cals estimated 1550.

    (On neither occasion did I attempt to eat them all back. maybe I ate 7-800 back.)

    OP, there's something amiss with your endomondo settings, or GPS tracking. Mines been super reliable and I live in a pretty rural area where GPS can be sketchy. I've even done runs with THREE different programs going just to compare and Endomondo is never wildly off.

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