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Swimming calories burned

kcaffee1
kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
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I have a question for those who have a waterproof HRM. Could you check this site, and see if it is even remotely accurate compared to your HRM calorie burns? It is so vastly different than the MFP estimates, and I don't have any way to verify if it is even close to accurate.

Thanks!

http://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-swimming/

Replies

  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    I've used a few different calculators.
    Finally settled on entering 1 minute per lap at leisurely. The calculator assumes 50yrd/minute for leisurely/moderate and 75yrds per minute for hard swim.
    So whether I'm swimming 50 seconds per lap or 65 seconds per lap I enter 1 minute per lap.
    I'd rather under estimate than over.
    Next week I can start using an HRM as a second measure because I'll be completely off the beta blocker that limits heart rate.
  • CathyPot
    CathyPot Posts: 9 Member
    I looked at your site because MFP seems SO wrong for me. Not just for swimming, but everything.
    There seems no way this one could be right either. It says swimming backstroke at the same pace as freestyle would use fewer calories. That couldn't be true since freestyle is a faster stroke. In all MFP activities, I cut the estimated calorie burn way down. For swimming, if I swim 3100 meters in 65 minutes (mix of strokes), I put in 425-450 calories. It seems about right for me.
    Your calculator estimated 673 if I did all freestyle and 593 if I did all back stroke. However, I don't have a HRM, so it's all a guess.
  • kcaffee1
    kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
    Thanks to both of you. I know MFP is waaaay to high. When I started using that sight, it was because of the zumba calculator, and I'd read several people's reviews that it was pretty close to their HRM for the zumba. Then, I found the pool at school, and have mostly used that instead of my x-box. But I did notice that when I started loosing weight, the burns aren't coming down all that much. So, figured I'd put out a call for help in figuring out if this one was accurate enough to use.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    I looked at your site because MFP seems SO wrong for me. Not just for swimming, but everything.
    There seems no way this one could be right either. It says swimming backstroke at the same pace as freestyle would use fewer calories. That couldn't be true since freestyle is a faster stroke. In all MFP activities, I cut the estimated calorie burn way down. For swimming, if I swim 3100 meters in 65 minutes (mix of strokes), I put in 425-450 calories. It seems about right for me.
    Your calculator estimated 673 if I did all freestyle and 593 if I did all back stroke. However, I don't have a HRM, so it's all a guess.

    This calculator also results in lower calories for back stroke than front crawl.
    http://42.195km.net/e/swim/
    I entered 5km in 110 minutes for both.
    Back stroke: 1345
    Front crawl 1548
    Breast Stroke 1922
    Butterfly 2115

    I have found that MFP underestimates swim calories compared to most other calculators. But I still just use 1 minute per lap.
  • kcaffee1
    kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
    Hmm... I think that now I've "trained" my swim calculator I'm getting consistent numbers to the external one. I just remember when I first entered my swim times, I was seeing 4K + for an hour of swimming, and I knew that was too much. Much, much, too much because at the time I wasn't able to even claim I'd done something that looked like the butterfly. I was still using side stroke in place of. It wasn't until after I found the external that I started figuring out how the butterfly was timed. Even then, the first time I entered my butterfly into MFP, I got something over 800 for 15 minutes!

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