Calories Burned Accuracy

I agree, so I try not to eat them (my calories) back all the way. I'm sure MFP does the best it can, but there are some activities that you can do with intensity or barely move and you'll get the same answer, and there's really no formula for that

edited to add, I also cut off the time on my workouts. I know my Zumba class isn't 60 minutes of going hardcore, so I usually put 45 or 50 minutes.

I use a very simple app called "Calories Burned Calculator." And more recently "Endomondo." Both give me fairly similar numbers, and are typically less than what MFP app calculates. So I add the exercise, and change the calories field to whatever Calories Burned Calculator show it to be. Unless I've tracked the exercise with Endomondo, because that one is linked to MFP it updates my diary automatically.

Any data base for calories burned is going to be subject to a whole lot of error...it may be accurate, it may be wildly off. The problem is that there are too many variables. Yeah...I might burn 800 calories swimming for 30 minutes....if I was Michael Phelps or I was sprinting the whole damned thing....but my recreational lap swimming isn't going to do that. Neither are my recreational bike rides and what not.

Machines are a better indicator and a HRM is the most accurate, though still an estimation. I believe Polar models were tested to be around 70% accurate for calorie burn during an actual aerobic event for an individual of average statistics.

MFP's database cannot measure effort.....so its estimates are not a good guide. When you get a heart rate monitor, you will see that some of MFP's estimates are closer than others....but, really, that's just because of the effort you put into the workout. Anyway, until you get a HR monitor, you can use MFP's estimates...but don't eat back more than half of the estimated calories.

I prefer my Polar HRM but if I forget the watch part of it I used Runtastic, both are lower than MPF.

I think net versus gross calories burned is a big gap in MFP. When you start hitting plateaus, this gap is most likely the reason.

I used the calorie expenditure built into MFP, and then I plateaued, so I started using the exercise machine's number. Then I hit a plateau again, and consequently bought a heart-rate monitor. The calorie burn was much less, and weight loss continued again. I synced MFP with iCardio. iCardio connected with my Wahoo HRM. The calorie burn numbers went into MFP seamlessly via the vendor sync feature. I am now at a plateau again, and I believe the issue is the net versus gross calorie burn. I believe iCardio is using gross calorie burn when using the heart monitor....at least from what I read at their website.

MFP needs to call out this gap, as I believe this is a big reason for hitting plateaus in weight loss. It should be spelled out that you need to be entering NET calorie burn as opposed to gross. I am assuming that when you choose your activity level as sedentary, active etc, that the picking of the activity level automatically precludes you from using gross calorie burn, otherwise one would be double counting the difference between gross and net when entering calories burned. This is significant over the course of a week.

Bottom line is that most exercise equipment uses gross calorie burn, and it would appear that most calculators in the app world output gross calorie burn too. MFP, if I am not mistaken, should want net calorie burn to be input at all times.

I have noticed postings above saying that the difference is not that significant.....I call BS, and challenge anyone saying that to do the math and add up the over estimates of calorie burn throughout a week and you will see that it is huge.

MFP's summary should read GOAL, CALORIES CONSUMED, NET CALORIES BURNED, and DELTA.

Finally, the reason it doesn't really matter in the beginning is due to the backpack of fat we all exercise with. The backpack makes all the exercises more intense....once you lose the backpack the math above starts to come into play.

I use my Polar FT60 HRM.......... I Never use MFP estimates or the Machines at the Gym.... Best of Luck

I just found this and it seems more accurate.

Use this gross calories calculator: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx
Then after that it shows a link to go to the net calorie calculator so do that one after that.