Activity levels and overestimating exercise burn

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BerryH
BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Congratulations on another awesome workout. You hit it hard yesterday, so today you had a long, mid-speed walk in the country for three hours at 3.5mph. 972 calories, brilliant, spend them on a pub lunch and a pint!

But wait. You're lightly active and burn 2,160 calories a day just being your shiny self - what MFP dubs "calories burned from normal activity" under the "Goals" tab. That's 90 calories on average an hour - and as that includes sleeping, your active waking hours burn could be as much as 110 calories an hour. So you'd have burned 330 calories during the duration of your three-hour walk just going about your daily business.

The calories you burned during your country walk over and above what you'd have burned anyway could therefore be closer to 642 than 972. As the calories burned by your day-to-day activity are already included in your MFP estimates, accuracy pedants might want to take this into consideration when recording exercise calories.

For shorter, harder workouts this factor has far less influence than longer, easier exercise and for the most part can be ignored. And if, like me, you're heavier, your daily activity level calorie burn will be more significant and it's worth considering subtracting these from longer, easier workouts.

There are several reasons MFP's calorie burns may not be 100% accurate for you all the time. But if you want a downward adjustment more accurate than putting your finger in the air and dividing by the number you first thought of, subtracting the calories that would have been burned from normal activity during the duration of your exercise might be the way ahead.

All the above based on personal opinion and MFP experience, with figures based on my own MFP estimates :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    Excellent post! I see people overestimate all the time and then wonder why they are not making progress. I don't have a HRM so I keep it really conservative and err on the 'light side' when logging my calories burned through exercise. And there are many activities I don't log at all as they're just part of my daily routine (example - my walk to and from the train daily is 2 miles), or I don't log cleaning no matter how vigorous it is....unless I'm moving furniture around for a sustained period of time or doing a very physical remodeling project (but honestly how often does that happen in your daily life).
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    Good point, Berry!

    Makes sense to me - esp. if you aren't getting the result you want, it could be worthwhile to examine if you are overestimating.

    For me, I generally cut the MFP estimate in half, and that seems to be about right.
  • ktsmom430
    ktsmom430 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    Or you could just exercise for the health benefits and not worry about how many calories you burn, not intending to eat more. Works for me so far.
  • katierrt
    katierrt Posts: 113 Member
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    love reading the truth in black and white!!! Great post! I burn so many calories on the average work day in my job that if I'm going to lose weight, I have to at least meet it or beat it at home! This is why I work out after work and harder on my days off. Its amazing what a body can get used to. :) Thanks for this post!
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    Good point, Berry!

    Makes sense to me - esp. if you aren't getting the result you want, it could be worthwhile to examine if you are overestimating.

    For me, I generally cut the MFP estimate in half, and that seems to be about right.

    Yes. MFP seems to give a gross burn, rather than a net burn (needs to be fixed IMO). There are other more accurate online calorie counters.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Yes but it's the same with a HRM really. Another reason I like TDEE-20% better!
  • jos05
    jos05 Posts: 263 Member
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    Or you could just exercise for the health benefits and not worry about how many calories you burn, not intending to eat more. Works for me so far.

    Exactly!! Don't get me wrong, I like to put up big "calorie numbers"... but the truth is this... I love my 4:30am wake up and I love my 5am to 6:30am gym time!! And I know how it makes feel. I know that as long as I cut back on my food and make better decisions... it will pay off like it should!

    Ultimately...it is a lifestyle change...
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
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    Very true!

    Every app or cardio machine overestimates my burn by up to 50% in comparison to my hrm.

    I always wear my hrm and don't eat quite all of those cals back either. It is definitely more accurate than the apps.

    When using the cals on mfp or other apps, I wouldn't eat back more than 2/3 of the calculated exercise cals. I have quite a few friends following this rule of thumb and they are doing well with their weightloss.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    agreed. this is why for every hour I workout, i automatically deduct around 125 calories from the total because that's how many i would be using just to be alive, breathe, blink, etc for that hour. i dont eat my exercie calories back anyway because i'm doing a TDEE method but i do still record them in the notes

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