How many calories did I burn?

rstrode
rstrode Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have recently started using an iPhone app for exercise. I think it is called C25K. It is designed to get you from the couch to being able to run/jog a 5k in 8 weeks. Sunday was the first time I had used it outside rather than an indoor track at the gym. It says I burned 179 calories in 32 minutes of walking/jogging.

On Sunday I also downloaded a new app just to try it called MapMyRun. It uses GPS to calculate distance and speed. It also had me enter my weight. It thinks I burned 424 calories. This one seems more accurate, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by following the wrong one.

I entered 179 and went about a hundred calories over my goal for the day. At 424 calories burned, I am well under. What do you all think?

**edited to correct speling of the word "calories"

Replies

  • Ctrum69
    Ctrum69 Posts: 308 Member
    I think the C25K app is much more accurate.

    424 seems WAY high for a half hour run, unless you were doing 8 or 9 mph on a 15% grade with a headwind.

    I'd enter 179, and if you must eat back (without knowing what your BMR is supposed to be), eat half of it.
  • rstrode
    rstrode Posts: 13 Member
    Thanks for the reply. I should have also mentioned that I weigh almost 300 pounds, which somewhat persuaded me that 179 was too low. I will continue to use the lower value unless I find something out that presuades me to do something different.

    I am in rotten shape. While I was going uphil at times, I was also going down. My pace was really very slow. At times I think I was jogging more slowly than I can walk. I think I was over a 15 minute mile on average, which is a walking pace.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Going slow seems lame but it is really the best way to start off so just do your thing because you are doing it right! I would say with your weight your map my run estimate probably is pretty accurate. You can knock 20% off if you want to make sure you are not overestimating. When I was 235 I was logging about 140 calories/mile covered and still lost fine.
  • Whiskybelly
    Whiskybelly Posts: 197 Member
    424 could be possible depending on how tired you were, pace really shouldn't come into it as burning calories is down to your heart rate. You going a 5mph isn't going to be the same as someone fitter going at 5mph. When I was around 240lbs I could burn 400 calories in 30 minutes on the cross trainer because my heart rate was up around 170-180bpm and I was exhausted.
  • Ctrum69
    Ctrum69 Posts: 308 Member
    424 could be possible depending on how tired you were, pace really shouldn't come into it as burning calories is down to your heart rate. You going a 5mph isn't going to be the same as someone fitter going at 5mph. When I was around 240lbs I could burn 400 calories in 30 minutes on the cross trainer because my heart rate was up around 170-180bpm and I was exhausted.

    ^^^^

    Though even with a HRM, one app can give you one number, and another a wildly variant number.

    Nothing happens over night.

    Keep at it, log everything, keep track of your expenditure and intake, and in a week, or two, see if it's working. Adjust as necessary.

    There's no magic formula or magic exercise or magic berry.. there's just determination, stictuitiveness, and self control.
  • Whiskybelly
    Whiskybelly Posts: 197 Member
    [
    Though even with a HRM, one app can give you one number, and another a wildly variant number.

    Nothing happens over night.

    Too true, I guess it's all about trial and error until you find the app that works for you.
  • KinoM
    KinoM Posts: 359 Member
    OP @ 300 lbs you're more likely to have burnt the higher amount than the lower one. Did the C25k app have you input your weight, as it's a serious variable to what you burn. I'd recommend eating back 50-75% of your burned calories to allow for any errors in calculation.
  • rstrode
    rstrode Posts: 13 Member
    It does not ask for my weight, which is one of the things that had me question its calorie number. As a matter of fact, I think it sptis out the same number of calories to everyone. So it doesn't take any variables into accout. Probably just an average based on the average person who does this predetermined workout. For example, the first three workouts are identical and it it spit out 172 calories for me every single time.

    I have been using the lower number to err on the side of being conservative.

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