I really hate how these calories seem off.

Hummmingbird
Hummmingbird Posts: 337 Member
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
the only thing i hate about mfp.....it says i burnt 365 calories moving boxes for 45 minutes. now the moving of heavy stuff (boxes and bags full of can goods rice pasta etc) was lifting and moving and i did bending and was on my feet for about 4 hours straight...but 365? rediculous

Replies

  • elainegsd
    elainegsd Posts: 459 Member
    Do you think it should be more or less than 365?
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    it's my personal opinion that most of MFP's calorie estimates (as well as many gym machine estimates) are high. I would highly recommend you invest in a HRM or Bodybugg/Body Media Fit type device to track exercise calories burned. These will be more accurate than generic calculators/estimates, even ones that take your weight/age into account. You can get a decent HRM for pretty cheap, if cost is an issue - especially this time of year there are lots of sales!
  • Hummmingbird
    Hummmingbird Posts: 337 Member
    LESS!
  • jeesa
    jeesa Posts: 34 Member
    Yep I agree that a lot of the times the count seems too high. If I work out for 60 minutes I put in 40 just to make sure I'm not going over my calorie count for the day.
  • jellyfishjen
    jellyfishjen Posts: 1,787 Member
    I use it really just as a record of what days I exercised and what I did. So long as you don't plan to eat your exercise calories.
  • MiloBloom83
    MiloBloom83 Posts: 2,724 Member
    the only thing i hate about mfp.....it says i burnt 365 calories moving boxes for 45 minutes. now the moving of heavy stuff (boxes and bags full of can goods rice pasta etc) was lifting and moving and i did bending and was on my feet for about 4 hours straight...but 365? rediculous
    How about applying some common sence if you think things aren't right. If you feel it's too many, cut the time back to fit what you feel is appropriate. Calorie burns are approximations anyway. If you feel like you a good workout, leave it alone. If you spent 50% of the time sippping coffee, make the adjustment.
  • Hummmingbird
    Hummmingbird Posts: 337 Member
    the only thing i hate about mfp.....it says i burnt 365 calories moving boxes for 45 minutes. now the moving of heavy stuff (boxes and bags full of can goods rice pasta etc) was lifting and moving and i did bending and was on my feet for about 4 hours straight...but 365? rediculous
    How about applying some common sence if you think things aren't right. If you feel it's too many, cut the time back to fit what you feel is appropriate. Calorie burns are approximations anyway. If you feel like you a good workout, leave it alone. If you spent 50% of the time sippping coffee, make the adjustment.

    I did. I was acutally lifting for about 2 hours...and i put in 45 minutes.
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
    personally, if I just stand in my kitchen maybe cooking or doing dishes for 4 hours I will burn nearly 400 calories. My resting daytime metabolic rate (standing not sitting) is almost 100 per hour (then drops to only about 60 per hour overnight). So if I were doing lifting but never really getting my heart rate up I would expect it to be probably 500-550 for 4 hours.

    The MFP numbers are for a generic body type and sex. It's not going to line up with you. You should get a HRM.

    BUT note too - in this instance. Say I moved boxes for 4 hours and burned 550 calories. If I sat around I would have burned from 350-400 so I would only log 150 calories as exercise calories because that is only how many I burned EXTRA or over what MFP already has calculated for me. If you log all 500 and eat them all... .well, there goes almost your whole your deficit for the day. Calculating and subtracting out what you would have burned anyway is important, especially in low cardio and long (ie over 1 hour) activity.
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
    the only thing i hate about mfp.....it says i burnt 365 calories moving boxes for 45 minutes. now the moving of heavy stuff (boxes and bags full of can goods rice pasta etc) was lifting and moving and i did bending and was on my feet for about 4 hours straight...but 365? rediculous
    How about applying some common sence if you think things aren't right. If you feel it's too many, cut the time back to fit what you feel is appropriate. Calorie burns are approximations anyway. If you feel like you a good workout, leave it alone. If you spent 50% of the time sippping coffee, make the adjustment.

    I did. I was acutally lifting for about 2 hours...and i put in 45 minutes.

    If you prefer to have your diary more accurate as far as HOW LONG you worked out, you can always just type in a different (lower / higher) calories count rather than play around with the time until you get a # you like in the cal box. I always put in my time accurately but then change the cal count to whatever I feel it should be, or what my HRM says. It will not change the time you entered (like changing the time changes the calorie count... doesn't affect if the other way around if you enter the time then change the cal #)
  • tlp8rb
    tlp8rb Posts: 556 Member
    the only thing i hate about mfp.....it says i burnt 365 calories moving boxes for 45 minutes. now the moving of heavy stuff (boxes and bags full of can goods rice pasta etc) was lifting and moving and i did bending and was on my feet for about 4 hours straight...but 365? rediculous

    I just checked another online calorie burn counter and it said that 45 minutes of playing billards burns 150 calories. It claims to be the most accurate counter on the web. It also said 45 minutes of backpacking burned 450 calories. If 45 minutes of playing pool burns 150 calories and backpacking for the same length of time burns 450 calories than I think 45 minutes of lifting, bending, walking and moving heavy boxes can certainly burn 365 calories.

    Of course these burns were calculated at a specific body weight - for this purpose I entered 175 - so you'd have to adjust for your body weight.

    The site was www.healthstatus.com.
  • ppiinnkkmmoonn
    ppiinnkkmmoonn Posts: 418
    ive been saying this forever too lol
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