MyFitnessPal realllllly over estimates on calories..

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  • catawbalovely
    catawbalovely Posts: 19 Member
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    I always put what my elliptical says because there is a 40 calorie difference between MFP and my machine. I go with the lower number to be on the safe side.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    For a 220 pound male one hour of walking 2 miles per hour is around 250. How in the world are you walking for only an hour and burning 900 calories??????????????O.o Number seems wrong to me no matter how big the person is.

    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but even 250 is high (that would be total or gross calories burned - which includes BMR) the formula for estimating net calories burned walking is .30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles) so a 220 lb person would actually expend and additional 132 calories walking 2 miles compared to lying in bed....... on a treadmill with higher inclines this formula doesn't work and I haven't seen any reliable multipliers yet (running is little over double the expenditure of walking use .63 instead of .60)

    source: http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single
  • kk1084
    kk1084 Posts: 51 Member
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    I don't necessarily trust MFP OR gym machine calculations of my caloric burn. I always cut off around 100 calories when I hit the gym (I work HARD and I POUR buckets of sweat, so I know I burn more than a lot of people my size, but the machine says 650 for an hour, I say 500). For less strenuous activities, I still round down, but maybe a little less. MFP says I burn 175 on an hour walk at "dog walking pace," I say more like 100.

    I do think it's a little off, but I'd rather overestimate intake and underestimate burn than the other way around ;)
  • tchell99
    tchell99 Posts: 434 Member
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    I checked 3 walking exercise entries, and all were reasonable. Nothing close to 900 (or even 500) for an hour.

    Maybe its just mine although I have never entered these in. I don't use MPH.

    If I go to exercise, then to database and type in walking, I get a whole list.

    If I choose "Walking, 4.0 mph", I get 739 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.
    If I choose" Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace", I get 340 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.

    There are a few entries like this.

    Who is *walking* at 4mph? That's jogging for me :/

    Me too. :laugh:

    Depends on height and leg length, perhaps? I don't have to break into a slow jog until 4.5 or so.
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    I checked 3 walking exercise entries, and all were reasonable. Nothing close to 900 (or even 500) for an hour.

    Maybe its just mine although I have never entered these in. I don't use MPH.

    If I go to exercise, then to database and type in walking, I get a whole list.

    If I choose "Walking, 4.0 mph", I get 739 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.
    If I choose" Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace", I get 340 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.

    There are a few entries like this.

    Who is *walking* at 4mph? That's jogging for me :/

    Me too. :laugh:

    Depends on height and leg length, perhaps? I don't have to break into a slow jog until 4.5 or so.

    On a treadmill or the road?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    I checked 3 walking exercise entries, and all were reasonable. Nothing close to 900 (or even 500) for an hour.

    Maybe its just mine although I have never entered these in. I don't use MPH.

    If I go to exercise, then to database and type in walking, I get a whole list.

    If I choose "Walking, 4.0 mph", I get 739 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.
    If I choose" Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace", I get 340 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.

    There are a few entries like this.

    Who is *walking* at 4mph? That's jogging for me :/

    Me too. :laugh:

    Depends on height and leg length, perhaps? I don't have to break into a slow jog until 4.5 or so.

    There was a discussion on this topic before and people shorter than me said they could do it. I do have short legs, average height (5'5.5, yes I count the .5). No doubt longer legs play a factor.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I checked 3 walking exercise entries, and all were reasonable. Nothing close to 900 (or even 500) for an hour.

    Maybe its just mine although I have never entered these in. I don't use MPH.

    If I go to exercise, then to database and type in walking, I get a whole list.

    If I choose "Walking, 4.0 mph", I get 739 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.
    If I choose" Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace", I get 340 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.

    There are a few entries like this.

    Who is *walking* at 4mph? That's jogging for me :/

    Me too. :laugh:

    Depends on height and leg length, perhaps? I don't have to break into a slow jog until 4.5 or so.

    Me too. My natural walking pace is somewhere between 3.5 and 4mph. But when I first started with exercising more, 3mph was pushing it 4mph was about when I'd start jogging.

    Have you ever seen a serious speed walker? I had one pass me at one of my first running events! I was probably going 4.5mph and he zoomed right by.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    Just saw from a friend they burned almost 900 calories for walking for a little over an hour... hmmm doesn't seem right.

    were you there with them on their walk?? no? oh, okay then.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Doesn't depend on ****. Use 0.3 * weight in lbs * Miles walked. A much better idea of what is actually burned.

    Btw .. I walk at up to 4.6 mph and have maxed out at about 5.1. #Never_Go_Slow
  • gevaisa
    gevaisa Posts: 34 Member
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    yeah sometimes i feel the same - i just eat half my exercise calories back to be on the safe side
  • tchell99
    tchell99 Posts: 434 Member
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    I checked 3 walking exercise entries, and all were reasonable. Nothing close to 900 (or even 500) for an hour.

    Maybe its just mine although I have never entered these in. I don't use MPH.

    If I go to exercise, then to database and type in walking, I get a whole list.

    If I choose "Walking, 4.0 mph", I get 739 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.
    If I choose" Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace", I get 340 calories for 60 minutes at 150lbs.

    There are a few entries like this.

    Who is *walking* at 4mph? That's jogging for me :/

    Me too. :laugh:

    Depends on height and leg length, perhaps? I don't have to break into a slow jog until 4.5 or so.

    On a treadmill or the road?

    Both, but there is surely variability introduced between the time/speed app I use when walking and the calibration accuracy of the treadmill. That's why I say "or so."
  • HarrietSabre
    HarrietSabre Posts: 186 Member
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    For something like blogilates videos (kind of low cardio pilates) I always use the low effort calisthenics measure and it's about 300kcal for an hour. The high effort calisthenics is about 5-600 or something, which is way too high, and pilates itself is about 200kcal, which I think is way too low. I don't have a HRM but i just go with how much i'm sweating/out of breath compared with the numbers on the machines at the gym and work it all out that way. I do agree that the walking ones seem high, because 20 minutes is like 100-150 for me. I think it's just about being reasonable, I always try to overestimate my food and underestimate my exercise by about 100kcal.
  • HarrietSabre
    HarrietSabre Posts: 186 Member
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    PS how are you all affording a HRM? They're ridiculously expensive!
  • Murphy0126
    Murphy0126 Posts: 84 Member
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    Seems like we have a lot of Doctors on this site...

    At 415 pounds my HRM showed me a burn of 1302 calories for 60 minutes of walking at a 8.2 min/km.

    Now at 339.8 pounds my HRM shows me a burn of 1156 calories for 60 minutes of walking at a 7.2 min/km.

    I think people need to stop, relax, and realize some people burn more, before they speak out of their *kitten*.

    Rob
  • IrozI
    IrozI Posts: 4 Member
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    Yeah-- I was really confused when it had me burning 200 calories for running for five minutes. I weigh 140. I know from running on a treadmill that I burn closer to 50 calories in that time. WTF.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    I wear a FitBit which takes all the guesswork out of it but with so many of us using so many ways of estimating our burns it's bound to seem inconsistent. Is your friend losing well logging what they are logging for exercise? If so, then it's probably pretty accurate for their current weight.

    What a lot of people don't realise though is that the sedentary setting here already includes your first 2 miles (or so) each day. If I don't walk further than that I don't get any extra calories at all from FitBit (account synced with here) so going out for a short walk on an otherwise lazy day at home shouldn't really be logged as edible exercise.
  • LAPDpoliceNYPD
    LAPDpoliceNYPD Posts: 77 Member
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    im gona start walking :laugh:
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    PS how are you all affording a HRM? They're ridiculously expensive!

    I understand "expensive" is relative, but $70 or so for a one-time purchase doesn't seem so bad to me?

    http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Heart-Rate-Monitor-Purple/dp/B005M1P85O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1396372829&sr=8-3&keywords=polar+ft7
  • HanamiDango
    HanamiDango Posts: 456 Member
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    Could someone please explain why, if I walk for 110 minutes at a brisk pace of 3 mph, I 'gain' 417 calories whereas if I walk for that same 110 minutes at leisurely pace of 1.5 mph I 'gain' a massive 761 calories!!


    Know that I am not the brightest bulb on the tree at times but how can this be true!!??

    I mentioned that in an earlier post. There seems to either be a glitch or flat out incorrect entries. I didn't think that people could add their own entries into the main exercise database like they can for food but there appears to be duplicate entries, with a slight variation with wording. One is fine, the other gives a huge burn.

    ETA- Here is my list (I emailed tech support, I'm sure they'll get right on it). All entries are the same weight and time. Exact wording from database.

    "Walking, 1.5 mph, leisurely pa" 423
    "Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace " 176
    "Walking, 2.5 mph, leisurely pace" 211
    "Walking, 2.5 mph, leisurely pa" 1268
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace " 232
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog " 232
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, w " 557
    "Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace" 267
    "Walking, 4.0 mph, " 764
    "Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace" 352
    "Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace" 443
    "Walking, 5.0 mph " 562
    "Walking, 5.0 mph, fast pace, w " 231

    I was playing with it too and am also getting results all over the place. My walking 4.0mph was 902 cals burned for an hour. So yeah, the system is a little funny there. I weight 183lbs. The walking 4.0 very brisk pace gives me 416 cals burned for the hour.
    I eat back half my cals from exercise, but now I am wondering about that too :( I just tried out the running and those seem ok, besides for the running at 4mph, 60 = 2996 cals burned. :noway:
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    Could someone please explain why, if I walk for 110 minutes at a brisk pace of 3 mph, I 'gain' 417 calories whereas if I walk for that same 110 minutes at leisurely pace of 1.5 mph I 'gain' a massive 761 calories!!


    Know that I am not the brightest bulb on the tree at times but how can this be true!!??

    I mentioned that in an earlier post. There seems to either be a glitch or flat out incorrect entries. I didn't think that people could add their own entries into the main exercise database like they can for food but there appears to be duplicate entries, with a slight variation with wording. One is fine, the other gives a huge burn.

    ETA- Here is my list (I emailed tech support, I'm sure they'll get right on it). All entries are the same weight and time. Exact wording from database.

    "Walking, 1.5 mph, leisurely pa" 423
    "Walking, 2.0 mph, slow pace " 176
    "Walking, 2.5 mph, leisurely pace" 211
    "Walking, 2.5 mph, leisurely pa" 1268
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace " 232
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog " 232
    "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, w " 557
    "Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace" 267
    "Walking, 4.0 mph, " 764
    "Walking, 4.0 mph, very brisk pace" 352
    "Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace" 443
    "Walking, 5.0 mph " 562
    "Walking, 5.0 mph, fast pace, w " 231

    I was playing with it too and am also getting results all over the place. My walking 4.0mph was 902 cals burned for an hour. So yeah, the system is a little funny there. I weight 183lbs. The walking 4.0 very brisk pace gives me 416 cals burned for the hour.
    I eat back half my cals from exercise, but now I am wondering about that too :( I just tried out the running and those seem ok, besides for the running at 4mph, 60 = 2996 cals burned. :noway:

    In response to my email along with saying they would fix it they also said "In the meantime, please refrain from using the exercises that have incomplete words at the end: pa, w, etc."