Calories burnt?

Floricienta
Floricienta Posts: 209
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey guys, I was wondering if I should rely on the number of calories burnt that MFP gives me. I don't want to be eating more than what I'm allowed but it's hard to know exactly how much I'm burning with exercise. Considering MFP does have my info (age, sex, weight, etc) do you think I should take those numbers as a reference or do you really think a Heart Rate Monitor is a must?

Replies

  • staps065
    staps065 Posts: 837 Member
    I'd go with the HRM or if you are using a machine at the gym that takes into account your age and weight, that is porbably a little more accurate than MFP's estimates. Just from my personal experiences using a HRM...
  • nano786
    nano786 Posts: 1
    Surely a heart rate monitor is a good way to go. I rely on it quite a bit.
  • alexwalper
    alexwalper Posts: 81
    I couldn't afford an expensive HRM, so I bought a cheap one, and it ran me into the ground haha.
    For now, I use the numbers on the machine since it has my age and weight.
    I think it's sometimes a little low, but that's okay with me :).
  • servingthealiens
    servingthealiens Posts: 144 Member
    I don't have an HRM yet (will early next month), and I just busted my butt for 40 minutes on the stationary bike. It told me I burned 214 calories. I feel like I burned more. I'm going with the 214 for now, because if it's low, oh well, but yeah, an HRM is definitely the way to be, because I feel like treadmill OVER estimates my calorie burn. Like, at a 0.5% incline, no way did I burn almost 500 calories in 4 miles.
  • Floricienta
    Floricienta Posts: 209
    Yeah I have been considering getting one as a 'reward' present when I reach my first mini goal... I just need to stay on the wagon! Thanks for replying :-)
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Part of it depends on what you are doing. If it's straightforward stuff like walking or running MFP is fine. If you are doing elliptical cross trainers or aerobic classes a lot, then a heart rate monitor is probably better. However, very few HRMs are more accurate than MFP or the machines, so if your budget is tight, don't waste $$ on a cheapo model.

    Depending on how hard you are working out, you can also just multiply your body weight in kg by 5-8 (depending on effort) to get calories per hour and do the reverse math to get the calories for your workout (e.g. divide calories/hour by 60 and multiply that number times the minutes you worked out). In many cases, that will be all the accuracy you need for now.
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