Did I really burn that many calories???

MFP cals are always waaaay over for me. I wear a HRM when I want a more accurate calculation.

Anyone have any idea of about how much it's overestimating?

You probably burned a few hundred calories. Have you considered switching to the TDEE - 20% method so this isn't an issue?

I would say it is pretty close to being right @ the 2 mph option. {255 minutes is a long workout} I think the hiking numbers are higher because it is across uneven ground, over downed trees and the like. Walking on a path is less work than going cross country. I know when I walk in the woods it is harder. But there are lots of calorie burned calculators out there. Punch your numbers into a couple different ones and see what they say.

Larro

Anyone have any idea of about how much it's overestimating?

You probably burned a few hundred calories. Have you considered switching to the TDEE - 20% method so this isn't an issue?

Do you mean calculate my TDEE, minus 20% from it and then try to net that calorie level? How does the exercise fit in there? I'm sorry, I don't know much about that method

When you calculate TDEE, you include exercise into the equation. You cut 20% (your deficit) from that and eat the same calories per day. So exercise is already built in. Other options are to use a TDEE calculator or just change your activity level in MFP to include exercise. What many people will do to record exercise is change calories burned to "1" so they still document their exercise.

For example, if you exercise 3 to 4 hours a week, change your account to lightly active, or active for 5 to 6 hours of exercise. After 1 month of tracking daily, you can figure out your real TDEE.

I average 2500 calories a day, I also average 1 lb per week fairly consistently (over a 12 week period), so I know my average TDEE is 3000 calories (or my maintenance calories). Some days I burn more, some less but it all equals out over a week.

Remember that you burn calories just by existing.

I agree with what most people have said. Hikes are tougher on our bodies than we realize, I imagine because it's not all flat ground like asphalt typically is. When wifey and I do a hike for, say, 1.5-2 hours, I burn a crazy, crazy, crazy ton of calories and I'm carrying nothing. Granted, I weight 70 lbs. more than you do, but I'd bet the estimates on MFP are pretty close. If in doubt, shave off 150-300 calories if it makes you feel better, but don't shortchange yourself too much. Ya' gotta eat!

Anyone have any idea of about how much it's overestimating?

You probably burned a few hundred calories. Have you considered switching to the TDEE - 20% method so this isn't an issue?

Do you mean calculate my TDEE, minus 20% from it and then try to net that calorie level? How does the exercise fit in there? I'm sorry, I don't know much about that method

When you calculate TDEE, you include exercise into the equation. You cut 20% (your deficit) from that and eat the same calories per day. So exercise is already built in. Other options are to use a TDEE calculator or just change your activity level in MFP to include exercise. What many people will do to record exercise is change calories burned to "1" so they still document their exercise.

For example, if you exercise 3 to 4 hours a week, change your account to lightly active, or active for 5 to 6 hours of exercise. After 1 month of tracking daily, you can figure out your real TDEE.

I average 2500 calories a day, I also average 1 lb per week fairly consistently (over a 12 week period), so I know my average TDEE is 3000 calories (or my maintenance calories). Some days I burn more, some less but it all equals out over a week.

This is easiest for me. If it doesn't work for you, try using around 50% of what MFP says you burned. I found this site overestimates by quite a lot.

600+ calories on an 8 mile hike is entirely possible.

If you want to know the number because you are eating back calories, I would go with half the MFP number and if you feel it wasn't strenuous then use the walking number, not the hiking number.

Seems about right to me if not even a bit low. I am hard pressed to find a calculator that doesn't show 800 as a guess for 270 minutes of slow walking.

Also, remember that Calories are a metric of energy used.

1 calorie is the energy required to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree

so food can be burned (literally) and how much water it heats up by 1 degree is the number of calories.

Now change that for exercise and the metric is guestimation at best.

lets take an apple at 80 calories (for example) that means that when set on fire an apple can heat 80 grams fo water by 1 degree.

Now if one apple means you can walk for 1 hour then you know you burn 80 calories per hour whilst walking but without doing extreme starvation testing you couldnt test this and so many other factors come into play.

if you ate 5000 calories and then did 5000 calories "worth of exercise" you wouldnt drop dead..

a good rule of thumb is knock off 20% of the speculative calorie counts.

or dont count exercise.

Sounds about right for the amount of time you were active.

Over estimating workouts and underestimating food gets people into trouble- a lot- it's a very common problem.
Over estimate food and underestimate workouts- will help push you more toward a deficit-

This! Most people don't realize that many of the calorie burns an HRM calculation yields may have otherwise been burned regardless of how strenuous a particular activity is stated to be. If you didn't break into a heavy sweat during that exercise, it wasn't a high-energy cardio excercise that burned up fat calories. So consider that exercise to be only normal day-to-day activity rather than true exercise that yields an honest calorie burn. As you become more fit, your resting heart rate will drop somewhat over time and make it more challenging for you to reach your magic fat burning zone. As a result, your actual calorie burn from any cardio fitness activity you do diminishes as you become more aerobically fit over time. The true long-term purpose of cardio is to strengthen your heart, not burn up fat.

Also, be aware that body building exercises do not typically yield large calorie burns but they result in development of stronger and leaner muscle tissue that impacts TDEE. Developing your largest muscle groups will impact your TDEE significantly more in the long term than any single cardio exercise will. This is because muscle tissue consumes lots of energy even at rest while fat does not consume energy. In fact, fat is stored energy waiting to be consumed upon demand. Build your largest muscle groups to increase that energy demand.