Overestimating calories burned and weight loss

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  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    That's why its best to invest in an HRM for a more accurate burn calculation. :)

    does the HRM actually tell you how much you burned, or do you do math or estimate based on where your HR was during the exercise?

    The HRM does all the work for you. I highly recommend it plus the chest strap.:flowerforyou:
  • IllustratedxGirl
    IllustratedxGirl Posts: 240 Member
    My diary will say I burn over 1,000 calories in a day easily.. but I usually do a bootcamp class over lunch and strength + spin after work. I mix it up a bit, but some configuration of that sort.

    I wear a heart rate monitor and try to make sure I am not over estimating
  • AnneOdland
    AnneOdland Posts: 14 Member
    Very interesting discussion-- I always wonder about the accuracy of MFP's calorie calculations. For example, it gives me credit for a very high calorie burn for "tennis, singles", but I know for SURE that I work harder during a (for example) Jillian Michaels 55 minute exercise video, so I never give myself credit for singles--- log it in as "doubles" and hope it's closer. I've been doing the Fitness Blender 1000 calorie HIIT workouts and also just tried Christine Salus's 1000 calorie HIIT routine… Giving myself credit for 800 calories, not b/c the routine didn't kick my *kitten* (it DID-- felt like I was going to puke after it was done), but just b/c I don't have any idea how she is calculating the calories, and I think it might be too good to be true. Guess I need to get myself a monitor… anyone have a recommendation as to the best one to get? (Fitbit? Other???)
  • christinalong1991
    christinalong1991 Posts: 74 Member


    I have seen logs that will relate a higher than 1,000 calories burn with walking and Zumba. I do not care how long and fast you walk or how many Zumba classes you do, you are not burning 1,000 calories on those alone.


    That's a pretty presumptuous claim to make. What makes you think just because YOU don't burn that many calories that everyone who burns more is wrong! I am heavier, have a significant amount of muscle, so yes, I CAN burn 1000 calories just walking alone, and can burn well over 700 in one hour of Zumba. It's called working my *kitten* off and getting my heart rate up! And the 40 pounds that I lost while logging those and eating my calories back would indicate I wasn't wrong...
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member


    I have seen logs that will relate a higher than 1,000 calories burn with walking and Zumba. I do not care how long and fast you walk or how many Zumba classes you do, you are not burning 1,000 calories on those alone.


    That's a pretty presumptuous claim to make. What makes you think just because YOU don't burn that many calories that everyone who burns more is wrong! I am heavier, have a significant amount of muscle, so yes, I CAN burn 1000 calories just walking alone, and can burn well over 700 in one hour of Zumba. It's called working my *kitten* off and getting my heart rate up! And the 40 pounds that I lost while logging those and eating my calories back would indicate I wasn't wrong...

    Netting a 1000 calorie burn from walking comes out to an over 13 mile walk by a 250 pound person.

    Gross calories per mile walked .53 per pound ... net calories per mile walked .3 per pound.
  • TheMannon
    TheMannon Posts: 36 Member
    I don't get the big mystery - the scale will tell you how accurate your HRM is, assuming you're accurately logging your food intake.

    And FTR, I burn about 1000 cals/hr on the treadmill (brisk pace with incline)
  • jah732
    jah732 Posts: 3 Member
    I have several questions for folks with HRM

    1) when you log your calories burned, do you log what your HRM shows for that time (gross), or do you subtract your BMR before logging (net)? My Polar FT60 with chest strap takes into account my age, gender, weight, average HR, highest HR, VO2 max, etc. When I do 60' of cardio kickfit with weighted gloves & ankle weights, my HRM gives me ~265 calories, So minus the 55 calories I would burn in 60' without exercise = 210 exercise calories (3.5 calories/minutes) even though I am sweating profusely & breathing heavily at the end.

    I had been inputting gross but I think I need to go back and recalculate them all to input only net calories burned.

    2) do you know what calculation/formula your HRM uses to give calories burned? I have never found a calculator that gives as low a gross burn as my Polar calculates. When I use this formula
    Female: ((-59.3954 + (0.45 x HR) + (0.380 x VO2max) + (0.103 x W) + (0.274 x A))/4.184) x 60 x T a session with T(ime) 28minutes 54 seconds, average HR 121bpm, VO2max 33, W(eight) 115#, age 50, it shows 184 gross calories yet my HRM shows 124 gross calories for that session. That is 2 calories per minute difference!!

    My Fitbit and other trackers estimate much higher, but they don't know HR or VO2max so I don't trust them.

    thx for any insight

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