Calories burned working out

Erilynn93
Erilynn93 Posts: 256 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey All!

I'm already relatively sure of the answer to my question but I just thought I'd ask you all before I made my full decision I suppose.

My exercise bike says that calories I burned are lower than what My Fitness Pal says I've burned. Should I go with the bike or MFP? I've been going with MFP because it also factors in my height and weight and such whereas my bike is pretty low tech and cheap because I'm a broke college student, haha.

Please let me know your opinions and maybe how some of you guys work it out.

Thanks! :)

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    All burns are estimates—and they're all inflated. To reduce the margin of error, some people eat back half their exercise calories. It will take trial & error to find what works for you.

    Read the Sexypants post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    If you're doing the MFP method then you should be as conservative as possible with exercise burn. Really, people don't burn as many calories with exercise as they think they do. I always compared what a machine or something said my burn was with my perceived level of effort....I used a multiplier of 5 for something like a moderately paced walk to a factor of 10 for a level of effort for which I could not hold a conversation for the duration of the event. Most workouts fall somewhere in between; I never logged anymore than 10 calories per minute.
  • Erilynn93
    Erilynn93 Posts: 256 Member
    I see, I see. I never really eat back my calories anyway unless I'm having a day where I'm more lenient about what I eat. I usually stay just under my goal for the day regardless of what I burn. But thank you for your input, guys :)
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Your MFP calorie goal has your deficit built in, so you must eat back at least a portion of your exercise calories.

    Please, read the Sexypants post. Food is fuel, and we should all be looking for the maximum number of calories at which we lose weight—never the minimum.
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    Hey All!

    I'm already relatively sure of the answer to my question but I just thought I'd ask you all before I made my full decision I suppose.

    My exercise bike says that calories I burned are lower than what My Fitness Pal says I've burned. Should I go with the bike or MFP? I've been going with MFP because it also factors in my height and weight and such whereas my bike is pretty low tech and cheap because I'm a broke college student, haha.

    Please let me know your opinions and maybe how some of you guys work it out.

    Thanks! :)

    Go with neither and go buy your self an Polar F7 unit
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    Please, read the Sexypants post. Food is fuel, and we should all be looking for the maximum number of calories at which we lose weight—never the minimum.
    Why all the recommendations for people at higher weights to lose more than half a pound a week, then?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    It's not a recommendation—it's how the human body works. The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. At my size, I can set my goal to 2 lb. per week, but I physically cannot lose that quickly. So I'll be starving myself, not losing, and feeling miserable.

    Or I can set my goal appropriately (.5 lb. per week), and be happy with my small loss. The smaller deficit will also help me transition to maintenance.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    It's not a recommendation—it's how the human body works. The less you have to lose, the more slowly it comes off. At my size, I can set my goal to 2 lb. per week, but I physically cannot lose that quickly. So I'll be starving myself, not losing, and feeling miserable.

    Or I can set my goal appropriately (.5 lb. per week), and be happy with my small loss. The smaller deficit will also help me transition to maintenance.
    They most certainly are recommendations. Someone with more than 75 pounds to lose can certainly target .5 pounds a week, but that's not what's recommended around here.
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
    My experience showed me that all apps and machines overestimate my burns in comparison to my hrm.

    MFP overestimated my burns by up to double what my hrm says. The arc trainer at the gym (it knows my weight) is about 30% too high.

    If it is important to you to have the correct burn, buy an hrm. If not, just eat about 2/3 of the exercise cals back and you should be ok.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Wait, there are maximum goal recommendations—never minimums. Anyone can lose as slowly as they like. And everyone (no matter their size) should eat at maintenance during times of great stress.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    Wait, there are maximum goal recommendations—never minimums. Anyone can lose as slowly as they like. And everyone (no matter their size) should eat at maintenance during times of great stress.
    This is you from yesterday: "Set your goal to 1 lb. per week. When you have 20–25 lbs. left to lose, switch to .5 lb. per week."

    That's inconsistent with what you posted here. You didn't recommend the maximum calories consistent with losing weight.

    Yes, anyone can lose as slowly as they like. That's not the question.
  • ReaganP13
    ReaganP13 Posts: 35 Member
    I always manually reduce the number of calories burned that MFP says. I just *know* I cant be so lucky to lose burn so much, so I don't really trust it.

    PS. - If your a college student, you probably have access to a gym at your school. While I never really trust those machine either, it would be nice to have free access to a gym :)
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    I use an elliptical that has me enter my weight (but not my height) and it is 10-20% lower than MyFitnessPal's estimates. I enter most of my exercises through RunKeeper, which is also 5-10% lower than MyFitnessPal. I go by RunKeeper/my machine if i can't use a heart rate monitor. When I use my heart rate monitor it is actually really close to the RunKeeper App.

    Eat back 50-75% of your workout calories to account for error. If you find that you're not losing enough weight, you can adjust how many of your workout calories you eat back.
  • Erilynn93
    Erilynn93 Posts: 256 Member
    I do have access to a gym at school, however, it is wayyyy over crowded due to the rapid increase of students attending my school. I go to a small school that is quickly becoming massive and apparently you have to call and make reservations at the gym ahead of time. Also, I'm weird about doing certain things in front of others and working out is one of those (unless I'm just running around outside, hehe).

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