Accurate Calorie Counting

TFG_em
TFG_em Posts: 174 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been heavily relying on MFP's search options to look up food, as well as to calculate calories burned during my workouts. I noticed that the machines at the gym are calculating a very different number than MFP does. What is the best/most accurate way to calculate calories burned? Does anyone know of a website or app that is really accurate?

Replies

  • Verdenal
    Verdenal Posts: 625 Member
    I ignore the calorie burn estimates on machines. They aren't accurate because of the assumptions made in calculating them and nobody burns the same number of calories every workout session. It's a better idea for you to create a calorie deficit, do the best workout you can, and weigh yourself at least once a week.
  • chaos416
    chaos416 Posts: 89 Member
    From what I've read in the forums, it seems that most of the folks who eat back their exercise calories only eat back about half of them. Whether they are using the MFP estimates or other sources, I can't say. Many say to simply set your activity level correctly rather than sedentary and ignore exercise calories. You can still log exercise for your record, just manually put it in as 1 calorie.
  • Hungry_Annie
    Hungry_Annie Posts: 807 Member
    You could also try a heart rate monitor for your cardio...nothing is 100% accurate, but its a heck of a lot more accurate than MFP's crazy numbers.
  • samestrin
    samestrin Posts: 12 Member
    Has anyone tried the BodyMedia (just got bought by Jawbone) device to track calories?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    samestrin wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the BodyMedia (just got bought by Jawbone) device to track calories?

    you might want to start a new thread for this

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    OP the machines are not correct...manufacturers admit that the calorie burns are at least 20% higher than what they actually should be...

    MFP is off for some people...worked perfectly for me.

    HRM is good only if you have one with a chest strap and you are doing steady state cardio

    There is no real way of tracking calorie burns outside a controlled environment...suggestion typically is to eat back 50-75% of MFP exercise calories and adjust as necessary.
  • samestrin
    samestrin Posts: 12 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    samestrin wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the BodyMedia (just got bought by Jawbone) device to track calories?

    you might want to start a new thread for this

    I posted here because I was specifically curious, if anyone was using it, how they would rate the calorie tracking accuracy of of the device.

    Thanks for the suggestion, I will open up a new thread a bit later today :smile:.
  • stonegirldancing42
    stonegirldancing42 Posts: 76 Member
    I second eating back less of the calories, if you aren't a fan of HRM (like me).

    Best of luck.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    There's no such thing as accurate calorie counting.

    Pick 1 method of estimating, use it consistently for a month, then compare expected results to actual results. If they aren't reasonably close, tweak slightly and compare again in another month.
  • Angief05
    Angief05 Posts: 102 Member
    I track my calories eaten and I do post my workouts and the burn from my hrm, it is very closet to what mfp comes up with. I don't eat back my calories though.
  • ViolaLeeBlueberry
    ViolaLeeBlueberry Posts: 182 Member
    I find that MFP's calculation is actually quite a bit higher than the gym machines. If I used the MFP figures, I'd have burned between 562 and 715 calorie today on the stationary bike (depending on how I enter the effort level); yet at the gym, it was 350 on the bike.

    I'd rather err on the low side than the high side and be burning more calories than I record, rather than err on the high side, get some huge number and eat them all back :smile: So I just enter what I see at the gym. Works for me. The alleged "calories burned" are just guideposts and indicators, anyway.

  • JenniferIsLosingIt
    JenniferIsLosingIt Posts: 595 Member
    samestrin wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the BodyMedia (just got bought by Jawbone) device to track calories?



    I use it and it seems pretty darn accurate...I have lost 14pounds since I got it about a month ag0..
  • TFG_em
    TFG_em Posts: 174 Member
    Thanks for the input! I appreciate the advice.
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