Calorie Burn Confusion

smudgeroo
smudgeroo Posts: 45
edited November 10 in Health and Weight Loss
So I've just been for a 45 minute walk, and measured my pace at just over 3.5mph (10min per km). I used my fitbit, a step monitoring app, a heart rate monitor and checked the exercise on MFP.
The heart rate monitor said I burned 327 cals, the app said 310 cals and MFP would only credit me 250 cals for this activity.
Which one do I believe??

Replies

  • flabassmcgee
    flabassmcgee Posts: 659 Member
    Your HRM.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    The lowest one.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    They are all just estimates based on past experience of other people. If your goal is to lose weight, I would suggest going with the lowest one. HRMs seem like they should be accurate, until you consider all the things that can cause the heart to change tempo.
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    edited January 2015
    I'd pick the lowest given burn, honestly. None of them are 100%. It's all an estimation.
  • smudgeroo
    smudgeroo Posts: 45
    Thanks guys - I thought HRMs were supposed to be the most accurate though? If your heart rate increases (whatever the cause) aren't you then burning more calories?
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    smudgeroo wrote: »
    Thanks guys - I thought HRMs were supposed to be the most accurate though? If your heart rate increases (whatever the cause) aren't you then burning more calories?

    I never really worried about that because it never made a significant impact increasing heart rate might help minimally but the focus should be overall calories at the end of the day.

    You can take whatever estimation you want. I'd stick to one and keep it that way for a few weeks. If you feel weight loss is sluggish or not happening, I'd tighten down logging before increasing exercise and when that doesn't help, question how much calories you're burning from exercise.

    It'll just come down to consistency all around and pinpointing where to make adjustments.

    Don't get me wrong, exercise is great to improve fitness and overall health but pinpointing exact calorie burns is always a guess when you come right to it. Even with my HRM, I only took about 75% of the calories earned (and in time I switched to TDEE method to rid myself of even having to worry and out it)
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
    HINT: None of 'em are correct.

    S.W.A.G. Scientific Wild Assed Guess


    There are too many variables. Each one is just a best guess based on the assumptions of the engineers and product designers.

    This is not an exact science and if a few tens of calories here and there make a difference, you're doing it wrong.

    Measure and record everything as best you can. Myself, I use average when there are competing measurements.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories