Counting Calories Burned

<shrug> They're all semi-accurate (with accent on the semi), but all the methods have very wide margins of error. Best approach I've found is to pick a consistent method (using the MFP estimates is easiest), not eat back calories at first and then adjust intake up a hundred calories or so at a time if you're losing too fast. Trying to get any more accurate is just a waste of time.

Calorie burns will vary by height, weight, age, gender, exertion level, hormones and more.

A heart rate monitor (with a chest strap) measures the difference between your resting heart rate vs. your heart rate at exertion. That's a pretty decent estimate for steady state cardio. The reason I said chest strap....arm movement can throw off wrist only models...plus they measure your pulse only time to time.

If you plug quite a bit of data into a cardio machine....then it's not too bad. But the cardio machine still can't know how hard the workout was for you.

Then you have workouts with up/down heart rate levels....Hiit, Intervals, etc. Heart rate monitors are way less accurate here.

Then you have weight training....the biggest issues of all here. This has nothing to do with your heart rate. This is lifting more, challenging your muscles, fatiguing them. A heart rate monitor captures none of that. Besides people with a higher % of muscle mass burn more calories for everything. A heart rate monitor can only guess.

Make your exercise goals fitness based, not calories burned based. Fitness is mostly for health....calorie burn is just a small perk.

AllanMisner wrote: »

They’re all estimates based on a set of general assumptions. Since we seldom meet all of those assumptions, there are variances. Just plug an amount and go. If you’re meeting your goals, then keep keeping on. If not, tweak your estimates.

+1

I don't understand why this is so hard for people to realize....

esjones12 wrote: »

AllanMisner wrote: »

They’re all estimates based on a set of general assumptions. Since we seldom meet all of those assumptions, there are variances. Just plug an amount and go. If you’re meeting your goals, then keep keeping on. If not, tweak your estimates.

+1

I don't understand why this is so hard for people to realize....

Some of us noobs are being thrown all sorts of information at once, and it can get quite confusing. That's why I came to the forums; lots of people willing to help make sense of it!

I use a Polar HRM for cardio and HIIT training (Insanity, T25, Turbofire etc). I take the number at a ballpark value. I compare it to online calculators and what MFP gives me and take the lowest of the three then even knock another 20% off just to be sure. I will say that from my experience the HRM gives me the lowest number most of the time. But I'm good about pausing it during rest and stretching periods. Not saying it's accurate but it gives me a number I can at least work with and monitor.

If you eat at your calorie goal and only eat some of your exercise calories, the accuracy doesn't matter. If you eat back all of your exercise calories you are flirting with failure because they can be wrong.

esjones12 wrote: »

Angelfire365 wrote: »

esjones12 wrote: »

AllanMisner wrote: »

They’re all estimates based on a set of general assumptions. Since we seldom meet all of those assumptions, there are variances. Just plug an amount and go. If you’re meeting your goals, then keep keeping on. If not, tweak your estimates.

+1

I don't understand why this is so hard for people to realize....

Some of us noobs are being thrown all sorts of information at once, and it can get quite confusing. That's why I came to the forums; lots of people willing to help make sense of it!

I was talking about the regulars who constantly give bad information Don't believe everything you read here...

I take everything with a grain of salt. That and a lot of people are pretty quick to shoot down bad info. Combine it all with a little common sense and I think I've got it. Maybe. Lol.

I used to rely on the calorie burn MFP gave me based on my weight, activity done, and length of time, but after talking with my physician came to the conclusion that My Fitness Pal WAY overestimates the number of calories being burned. For example, if it tells you that you burned 280 calories doing an hour of housework, it seems too good to be true, right? According to my M.D., that's because it is! You wouldn't even burn that many speed walking for an hour (at least not at the weight I'm currently at). For right now while I've been saving some money, I've been relying on the info from the cardio machines at the gym based on my weight I enter when I begin the workout and the heart rate monitors connected to the machines. This is generally way more active than just picking off the listed activities on MFP. I finally went ahead and spent the money to invest in a FitBit tracker. I had a hard time justifying it because I'm a broke college student with rent and bills to pay, but my health is worth the investment and from what I've been told by both my doctor and trainer at my gym, this is the most accurate way to get the closet estimate to the calories you are actually burning. Whatever way you choose, just try and be as realistic about it as possible. Don't fall into the trap of letting yourself overeat and justify it by saying you burned a ton of calories at the gym, because most of the time this is just not the case!

It can also be helpful to talk to your doctor or a certified nutritionist or trainer because there are SO MANY conflicting opinions and advice given on the internet, and even though it is all given with good intentions, it is not always the most accurate. Good luck on your fitness journey, and good for you for getting active!