Pretty bumbed about this
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lthur714
Posts: 105 Member
Feeling pretty bumbed about MFP's ratings for calories burned since many of you tell me that the amount is way off. I've stopped even counting exercise now although I am still doing it anyway.
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Invest in a heart rate monitor. It will give you a more accurate reading.0
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Your body is counting it very accurately, and that's the only count tgat really matters.0
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Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.0 -
Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.
*slow clap*0 -
Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.
*boom*0 -
jofjltncb6 wrote: »Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.
*boom*
I was going to go with a mic drop but it might be too soon after the unfortunate gmail failed April Fool's.0 -
OP, don't get discouraged because of this. Just keep exercising. When I first started I ate 100% of my calories back, I didn't have a food scale...and I lost. This is just the first step. Keeping moving, keep logging.0
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Feeling pretty bumbed about MFP's ratings for calories burned since many of you tell me that the amount is way off. I've stopped even counting exercise now although I am still doing it anyway.
You do realise that a load of the people saying that have absolutely no idea what their calorie burn is don't you?
It's just a "group think" that people mindlessly parrot for the most part.
"MFP always exaggerates" "Machine always exaggerate" "My HRM says...."
But not counting is a sure fire way to get it wrong!
If you are here to count calories it's pretty silly to deliberately not attempt to make a reasonable estimate. It's not that hard to come up with a reasonable/usable estimate for most exercise.
People are successful with both the MFP after the event estimates and also TDEE estimates which are even more vague. Just takes a little bit of effort and common sense.
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I find some of MFP's calorie burns to be very similar to my HRM, which is close to an exercise machine. The big differences tend to come when I'm out hiking. I hike frequently carrying two toddlers and will clock up 50-75 floors a time. For some reason MFP will massively overestimate against my calorie burn but my step apps will (obviously) massively underestimate. I had between 700 and 1000 cals difference in burns three days this week!
Ultimately though I echo the advice above- choose something to follow (MFP/HRM etc) and eat back a consistent amount. Check your weight losses and adjust. I eat back up to 50% of my HRM losses but no more than about 25% of MFP when I use that. I've been losing at around 2lbs a week pretty consistently, which is what I'm aiming for. I hope that helps and isn't too confusing!0 -
Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.
Agreed. I joined mfp back in August and lost the bulk of my weight by following it and eating back some of my exercise calories. Then in January I got a Fitbit and now I look at that more. I've never relied on one or the other entirely though. Theyre all just rough estimates that give you a ballpark idea of where your numbers fall. I then take that info and play around a bit to see where my exact spot is. I'm doing it again now to see where my maintenance falls.
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For my time on the exercise bike MFP are within 10 calories of each other....but as other have said, I use it as a gauge....as I do with my eating calories....0
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3dogsrunning wrote: »jofjltncb6 wrote: »Oh nonsense. It's off for some, on for others, close enough to be a starting point for most.
There's a misunderstanding by so many people that your calorie counts have to be super accurate when in reality they do not. If you're using an MFP-generated goal, log your exercise. Eat a consisted % (100%, 75%, 50%, whichever you choose) of it for 4 weeks. Then look at your progress. Losing too quickly? Eat more. Too slowly? Eat less. Just right? Stay the same.
You absolutely do not have to have any sort of fitness gadget to figure this out. I say this as a Fitbit user. Get one if you want but don't think any kind of tech is required in order to lose weight.
*boom*
I was going to go with a mic drop but it might be too soon after the unfortunate gmail failed April Fool's.
Haha...this amused me more than is probably normal!0
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