Accuracy of MFP calories burned?

Does anyone know if MFP calories burned is accurate? For example, I exercise on an elliptical for 30 mins and it says I burn 200+ calories, but MFP says I burn 400+ calories. Should I put my trust on MFP or is that wishful thinking?

Replies

  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,110 Member
    MFP estimates are high. Sparkpeople and fitbit both give me an average of 150 cals less than MFP for the same activity.
  • concrete_daisies
    concrete_daisies Posts: 44 Member
    I would trust the machine over MFP, but sometimes MFP is accurate. For example my inner-ear heart rate monitor verified their jogging calorie estimates.
  • ole496
    ole496 Posts: 32 Member
    Yeah, not accurate. Whatever it tells you, cut that in half right off the top. If it says you can enjoy eating 600 more calories after your grueling workout...then eat back 300 and see what happens after a few weeks. If you start losing more than 2 pounds a week then add back in another half of the half that was left over and track that for awhile. So on and so forth until you find your balance between how you count calories and how you work out. It's a give and take. It's just a rough guide but it gets you pretty close to what you need to continue being successful losing weight, eating and working out. Good luck!