Mean Girl Comment

I have an HRM and I know exactly how many calories I burn, I only have about 22 lbs. to loose and some days, depending on my mood, I can burn twice the calories doing the very same activity. Mind you I have never burned more than 1,200 calories of exercise in one day, and can see how someone much heavier would burn a lot more. But if some of them are cheating, then they're only hurting themselves and there's nothing I can do about that.

I'm lucky to burn 700 calories in an hour during my work out, and I'm not even sure that is accurate.

You can't always blame the person. I have found that a lot of the exercise in the MFP database is wrong. If they are not taking the extra time to double check it, and are just entering it and trusting MFP it could be wrong. I burned 1707 yesterday, and I know that it is correct. I walked for an hour, did Zumba for 65 mins, and rode my bike for a half hour. You also have to remember that people at different weights burn differently. This especially make sense with you saying they are "larger" someone who is 150 pounds vs someone who is 300 burns DRASTICALLY different calories doing the same thing. What you said is mean, it is not your place to judge. If they want to lie to themselves (if that is even what they are doing) that is their problem. Its one of those "mind your own business" kind of things. If it bothers you THAT much. Delete them.

I guess it's because some people use an HRM, while others, like me, who either don't want one or can't afford one use the MFP calories. I try to underestimate the calories I burned to be more accurate, so for example, instead of saying I did 90 minutes of vigorous swimming, I say I did 90 minutes of slow/moderate swimming. I hope this averages out, and I have been losing weight. Others simply take the MFP cals for what they are. But yes, I agree that overestimating calories burned is obviously not going to help anyone, and sometimes it bothers me as well

Uber Geek time.
When you swim, not only are you burning calories aerobically, you are burning a TON of calories thermally. Essentially, your core body temperature (98.6F) is doing it's best to heat up the pool, which is likely in the 75F range. So, your caloric burn is only a fraction of the total work your body is doing. That's why you can work out, without getting over-heated; and if you sit still for awhile, you turn blue.

My belief is that those calories are accurate. Plus, there is the additional 'heavy person' advantage of the fact that we are toting around 40-100 lbs of dead weight while we swim our laps, versus the normal sized folks who are simply moving a LOT less mass. Bigger people burn more calories doing these things, than smaller people. It's just basic physics.

Im 280 some pounds, it really depends on what you weigh, the more you weigh the more your going to burn... I wish i had the problem of not burning as many cals just walking or doing the wii fi... my heart just starts pounding when doing the wii fit... But it must be working it that happens... so if you weigh alot you will burn alot...

MFP over estimates the calories because we are the ones pretty much inputting the exercise. When you go to exercise and create one (if you know the calories you burned) you can allow others to use it as well. So if I did Zumba my heart rate monitor says I burned 500 calories in an hour. When you go in there it will track by the way I entered it not your weight. I weigh 149, a 200 pound person could go in there and burned double the calories but if they use the one I added, it will tell them less. So its truly not MFP doing it, its all of those who created one, added their stats and allowed others to use that formula. My doctor said don't believe any online unless you use a heart rate monitor to be accurate. She says really to break it in half. Hope this helps.

I burned WAY more calories when I was heavier, my body works better now, more efficient, I have to work a lot harder now to burn the same amount of calories.

And, if they are over estimating, or just doing it for shock value, how does this hurt anybody but themselves?

Edited to add - how long have you been watching these people burn the mad calories? And, how do you know they're still heavy?Maybe they haven't updated their photos, or maybe they only weigh once every 2 weeks so it appears that they haven't lost any weight.....just something to think about.

I'm thinking I might log my typing as burning calories....Hope that doesn't offend anyone when tomorrow I'm still 160 lbs

EXACTLY!!!

That is very true. I use to weigh 205 pounds a long time ago and it was a lot easier to lose it with exercise then it is now. I was burning a lot more then.

Damn those "bigger people" and their ability to burn 2000 cals in a workout.

Typing isn't a daily activity! I normally do it on my iPhone! So real keys is hard and I'm building up the muscles in my fingers! Do you think I'll gain any weight from the muscle growth?

Typing isn't a daily activity! I normally do it on my iPhone! So real keys is hard and I'm building up the muscles in my fingers! Do you think I'll gain any weight from the muscle growth?

Most likely. You will probably up tomorrow due to water retention in your hand muscles (recovery period from the strain). But don't stress! It will go back down as your muscles heal.

I'm still trying to figure out why this is a discussion? Why does it make people mad (or whatever emotions are envoked) that people are burning calories? And if they are not truthful, what's it off you?

So True!

Typing isn't a daily activity! I normally do it on my iPhone! So real keys is hard and I'm building up the muscles in my fingers! Do you think I'll gain any weight from the muscle growth?

Most likely. You will probably up tomorrow due to water retention in your hand muscles (recovery period from the strain). But don't stress! It will go back down as your muscles heal.

Damn hope I at least lose inches from this....

I still can't figure out what the OP is actually annoyed with. Does she think these people are lying? I mean, I'm an endurance cyclist (or at least trying to be) and I regularly go out for 50, 60, 75 mile rides. Burning 2,000 in a day seems totally reasonable to me, and I eat "clean" and on caloric target 90% of the time. And yet I lose weight painfully slowly. Just be glad you don't have my metabolism.