How accurate/inaccurate is MapMyWalk?

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stephieleee
stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey All,

I used the MapMyWalk app for the first time today and I find it hard to believe that I burned 500 calories during 60 minutes of average paced walking...

Is this app a reliable way to record exercise calories or does anyone have any suggestions of something more reliable? I dont want be logging more calories burned than I actually have.

Thanks! :)

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    i think walking is bodyweight in lbs x 0.3 x distance in miles

    i always found MFP pretty accurate for walking calories
  • stephieleee
    stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    i think walking is bodyweight in lbs x 0.3 x distance in miles

    i always found MFP pretty accurate for walking calories

    Hmmm using that formula it would have been closer to about 200 calories.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I used MapMy suite a few times and their calorie estimates were dreadfully exaggerated.
    Also found Runkeeper a bit generous.

    It's difficult to compare as various apps seem to try to estimate your gross calories whereas really you want to know your net calories - that's what the formula from @TavistockToad is providing.
    The difference between net and gross is far more significant for long duration, low rate of burn exercise.
  • stephieleee
    stephieleee Posts: 113 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    I used MapMy suite a few times and their calorie estimates were dreadfully exaggerated.
    Also found Runkeeper a bit generous.

    It's difficult to compare as various apps seem to try to estimate your gross calories whereas really you want to know your net calories - that's what the formula from @TavistockToad is providing.
    The difference between net and gross is far more significant for long duration, low rate of burn exercise.

    That's what I thought it might be doing. Might just have to stick with that formula in future to make sure I'm not overestimating my exercise calories. Thanks! :)
  • Damian45
    Damian45 Posts: 85 Member
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    what does the .3 represent in the formula?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    The maps should be accurate. The calories, those basically assume the air is molasses and you have to fight your way through every step.
  • Damian45
    Damian45 Posts: 85 Member
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    I did a quick walk here at work, only 6 minute at .12 miles. It says I burned 40 calories. Based on the formula I really burned 11 so it's VERY inaccurate.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    stephieleee wrote: »
    Hey All,

    I used the MapMyWalk app for the first time today and I find it hard to believe that I burned 500 calories during 60 minutes of average paced walking...

    Is this app a reliable way to record exercise calories or does anyone have any suggestions of something more reliable? I dont want be logging more calories burned than I actually have.

    Thanks! :)

    The mileage is accurate but the calorie burns are not. I have compared them to what MFP gives me and what my fitness tracker gives me and the tracker is the least number of calories burned so I go with that.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    i think walking is bodyweight in lbs x 0.3 x distance in miles

    i always found MFP pretty accurate for walking calories

    That's what I use; I rounded my weight down to 150 to make the math easier and the estimate slightly more conservative and use 45 a mile. There are charts with weights and speeds you can find searching around and some seem to have some good science behind them and they tend to come in a little higher but nothing like MMW. It is true that brisk walking is less efficient from an energy conservation POV, so you do burn a little more with faster walking. Running is really inefficient, which give it the double whammy over walking - you burn more calories per mile and cover miles faster.

    I quit tracking walks individually and track steps on my phone and figure about 2500 steps a mile. I like using the phone so I don't throw it off exercising. I use Pacer and don't let it auto post. I only compute and post if I do a lot of walking and even then I ignore the first couple of miles.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Damian45 wrote: »
    what does the .3 represent in the formula?

    @Damian45

    0.3 represents the efficiency ratio of walking.

    For "normal speed" running it is commonly given as 0.63 as running is roughly half as efficient a motion as walking (accelerating your weight upwards when running is effectively wasted energy).

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