Tracker Accuracy?

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Ephemeral5683
Ephemeral5683 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
I was curious how accurate eveyone feels the tracker is? Not just in regards to the calories, but also the exercise. For instance, for every day that I go to work I put in about 3 hours of leisurely walking. I'm on my feet all day at work and usually work about 6 hours on average. Usually when I put in all the numbers I earn a ton of calories and I almost feel like it's not right. I'm actually able to eat more than what I thought I woule be able to.

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  • ladybg81
    ladybg81 Posts: 1,553 Member
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    If you are on your feet all day at work, you might want to make sure you activity level is set properly to account for that. No need to list that as exercise; just change your activity level.
  • chynafox
    chynafox Posts: 30
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    What I've been doing is only adding specific exercise time to the tracker. The other night I went dancing with my BFF and we LITERALLY dance for 6 hours straight. The tracker said I burned 2,300 calories. But, I did not count it as actual exercise and kept my calories around 1,400. I usually walk 1.5miles to the train and back everyday, but I don't count that as exercise. I feel like I would start to get lazy if I did.

    Others may have different opinions, but this is how I sort it out in my head.
  • alyssamiller77
    alyssamiller77 Posts: 891 Member
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    Two thoughts, one the tracker's exercise calories are based on estimates. Much is dependent on how well you pick the correct category, your body's characteristics in relation to averages, and some dumb luck. As many have mentioned in other posts, heart rate monitors (HRM's) that take into account your age, gender and weight are typically far more accurate. Do note that MFP's tracker lets you manually change the calorie count.

    That said I think many people underestimate how many calories can be burned with simple exercises. Walking for 3 hours at a leisurely pace should put you somewhere in the ballpark of 600-800 calories (maybe more depending on your weight and fitness). So to answer your question I'm guessing it's a little bit of both inaccuracy and just a surprise for you as to how much you can burn.
  • luvlionlicia
    luvlionlicia Posts: 3
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    A friend of mine was recently talking to a licensed dietician. The food tracker is actually VERY reliable. I have double-checked / verified many of my food entries, and they are correct. However, the dietician suggests that you don't eat all the exercise calories that you "earn". This is due to the fact that not everyone really burns calories the same way or at the same rate. Even though MFP is calculating the calories burned for someone of YOUR specific height/weight/age, everyone's metabolism is different. So you will more than likely drop the pounds faster if you don't consume those extra calories you're burning! :) Hope this is helpful!
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
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    I don't use the exercise tracker default numbers... I wear an HRM with a chest strap and enter correct numbers myself.
    I created most of my own exercises too since most of the stuff I do wasn't even in the database.

    I find the food to be very accurate for the most part....and its awesome that you can edit if you find typos or incorrect data.
  • Ephemeral5683
    Ephemeral5683 Posts: 3
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    Thanks for the responses! I'm just trying to make as much of an effort that I can, and I really want to be succesful.

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