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calories burned according to MFP
CristinaAnne03
Posts: 22 Member
I used to have a HRM that I used to log my calories burned for my exercise on MFP, I would manually enter the activity and amount burned according to my polar HRM w/ the strap. I recently did a small bulk, so I wasn't really paying attention as much to my intake since I was looking to gain weight. Now that I am cutting and on my last 5-7lbs: I can't find my HRM 
So I was thinking about just using the pre logged exercises that MFP provides and I'll just time myself during my workouts to enter that manually.
How accurate have you all discovered MFP calorie calculations to be?
So I was thinking about just using the pre logged exercises that MFP provides and I'll just time myself during my workouts to enter that manually.How accurate have you all discovered MFP calorie calculations to be?
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Replies
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With the exception of a few things, not very. What kind of exercise? Running and walking are pretty easy to figure out.0
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As accurate as my HRM is...0
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Neither MFPs database or your HRM are dead accurate. For the HRM, it really depends on what type of exercise you are doing. They are designed specifically for steady state cardio. So, if doing that, they have the best chance of being reasonable accurate. For other kinds of exercise, not so much.
Many feel, including me, that MFPs burn counts are off to the high side. Start with 50% or 75% of the burn count and keep good data on your burns, intake and weight. After 4 to 6 weeks adjust based on your actual data. That the only thing that will give you the best accuracy.1 -
Well when I was using it a lot I was more so doing a lot of aerobic exercises. I shifted to weight training when I started bulking, so I guess it wouldn't be good for that lol! normally if I do cardio in the gym a lot of the machines watch your heart rate (the newer machines) and I go off of that and minus some. My weight training I go about it for an hour, so I normally chalk it up to 100-110...it normally depends on if I am doing legs or not that day because my HR skyrockets when I do legs.
Thanks!0 -
OP - just for context...
A lot of people on these boards get really hung up on accuracy. Or more precisely, inaccuracy. They will hammer home the point that there is no accurate way to measure calories burned. There are, in a few specific cases, decent ways to estimate certain exercises/activities, but by in large, the mantra will be that HRMs suck.
At the end of the day, though, we as users and as people trying ot manage our weight need a way to measure/estimate. In that sense, both MFP and HRMs offer reasonable starting points. Pick 1 and go with it. If the numbers you are getting seem high, override that number with 50% of it (so in stead of 800 cals burned in an hour, you'd log 400), or whatever does seem reasonable. That's the best we can do - be reasonable. Do that for a few weeks and see how things are going, then make small adjustments here or there as needed.6 -
thank you! I really appreciated that answer. Even after years of doing this it is so easy to get caught up in it!0
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