New and Concerned about all the incorrect totals on this pro

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psking77
psking77 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hi -

I've been on the program here for a little over a month. I've recently began to notice that many food items show incorrect nutritional values and the exercise totals are incorrect. For example, if I ride the bike at the gym it will show that I burned 84 calories but when I enter my workouts on the exercise database here it tells me that I burned 150 calories (even after I low ball the speed that I worked out at). What gives?

Is it best to just manually enter everything on my own? That seems like it would defeat the purpose of being on MFP, right?

Advice, please!

Thank you,
pk

Replies

  • Bunnyboo82
    Bunnyboo82 Posts: 42 Member
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    I always enter my time and calories burned mannually. In all honesty most fitness machines also project the incorrect calories burned. The only way to get accurate calories burned is to wear a heart rate monitor. They can be purchased as any sporting goods store. Hope this helps!
  • sarahlong09
    sarahlong09 Posts: 55
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    does your machince ask for your weight? MFP totals are based on your weight.
  • KateHubb
    KateHubb Posts: 366 Member
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    Hi -

    I've been on the program here for a little over a month. I've recently began to notice that many food items show incorrect nutritional values and the exercise totals are incorrect. For example, if I ride the bike at the gym it will show that I burned 84 calories but when I enter my workouts on the exercise database here it tells me that I burned 150 calories (even after I low ball the speed that I worked out at). What gives?

    Is it best to just manually enter everything on my own? That seems like it would defeat the purpose of being on MFP, right?

    Advice, please!

    Thank you,
    pk

    Easiest solution: get a heart rate monitor. MFP sometimes highly overestimates calories burned, and the machines at the gym are typically off as well. Example: I put in 60 minutes on the elliptical trainer... the machine says 600, MFP says 950 and my HRM says 700. There is such a broad range. I always go with my HRM because I'm working hard to burn calories, so I want to make sure to get due credit for it.
  • debswebby
    debswebby Posts: 326
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    With the exercise, I would say that any calorie total you get will never be accurate whether its on here or the machines at the gym. I would just use them as a guideline and average it out. Err on the side of caution. That's what I do anyway.
    x
  • ansonrinesmith
    ansonrinesmith Posts: 755 Member
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    I put in 15 min liesurely both here (MFP) and here
    http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi
    Both got within one calorie of each other.
    That tells me that MFP is at least accurate to what another site is saying.
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    the calorie burned estimate from your gym... is that just get on the machine and start using it to calculate the burn? Or is it one where you enter age, weight etc before working out. The 'average' for the machines is a very inaccurate number for me... I believe the machine I was on assumes you're male and 175ish lbs... that's where I want to be but I'm over 300 lbs. If I don't enter my weight I get an incorrect burn estimate. A Heart Rate Monitor with your stats is the best way to go for MORE accuracy but it's still an estimate at best.
  • debdptg
    debdptg Posts: 94 Member
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    The food totals are almost always entered by a person - and their reliability varies greatly. I usually check the values and if they are reasonable, then I use them. Also, using the scanner on my smart phone is FABULOUS to get the correct nutritional values into MFP.

    With the exercise, you know that the calories burned are variable depending on your weight, metabolism as well as the type, intensity and duration. So, find an exercise that is about right, then correct the totals as you enter them. Remember, this isn't an exact science (unless you are weighing the input and output, heat generated, external temperature, etc.) so just knowing what is right for you is ok.

    Hope that helps.
  • fredd500
    fredd500 Posts: 106 Member
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    Yep, HRM is the best way to get a reasonably accurate calorie burn (technically not the most accurate, but you would need to be strapped up to a machine measuring your oxygen intake and CO2 output to get any more accurate...)

    Many of the foods are member contributed and some food recipes vary by region and over time so best thing is to look to see if there is another more accurate entry for the same food, or better, update the food to reflect the nutrition values you have in front of you.

    Particularly important to the UK is that sodium on UK labels is measured in grams (e.g. 0.1g) whereas MFP expects milligrams. Too many UK foods are listed as 0.1mg when it should be 100mg!

    MFP is a great tool for keeping all of those values together and reporting on them throughout the day. Sure, you could do it with an Excel spreadsheet or similar, but you would need to keep that with you, on your phone and PC, remember to clear it at the end of every day and not be able to ask others to look at it for advice. MFP is great...

    HTH
  • ericarey85
    ericarey85 Posts: 312 Member
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    HRMs make a world of difference, i couldn't do this with out mine.
  • psking77
    psking77 Posts: 2
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    Thanks for all the replies and advice. Just feeling a bit frustrated as I want to be as close to accurate as I can! It's too easy to get frustrated and feel like I'm 'spinning my wheels' for no good reason. And, I'm one of those people that blames poor math reasoning on over eating...you know.. 'I worked out today therefore I can eat x and it won't count" I realize that nothing is going to be perfect I just don't want to be WAY off!

    The bike I use at the gym asks for weight only and tracks heart rate - but doesn't ask whether I'm male or female or my age.

    Any recommendations on the best (and least expensive) heart rate monitor?

    Thanks again everybody!
  • KateHubb
    KateHubb Posts: 366 Member
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    Any recommendations on the best (and least expensive) heart rate monitor?

    Thanks again everybody!

    I have a Polar FT4... paid about $60 on Amazon. It's amazing and highly rated. I know there are cheaper options, but I don't know about any of them other than the one I have.
  • Libby81
    Libby81 Posts: 734 Member
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    HRMs make a world of difference, i couldn't do this with out mine.

    Me neither. I was lost when I had to send mine in for a service :'(

    As for the food. I haven't really had too much trouble with values. The barcode scanner is a godsend, although did tell me my sliced peppers were onions this morning lol. Just do a manual search and add the closest / create that food / or amend the entry already there
  • KateHubb
    KateHubb Posts: 366 Member
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    HRMs make a world of difference, i couldn't do this with out mine.

    Me neither. I was lost when I had to send mine in for a service :'(

    As for the food. I haven't really had too much trouble with values. The barcode scanner is a godsend, although did tell me my sliced peppers were onions this morning lol. Just do a manual search and add the closest / create that food / or amend the entry already there

    Haha I scanned some Fiber One bars yesterday and it came up as Rockstar energy drink!

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