My walkers and runners how do you track your calories burned?

weight3049
weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am using MapMyWalk and subtracting 50 calories. Wondering how everyone else inputs burned calories for walking/running.

Replies

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    2/3 your weight in pounds per mile ran.
  • Shortgirlrunning
    Shortgirlrunning Posts: 1,020 Member
    I have a Garmin watch that seems to be fairly accurate. Before that I used RunKeeper to track everything with my runs (pace, distance, calories). It syncs with MFP so it inputs the calories for me.

    I just round down to the nearest hundred and eat back those calories. For example today my Garmin said I burned 327 calories on my run so I’ll eat back 300.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,743 Member
    I enter my walks and runs in the MFP exercise log and let it calculate my calorie burn. To simplify, I usually just use 6 mph for all my runs, regardless of the actual pace, because it's easy to just multiply the distance times 10 to get the time that it uses to calculate. i.e. 6.3 miles is 63 minutes. 9.0 miles is 90 minutes.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    I just let Fitbit and MFP talk to each other and work it out. It’s been working pretty well for me most days.

    I expect at some point I’ll ditch the Fitbit for a Garmin but it meets my needs for now.

    As for tracking running data, I have my Fitbit synced to Strava to upload any GPS tracked runs. I find this data helpful in gaining insights into my training for running further/faster.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    I use RunKeeper and, up until yesterday, my Fitbit and found the middle ground for calories burned. I just bought a Garmin Vívosmart 3 for cheap and wore both it and my Fitbit together, they seemed to be pretty close in recording minus the 200 steps Fitbit credited to me when I brushed my teeth :D Hoping to get a GPS model Garmin sometime soonish so it will be interesting to see if there is much difference.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,415 Member
    I use my fitness watch to average steps per day, then just pick out the TDEE activity level that matches up and eat that with adjustments once a month as needed to correct weight loss/gain. (My Mi Band doesn't talk to MFP, so the daily entries were too much fuss when my effort output is so steady.)
  • Analog_Kid
    Analog_Kid Posts: 976 Member
    I use MFP's sister app MapMyRun. It auto syncs the calories burned into MFP. So far, it has worked well for me.
  • jhanleybrown
    jhanleybrown Posts: 240 Member
    .63 x weight per mile run.

    .3 x weight per mile walked
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    My experience over time has been that mapmyrun wildly overestimates calories burned for hikes and runs, and underestimates them for walks. For longer runs I let it sync but then only eat as many calories as I need to not feel starving and it seems to work out.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    I record walking / water aerobics on MFP and use the lowest level since I am still rather slow with all that extra weight I am carrying - usually I eat the calories back. As long as I get my body moving I can feel the benefits and it also helps me with my mental health / depression.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    While nothing is 100% accurate, I seem to have found a point where my errors in Runkeeper and MFP balance out. It's worked for me through 2.5 years of weight loss and 2+ years of maintenance.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I track the distance walked in miles using Strava then multiply my weight in pounds X miles walked X 0.3 (efficiency ratio) which gives net calories. I use that number to overwrite the MyFitnessPal suggested number for my particlar speed of walking.

    I don't run now but when I did I used 0.63 as the efficiency ratio.
    (Running is roughly half as efficient a movement hence the difference in calories burned per mile.)
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    i used mapmyrun and yeah it overestimates. it said my friend burned 680 calories for a 3 mile run. that is highly unlikely
    @NorthCascades posted a good formula.
    i currently use a garmin. it is fairly accurate.
  • MPDean
    MPDean Posts: 99 Member
    I use Garmin. It gives me 100-130 calories per mile depending on speed, hills, wind speed etc. If I eat back all my calories I lose at the expected rate so it seems pretty accurate.
  • unstableunicorn
    unstableunicorn Posts: 216 Member
    MFP and Fitbit both tend to estimate high for me, even after tinkering with the settings, so usually I track my walk with Fitbit to get an average speed, and then enter the length under the relevant walking speed in MFP minus a bit to account for stops.

    Example:

    If Fitbit reports 105 minutes at 14 minutes per KM, I log in MFP as 100 minutes at 15 per KM if I didn’t make stops, or 90 minutes at 15 km if I made frequent stops for photos, music, coffee, etc. Basically, I assume MFP and Fitbit are being generous and try to adjust reasonably for it.
  • epratt1000
    epratt1000 Posts: 10 Member
    I’ve use an Apple Watch. Uses GPS plus heart rate monitor. That figured in with my weight and height in MFP is be pretty accurate.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Walking only here. 0.45 * body weight * # of miles.
  • Lolinloggen
    Lolinloggen Posts: 466 Member
    Garmin is my friend
  • skc2130
    skc2130 Posts: 3 Member
    I use a polar watch. I wear it all day to track activity and during runs and work outs. It automatically syncs to MFP though phone app a few times a day. It seems to be working pretty accurately for me.
  • Hollis100
    Hollis100 Posts: 1,408 Member
    I walk and slow run, generally the same route. I stick to the roads so I've checked the miles in my car. I don't own any fitness devices.

    I note my start and end times, and afterwards run the time and distance through www.calculatorsoup.com to get my average speed (I use the distance time speed calculator). Once I have minutes and speed, I enter it into MFP.

    I like the formulas @lgfrie and others listed and will try them to see if my numbers come out the same.

  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    jhanleybrown wrote: »
    .63 x weight per mile run.

    .3 x weight per mile walked
    sijomial wrote: »
    I track the distance walked in miles using Strava then multiply my weight in pounds X miles walked X 0.3 (efficiency ratio) which gives net calories. I use that number to overwrite the MyFitnessPal suggested number for my particlar speed of walking.

    I don't run now but when I did I used 0.63 as the efficiency ratio.
    (Running is roughly half as efficient a movement hence the difference in calories burned per mile.)

    Ditto with the above. Based on my long term weight trend vs food intake, this has worked well for me over a wide range of miles per week running (zero to 60+ MPW). Garmin calculations using a HRM average similar over the long term, but vary quite a bit from run to run due to the effect of weather conditions and recovery on heart rate.
  • ChickenKillerPuppy
    ChickenKillerPuppy Posts: 297 Member
    I use Fitbit and sync it with MFP. It makes life very easy! I assume it overestimates so I try not to eat back more than 50% of my exercise calories.
  • weight3049
    weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    jhanleybrown wrote: »
    .63 x weight per mile run.

    .3 x weight per mile walked
    sijomial wrote: »
    I track the distance walked in miles using Strava then multiply my weight in pounds X miles walked X 0.3 (efficiency ratio) which gives net calories. I use that number to overwrite the MyFitnessPal suggested number for my particlar speed of walking.

    I don't run now but when I did I used 0.63 as the efficiency ratio.
    (Running is roughly half as efficient a movement hence the difference in calories burned per mile.)

    Ditto with the above. Based on my long term weight trend vs food intake, this has worked well for me over a wide range of miles per week running (zero to 60+ MPW). Garmin calculations using a HRM average similar over the long term, but vary quite a bit from run to run due to the effect of weather conditions and recovery on heart rate.

    I'm way overshooting my burned calories using that formula :o
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    weight3049 wrote: »
    I am using MapMyWalk and subtracting 50 calories. Wondering how everyone else inputs burned calories for walking/running.

    I have always estimated 1 mile at 100 calories - no matter whether I walk or run. Obviously that varies a bit from person to person, but it's what I use, and it's always seemed to work for me.
  • jhanleybrown
    jhanleybrown Posts: 240 Member
    Walking is .3 x weight in lbs per hour. Running is 0.63 x weight in lbs per hour
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
    jhanleybrown wrote: »
    Walking is .3 x weight in lbs per hour. Running is 0.63 x weight in lbs per hour

    This is a pretty good estimation but doesn't take into account things like hills and speed (speed has very little impact, hills versus flat makes a bigger difference).

    I used to use MapMyRun and it seemed to overestimate by a decent amount based on my long-term weight results.

    I now use my Garmin watch and it seems pretty accurate for me. For example, my Garmin said this morning's run burned 769 calories and the above formula would have said 731. The formula estimate would have been good enough if I didn't have the watch.
  • dagee2
    dagee2 Posts: 129 Member
    I use Strava for my running and cycling. Maybe one day I’ll add to that.

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