Why is MFP inaccurate when coupled with Polar Flow / Beat?

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ishtarbgl
ishtarbgl Posts: 1 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I use a Polar chest strap monitor coupled with the Polar Beat app on my iPhone to track my workouts. It has always seemed pretty accurate when monitoring my heart rate and calorie burn. The Polar Beat app connects with Polar Flow online to keep an online inventory or my workouts. Additionally, MFP is connected to Polar Flow so that MFP can leverage the data from my workouts and report the calories I burned.

It all works perfectly except for one thing. Here is an example. Let's say I burn 500 calories on a stationary bike. The Polar Beat app sees 500 calories. It sends that data to Polar Flow, which reflects 500 calories. HOWEVER, once this data is sent to MFP it doesn't appear to care about the number of calories I burned. It is almost as if MFP doesn't believe the data it is reporting so instead it uses its own calculations by saying, "Ok, you rode the stationary bike for 45 minutes, using my formulas I would say you burned 400 calories, not the 500 Polar claims." So then 400 calories show up in MFP.

Is there a way to just have MFP record the data Polar is providing so that my calorie burns match between the two applications?

Replies

  • Eggplant909
    Eggplant909 Posts: 157 Member
    edited February 2020
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    I suffer from the same issue, but mfp overestimates my burns. I’ve been following mfp and it seems to be accurate enough.

    The only way I’ve found to fix it is to do a manual entry in mfp for the difference
  • saintor1
    saintor1 Posts: 376 Member
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    I have a wahoo chest strap and it also over-estimates. I tried to play with my weight, but now I over-write the result in MFP.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,342 Member
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    I used a Polar watch for a long time, I always assumed the Polar number was gross calorie burn (including BMR) and MFP used net calories burned (calories burned on top of BMR).
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    I think @Lietchi is right.

    Say you burn 500 calories cycling for an hour. How many would you have burned sitting on the couch for that same hour? (BMR) You already get credit upfront in your calorie goal for the calories you would have burned anyway just by being alive, so MFP doesn't want to count them twice.
  • Eggplant909
    Eggplant909 Posts: 157 Member
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    I compare total calories burned during the day between the two. Anytime I exercise, the total numbers are different. I think your right about the exercise calories, but that would cause the totals to be different,
  • Eggplant909
    Eggplant909 Posts: 157 Member
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    “Wouldn’t cause” I meant
  • Jemsnation
    Jemsnation Posts: 8 Member
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    I have this too. I have a chest strap with the app. Beat syncs with Flow which then syncs with MFP. I guess it would make sense that the count in MFP is lower as it subtracts the calories you'd have burnt had you been stationary. Would just like this confirmed for tracking purposes.

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