Suggested Calories burnt from exercie

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joanneelizabethmarshall
joanneelizabethmarshall Posts: 12 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
As you know you gain extra calories from exercise. Do you you trust the calories burnt that app says. I can’t believe that I burn 350 calories after walking for an hour??

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,051 Member
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    350 is pretty close - especially if you're a bit overweight. The walking calories seem to be spot on for me.

    Use them for 4-6 weeks and see how it works out.

    This is from the Sticky (Most Helpful Posts)

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10503681/exercise-calories-do-i-eat-these-a-video-explanation/p1
  • brianpperkins131
    brianpperkins131 Posts: 90 Member
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    Caloric burn from walking or running really comes down to what you weigh, how far you went, and if you were on flat or sloped ground.

    Runners World used to have an article that put the net burn from walking on relatively flat ground at 30 cals per mile for every 100 pounds of weight moved (weight in lbs/100 x .3 x distance in miles) They've updated the article and pulled out the formulae for walking and running. Of course they are all estimates built around averages in testing. Track, compare, adjust as needed.
  • sarahbetherck
    sarahbetherck Posts: 270 Member
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    Most of my exercise has been walking lately, I'm eating back most of the calories MFP gives me for exercise and still losing consistently.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Due to lazy programming the exercise estimates here are gross calorie estimates when they really should be net calorie estimates (the extra calorie burn from your exercise excluding what you would have burned in that time going about your normal life).

    For short duration, high intensity exercise that's not so important but for long duration and low rate of calorie burns like walking it badly skews the numbers.

    Unless you are very heavy it's highly unlikely you are burning 350 net cals.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,683 Member
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    I've used the MFP numbers for walking and running for several years and they work for me. I lost weight and then maintained the loss while eating back 100% of the exercise calories given. Maybe it's because I usually walk and run in hilly country, maybe I just burn more than other people, but they do work for some of us.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    It’s going to be trial and error. I typically edit the calories it gives me to 20% less and that’s for any exercise, not just walking. I consistently lose 1 lb a week doing this which is what I have MFP set to.

    If you use the calories MFP gives you for the walks and you aren’t losing or find yourself gaining (assuming you use a food scale), you would trouble shoot the calorie burn first.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    joanneelizabethmarshall wrote: »
    As you know you gain extra calories from exercise. Do you you trust the calories burnt that app says. I can’t believe that I burn 350 calories after walking for an hour??

    Is it really that far off?
    https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

    Use the Gross option to compare, since that is what MFP is doing.

    As commented though, Net is what really should have been used, so log that amount.

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