MFP Calories Don't Match Zwift Calories

dbmathis1975
dbmathis1975 Posts: 4 Member
edited January 2021 in Getting Started
I use a smart trainer (wahoo kickr v5) with Zwift which measures cadence and power and very accurately measures calories burned based on the power. However, MFP is over-estimating my calories.

With the following example I neither rode at 19+ mph or burned 484 calories. I rode at 12mph average and based on power output during the ride, burned 299 calories. How do I fix this?

MFP
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Zwift
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Replies

  • dbmathis1975
    dbmathis1975 Posts: 4 Member
    edited January 2021
    I think that Runkeeper / Tapiriik is causing the problem. MFP is getting the data from Runkeeper which has 484. For some reason either Tapiriik or Runkeeper is over-estimating my calories that are sync'd over from Strava with Tapiriik. So in other words, Zwift (299) -> Strava (299) -> Tapiriik to Runkeeper (484) -> Runkeeper -> MFP (484). I disconnected Runkeeper from MFP and replaced it with Strava.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,258 Member
    That makes sense for your core problem. As a semi-irrelevant aside, but something you mentioned as a perceived discrepancy, I'd note that your MFP screen shot is showing speed in kph, and you mention mph. 12mph is approximately 19kph.
  • dbmathis1975
    dbmathis1975 Posts: 4 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    That makes sense for your core problem. As a semi-irrelevant aside, but something you mentioned as a perceived discrepancy, I'd note that your MFP screen shot is showing speed in kph, and you mention mph. 12mph is approximately 19kph.

    Yeah, you're right, so that seems accurate.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    For short term corrections to existing entries - click on that line and change the calorie burn.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited January 2021
    You are correct that calorie counts for cycling should be based on power whenever you can.
    Indoor cycling is also not the same as outdoor cycling, speed isn't a good metric with no aero resistance indoors.

    I prefer not to link and just update manually myself using the MyFitnessPal category and overwrite the suggested cals with accurate ones. Your trainer's estimate is fine.

    When using Garmin to Strava then the accurate power and calorie data taken from my power meter goes over from Garmin to Strava and is used for calories and from your numbers it looks like Zwift to Strava does the same. If I do a ride without a power meter then Strava uses its own estimate.

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