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MFP Running database

Saltychocolate62
Saltychocolate62 Posts: 17 Member
in Social Groups
Does anyone else find it odd that MFP's running database goes from 10=minute miles to 11.5-minute miles? That's a huge gap. I would think there should be 10.5-minute miles and 11-minute miles. I'm going to contact MFP to see if those can be added.

Replies

  • sunshineyourway
    sunshineyourway Posts: 1,162 Member
    Yikes. I have not noticed that. I just thought it automatically went with what my Garmin has it at and any device connected with MFP. Hopefully you get answers from MFP. Please let me know what they say.
  • gloriawrightcook
    gloriawrightcook Posts: 4,787 Member
    Yes, I have noticed too. It always tells me that I am doing a 12 minute mile. I am doing a five minute walking warm up and a five minute walking cool down - so my overall pace is much slower than a 12 minute mile. But at the same time, I am noticing that my Garmin is telling me that I burn a lot more calories than MFP is telling me, and that is worrying me too. I don't want to eat too little because that does not support my fitness and then my running suffers. Like yesterday my Garmin said I had 800 calories remaining to eat and MFP said I had 539 remaining. I want to drop a few pounds but I want to do that slowly so I am having a hard time figuring out how much I need to eat.
  • jennypapage
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
    I don't have my running watch synced to mfp, so i input my info manually.
    The paces that mfp has in the database don't come that close to mine(they are either too slow or too fast), and the calories mfp gives are very different to what my watch gives me.
    So for example at 7.5km/hour i had to input 44 minutes of running to get the ~241 calories my watch gave me. However, i actually run ~54 minutes at 8km/hour for those ~241calories. If i had used my real running time and pace, mfp would have given me about 330 calories.
    For shorter running times the difference is not that big. So if i run 5k in ~34minutes, i will put 30 or 31 to get the calories my watch gave me.

  • gloriawrightcook
    gloriawrightcook Posts: 4,787 Member
    Oh wow Jenny, I think mine is the opposite, the Garmin is giving me more than MFP, I am going with the lower number of workout calories because I don't want to sabotage myself but I want to make sure I am eating enough to support my workouts. I haven't tracked food calories in a few years but I put on a few pounds over the past nine months so now want to track to make sure I am not eating too much.
  • jennypapage
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
    Well we also have to remember Gloria, nothing is going to be 100% correct. The watches also estimate.Just go by feeling as well as what your scales says. If you still lose weight, keep doing what you're doing. If not, eat less of the exercise calories.
  • gloriawrightcook
    gloriawrightcook Posts: 4,787 Member
    Of course you are correct Jenny! I just need to make sure I am getting ENOUGH calories....because once I start going up in distance, which I will, I need to make sure I am fueling my body enough. I am worried that MFP is not allowing for that. 1,200 calories is not much and I am very very active. I am not one to be sitting around much. And once I start adding mileage, I need to make sure I am not depriving my body - that will not only cause my body to start holding on to calories, but it might also prevent my success with my running. At least I am not training for a marathon right now. That is a really hard one. That is when I am ALWAYS hungry!!! LOL :p
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I go by my Garmin and I have switched off my Garmin syncing to MFP for this reason. What I do do though, is enter the details manually to my "add exercise" and then on my wall status I type "burned (insert calories here) doing (insert minutes here) of running @ (insert mph and mins per mile here)". On all other running apps I have I let the Garmin sync automatically though, otherwise I would be on there all day hahaha
  • gloriawrightcook
    gloriawrightcook Posts: 4,787 Member
    That makes sense Di, I could manually enter my stuff to MFP, would rather not of course, due to time constraints. MFP always says I went a lot faster than I did on my runs, but it gives me a lot fewer calories than Garmin so I am half inclined not to worry about it. Wish that it was more accurate but I trust my Garmin to tell me what my actual pace is!!!!!
  • snapem
    snapem Posts: 24 Member
    Yes! I’ve been struggling so much with this!
    the database figures feel all over the place. There’s also nothing for trail running I can find. And my Garmin, MFP (and Strava) all give massively different numbers even for fairly short runs
    @gloriawrightcook - I’ve been having the same concern, trying to figure out the balance between wanting to lose a bit of weight but also wanting to make sure I’m fueling myself properly. I haven’t worked it out yet!
  • gloriawrightcook
    gloriawrightcook Posts: 4,787 Member
    @snapem Exactly!!! Everyday my Garmin gives me a lot more calories to eat then MFP and I want to make sure I am fueling enough - because I know if I will not have the energy to do it. If it wasn't a huge difference it wouldn't be a big deal but especially since I often do longer distances, I want to make sure I am well fueled!

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