Calories Burned

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I have a question my heart rate monitor says 613 calories burned on a 70 min walk (3.7 mph), mfp says 450, and imapmywalk says 230 calories burned, why such a big difference between the 3 and what do you go by when calculating calories burned.

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  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    When i take my dog for his 2 mile walk around the local country part, my HRM says its around 350 cals, and it takes me 45 minutes, so yours seems fairly accurate. Definitely take that over anything else tbh.
  • LoveMyFour
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    If your HRM has a chest strap and you entered in your age, weight, gender, and height, I'd go with that.
  • JeffHackney
    JeffHackney Posts: 81 Member
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    I was getting the same proble between MFP and what the elliptical was giving me. I posted somethig like your question and i got a few different answers. most people said to get a pedometer, and some said a heart rate monitor. I had one say MFP because they have more info on you like your weight height and age. But still the elliptical had all my info except the height and was still 200 calories under MFP. I probably would take an average of all of your references.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    I had one say MFP because they have more info on you like your weight height and age. But still the elliptical had all my info except the height and was still 200 calories under MFP. I probably would take an average of all of your references.

    Who the hell said to use the MFP number?! It's a long standing joke that MFP calories burned is woefully inaccurate. It doesn't have your constant heartrate that your HRM has.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
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    HRM
  • JeffHackney
    JeffHackney Posts: 81 Member
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    I had one say MFP because they have more info on you like your weight height and age. But still the elliptical had all my info except the height and was still 200 calories under MFP. I probably would take an average of all of your references.

    Who the hell said to use the MFP number?! It's a long standing joke that MFP calories burned is woefully inaccurate. It doesn't have your constant heartrate that your HRM has.

    Well I just started this month and didnt know how far off the MFP was off. i think they all are inaccuarate. If your HR monitor dont have your age, height, and weight info then it will be off. But i think i would trust a hr monitor more if i was able to put my info in it.
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    HRM if it uses a chest strap and your specific information.

    MFP's database uses some of your info but doesn't have enough about your intensity or heart rate for it to be accurate, it just used "averages" when determining the calories. this is okay if you have alot of weight to lose and therefore wiggle room in your overall food and exercise plan.

    the same is probably true for imapmywalk.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I'd choose the one that's going to "know" what you're doing best.

    MFP isn't going to know if there was any incline in your walk, which would burn more calories. If you're prefer, average the two.

    And MFP's elliptical entry in the database is useless, since it doesn't go by speed or resistance at all. I could book it at 8mph on an elliptical, or I could cruise at 3mph.
  • fatguyweightloss
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    Also have to be careful that calculation is not also taking your BMR into account as well. Personally I burn 100 calories an hour doing about everything than watching TV. If I walked lightly for 60 minutes I probably burn 190 calories, though 100 of those would have been burned doing nothing :)

    What I would do is see how many calories your HRM says you burn while at rest and use that for a baseline...otherwise you could lead to double counting your calories burned and over commpensate on calories you consume.
  • bestrev
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    Bestrev
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    While I'm normally on the trust your HRM team, I'm not sure this time. A heart rate monitor isn't designed to accurately measure calories burned when your heart rate isn't in an elevated state. Walking at 3.7 MPH keeps my heart rate well below what my HRM days it's designed to accurately calculate. When I do my cool down or warm up walks bookending my runs, I don't have my HRM on because I don't even try to capture those calories.

    For me, 70 minutes of running at my average pace (9:45/mi) would probably burn me somewhere in the 725 range of calories (give or take, depending on how efficient the run was). So I would probably question 613 calories for a 70 min walk. Maybe try to find one of the online calculators where you can enter your age, weight, pace and time and see what it gives you?