How much do you rely on MFP burned calories?

Do you reply on MFP's results or do you take it with a pinch of salt?

Replies

  • dixiech1ck
    dixiech1ck Posts: 769 Member
    Not at all. Get a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) -- it's the most accurate way to track your burned calories.
  • up tp a certain point. After about 60 minutes of cardio exercises I think they WAY over estimate on calories burned....
  • Getting_Fit_4_Life
    Getting_Fit_4_Life Posts: 404 Member
    No, I do not rely on MFP calorie burned. Your best bet would be to buy a Heart Rate Monitor, especially if you are planning to eat back your workout calories.
  • daves160
    daves160 Posts: 600
    I rely on my HRM and Garmin bike HRM. They are not precise, but far better than MFP guesstimates.
  • Athena413
    Athena413 Posts: 1,709 Member
    I use my heart rate monitor for everything, but even calories on food labels are just an estimate - the FDA only makes them put the minimum amount of calories on a nutrition label, so you may actually be eating more calories than you think...no wonder Americans are so fat!

    Anyway, I trust my HRM more simply because it takes my heart rate into consideration, as well as my age, gender, height, weight, etc...
  • GettinMyLifeBck
    GettinMyLifeBck Posts: 201 Member
    Its not accurate in my experience some exercises over calculate and others under calculate..HRM is the best way to go!!
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,319 Member
    HRM.
  • talrcat
    talrcat Posts: 97 Member
    I just use it to track my exercise.
  • MissMaryMac33
    MissMaryMac33 Posts: 1,433 Member
    Absolutely zero.... I wear my HRM. I wouldn't trust all the websites that "guess" what you burn either.
    If you must use them. I'd track about half of whatever they tell you.
  • Helice
    Helice Posts: 1,083 Member
    I mostly rely on it, but i often minus calories from the amount just incase.
  • jalara
    jalara Posts: 2,622 Member
    Not at all. Get a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) -- it's the most accurate way to track your burned calories.
    :smile: This exactly. I have a Polar FT7 and love it!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    It's close enough. Probably 80% accurate. Gym machines are 80% accurate. HRM's are about 80% accurate (Expensive HRM's might be 90% accurate, but nothing will be 100% accurate.) It's all a guessing game and it's all a wash, honestly. I use a bunch of different sources when plotting calorie burn, but I dont really exercise for the calorie burn, I do it to get fit, so it's not that important to me.
  • Bakins929
    Bakins929 Posts: 896 Member
    I used to use it, but now I enter my HRM calories.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
    It depends on the exercise. Some can't be accurate, because there's no measure of intensity. Like elliptical... I could go slow, or fast. Resistance at one or as high as it will go. Or dancing... I'm willing to bet I'd burn a lot more than 43 calories dancing for 10 minutes.... I'd certainly be more winded after 10 minutes of dancing than I would after 10 minutes of walking at 4mph (which is a comfortable pace for me), and it's supposedly about the same calorie burn.

    But for the most part, I've stuck with MFP's estimates and it's worked very well for me.
  • sjtreely
    sjtreely Posts: 1,014 Member
    My experience has been MFP is very, very generous with calories burned. My HRM is ALWAYS lower. There have been times when it has been up to 300 calories lower. Invest in a HRM if you can.
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    Not at all. The MFP numbers are always waaaaayyyy higher than what the cardio machine tells me I burn (and even those seem really high sometimes). I don't have an HRM, but maybe santa will bring me one for christmas!
  • I can't afford a HRM right now but my goal is to burn 140 calories a day, according to MFP I usually around 300+ so even if MFP isn't accurate, hopefully doing that extra covers it.
  • ranewell
    ranewell Posts: 621 Member
    I can't afford an hrm yet, either. I rarely eat back my exercise calories, and when I do, I try to only eat back no more than half of mfp's estimate just to be safe.
  • catwrangler
    catwrangler Posts: 918 Member
    OR

    Google "calories burned calculator" and you will find many online