Help with C25K calories burned?!

mandimoore617
mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
edited October 5 in Fitness and Exercise
So if I log my couch to 5k (week 3, day 1) as walking (3.0mph) 19 min & jogging (4.0mph) 11 min (which in total is what I do), it says I burn 174 calories according to MFP. If I go to dailymile.com and put in my distance (1.68 mile) and time (30 min), it says I burn 506 calories based on my weight (195). What do you think I should log? Do I go with the lower burn or the higher burn? Or somewhere in the middle?!

I really need a new HRM, but that has to wait til after Christmas!

Replies

  • gonnaloseitforever
    gonnaloseitforever Posts: 29
    I am starting C25K too! I am still on Week 1 though. There is no way you only burned 175 calories doing all of that, I burned 211 just doing the first day, and I'm 186. I did my math on Livestrong, though, but got converted to MFP yesterday. :) I'd be more inclined to believe the higher number, but it's pretty high. Maybe try one more site with the math and take an average?
  • mandimoore617
    mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
    caloriecount says 311 for "jogging - general" for 30 minutes.

    Ugh. I'm definitely getting a new HRM after Christmas!!

    If I average the three sources (MFP, caloriecount, and dailymile), I get 330. Think I might go with that...
  • grammystef26
    grammystef26 Posts: 16 Member
    Hi! My personal and professional recommendation is to get a heart rate monitor that shows calories burned also. You get a much more accurate calorie burn and you can monitor your intensity and endurance! Polar is my favorite but you can try a sportsline from Sports Auth. Good Luck & Great job on deciding to do the Couch 2 5K!

    Stef
  • gonnaloseitforever
    gonnaloseitforever Posts: 29
    That is super frustrating. You would think with how popular C25K is these days that some math whiz would have an online calculator where you just have to put in your weight to figure out calories burned. :/
  • mandimoore617
    mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
    Hi! My personal and professional recommendation is to get a heart rate monitor that shows calories burned also. You get a much more accurate calorie burn and you can monitor your intensity and endurance! Polar is my favorite but you can try a sportsline from Sports Auth. Good Luck & Great job on deciding to do the Couch 2 5K!

    Stef

    Thanks, I do have a Polar HRM, but it's busted. :-( So I have to get a new one, but I'm broke til Christmas. And unfortunately, it busted before I even tried out C25k, so no idea what I've been burning this whole time. I just have been going with what MFP says & I started logging on dailymile today and saw the big difference.
  • mandimoore617
    mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
    That is super frustrating. You would think with how popular C25K is these days that some math whiz would have an online calculator where you just have to put in your weight to figure out calories burned. :/

    YES!! I haven't found one though... if there is one, let me know. LOL
  • gonnaloseitforever
    gonnaloseitforever Posts: 29
    Believe me, I'm looking too! I'll let you know! In the meantime, I guess I will save up for a heart rate monitor too!
  • mandimoore617
    mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
    I got my HRM at Academy Sports but you can get them cheaper on Amazon I believe! Just be sure it does calories burned or it won't do any good. LOL
  • nettleboo
    nettleboo Posts: 177 Member
    we have a heart rate monitor and i went out tonight walked very briskly for 13 minutes then jogged back in 12min total 25 mins i eput it all as walking rather than jogging it said i burnt 185 cals heart rate monitor said 87 cals how could that be right
  • JoAnn73
    JoAnn73 Posts: 161 Member
    I use an app called Endomando to track my running, distance, and calories.burn for the C25k.
  • mandimoore617
    mandimoore617 Posts: 325 Member
    I use an app called Endomando to track my running, distance, and calories.burn for the C25k.

    I do it on a treadmill, so the distance thing wouldn't work for me I don't think.
  • Inc1961
    Inc1961 Posts: 34 Member
    Other than the Heart Rate monitor with Calorie convertor, I would go on the conservative side and with what the C25K app says. When I've compared my daily calories burned to other sites for similar activity it is pretty close. Mind you i am more of a waager than a jogger or runner so mine are on the low side. Usually 215 - 250 ish for Wk1.
  • bekkahlokey
    bekkahlokey Posts: 73
    I use runkeeper at the same time as my C25K app and it calculates it for you. By, height weight and it syncs with the MFP app.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    So if I log my couch to 5k (week 3, day 1) as walking (3.0mph) 19 min & jogging (4.0mph) 11 min (which in total is what I do), it says I burn 174 calories according to MFP. If I go to dailymile.com and put in my distance (1.68 mile) and time (30 min), it says I burn 506 calories based on my weight (195). What do you think I should log? Do I go with the lower burn or the higher burn? Or somewhere in the middle?!

    I really need a new HRM, but that has to wait til after Christmas!

    Definately not 506 calories. I'd estimate it to be about 200. I've read somewhere to estimate about 100 cal per mile but that is a very general estimate. I run about 30 min and burn probably 250 in 3 miles.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    Keep it simple. If you don't have a HRM to use then just judge it by how far you went. The general rule of 100 calories per mile ran/walked works well. So if you know how far you have gone total then you can just use that to base it. For example, week 3 I was making it to about the mile and a half mark, so I burnt about 150 calories. It won't be spot on, but it will be pretty close to the actual total.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    I use an app called Endomando to track my running, distance, and calories.burn for the C25k.

    I have used a Polar HRM and Endomondo at the same time. I can assure you that Endomondo is NOT giving an accurate calorie burn. It is usually 25% higher than the HRM, if not a little more.

    The calculator on MFP is even worse. Sometimes it is double what the HRM says the burn was.

    The most accurate way, and really it still isn't 100% accurate, is a HRM that has the correct body stats entered for you.
  • bellaa_x0
    bellaa_x0 Posts: 1,062 Member
    I use runkeeper at the same time as my C25K app and it calculates it for you. By, height weight and it syncs with the MFP app.

    i just used runkeeper last night as well as my HRM and runkeeper definitely overestimates.. my runkeeper read about 35 more calories than my HRM did.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    I think you are making that WAY to complicated.

    just take the average speed and go with that. 200 calories sounds about right. 500 for that seems a bit high to me.
  • bttrthanevr
    bttrthanevr Posts: 615 Member
    I try to err on the side of underlogging the calories. I've always heard that a good estimate is about 100 per mile-no matter whether you walk or run, for an average weight person. I goes up slightly for every so many pounds above a certain weight. As for the discrepancy between mfp burns vs. say Runtastic, I think mfp does not remove the calories you would have burned just being alive and breathing. Runtastic on the other hand is supposedly the net burn, which means that number doesn't count the calories just used being alive.

    I know I have seen a mathematical equation for calorie burn walking vs. running that takes weight and distance into consideration...but I just tried unsuccessfully to find it.

    I did find this calculator. It might come in handy. It seems to match my runtastic calorie counts...There are calculators for walking, running, biking, elliptical, etc.

    http://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-walking
  • jessiekanga
    jessiekanga Posts: 564 Member
    There is a formula genius out there that created a dynamite excel spreadsheet and offers it to folks. If you Google c25k calories burned there's a sparkpeople link that will pop up :). Good luck. I loved it before I got myself a smartphone and rundouble.
  • jessiekanga
    jessiekanga Posts: 564 Member
    I should add that using the spreadsheet it estimates you at 294 for this run. Week 4 and Week 5 days 1 and 2, at the same pace, would be 331. Just in case it helps while you're searching for accuracy.

    Good luck!

    BTW... I'm not the formula genius, I'm just grateful to him/her.
  • Just_Scott
    Just_Scott Posts: 1,766 Member
    simple rule 100 calories for each mile whether you run fast, run slow, or walk....
  • kristafb
    kristafb Posts: 770 Member
    After I sync my c25k with MFP I then go into exercise & reenter the times. this changes the calories burned based on my weight and stats. My c25k app doesn't take that into account. I checked out the spreedsheet that someone posted on SParkpeople, its great btw, and my calories were almost identical to what I get on MFP when I reenter the times. ex if it says I ran 8 minutes, I delete the 8 and then reenter 8. MFP changes it based on your statistics.

    heres a link to that spreadsheet. :

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/3sty7d
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    So if I log my couch to 5k (week 3, day 1) as walking (3.0mph) 19 min & jogging (4.0mph) 11 min (which in total is what I do), it says I burn 174 calories according to MFP. If I go to dailymile.com and put in my distance (1.68 mile) and time (30 min), it says I burn 506 calories based on my weight (195). What do you think I should log? Do I go with the lower burn or the higher burn? Or somewhere in the middle?!

    I really need a new HRM, but that has to wait til after Christmas!

    The 174 is probably closer. You only went 1.6 miles and a rough estimate is 100 cals per mile. I run 3 miles in 30 min and burn about 270.
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,661 Member
    I really like this calculator. http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html It gives me 173 net calories (so, not including your BMR - just the *extra* burn for your workout.)

    I've used the site to check the accuracy of the output on the treadmill at the gym. They're very close. MFP tends to overestimate my burns, so I enter the number of minutes that gives me the number from the treadmill.

    I don't know if a heart-rate monitor would be more accurate, unless you went through the trouble of finding your Heart Rate Max. Mine is significantly higher than the numbers from that formula where you take your age and subtract from 220, or whatever it is... But I do like the numbers. I enjoy powergaming my fitness. I might ask for a new heart rate monitor for Christmas. The old one only works with the Garmin watch that hasn't been operational since I tried to change the (non-user replaceable) battery.
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