MFP cal predictor a bit to generous with the cals burned?

xx_donna_xx
xx_donna_xx Posts: 144 Member
edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Do you think the cals MFP says you've burned is correct? I mean it said I burnt 163 just doing a walk for 45 mins at average pace. I don't rem the gym machines being so kind with the cals lost while working out, just wondering your thoughts?

Replies

  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    MFP can be pretty far off, but a lot of your calorie burn will depend on your mass and MFP accounts for that. I ended up getting a heart rate monitor and found that for some things MFP was over and for others it was under.
  • Scarlett_S
    Scarlett_S Posts: 467 Member
    I think its accurate on some things and not so much on others. I have a bodybugg so I track things that way, and others use the HRM's. I don't think that is high for a walk, personally, unless you were literally just strolling or walking at 2.0.
  • xx_donna_xx
    xx_donna_xx Posts: 144 Member
    I was walking round the shops lol
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    I was walking round the shops lol
    I wouldn't bother logging that kind of walk, really.

    The proper walking measurements - for 3, 3.5 and 4 mph walks do seem pretty accurate, and the running is pretty good. But I do think estimates for some things are a bit high. Also, estimates for others (like weight lifting) are low. It depends what you're looking at.

    I don't have an HRM, so I log using the MFP estimates, but shave a few hundred off them in my head each day. I tend to think about what I've really done, for how long, and with how much effort, and if I'm 'eating back' calories, I do so sensibly based on my subjective impression of what I've achieved.

    I think the accuracy of the estimates is really only an issue if you're intending to eat the lot back. If, like me, you aim to eat up to half of them, I don't think you're going to run into problems.
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    Don't forget you're going to burn calories in that 45 minutes regardless of whether you're physically moving or not. Your body is burning calories all the time, so those calories you're burning are inclusive of the ones you're burning all day anyway. I usually subtract 100 calories from whatever MFP/'machine/elliptical says I have burnt just to stay on the safe side.
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