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Woah, is it possible that MFP cardio calculator is this far

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ebaymommy
ebaymommy Posts: 1,067 Member
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So on Saturday I went to spin class followed by Body Pump. Both of these are Les Mills classes (RPM is what they call the spin class and then Body Pump).

I logged them in MFP as spin and strength training. MFP gave me a calorie burn of 393 for spin and 154 for body pump for a total of 547.

I was just messing around online and got on the Les Mills website. It gives "average" calorie burns for each class....it listed RPM as 675 and Body Pump as 530. That would be over 1200 calories burned! Holy cow!

I know there's a lot of factors involved and I don't know how Les Mills figures their averages. I'm sort of wishing I had a BodyMedia to know what I'm really burning.

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  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
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    Comparing the calories MFP calculates compared to my HRM watch I had a year ago, I found MFP was very accurate, not all machines were accurate but MFP was reliable.

    That being said, I too started Spinning 6 months ago and I cannot believe in 60 minutes I burn only a measly 420-480ish calories when I could burn closer to 600 on the elliptical.

    I assumed that was because spinning although intense is still fundamentally a seated exercise. Articles about spinning however say it burns 600-1000 calories so in conclusion, I unfortunately don't have an answer for you but I'm just as dumfounded so you aren't alone.
  • Michelle333
    Michelle333 Posts: 26 Member
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    At the spin class I go to we all wear heart monitors including the instructors. Based on following her cadence and PRE we usually burn at least 600 calories in one hour.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    The more you weigh, the more calories you burn, so an average on a website is not very accurate compared to MFP, which factors your weight and age.
    the average person might weigh a lot more than you, but I don't know. Am I off-base on this website average?
    Unfortunately, there is not any good way to measure calorie expenditure on strength training because even though your heart rate might be raised, it does not translate to calories burned in the same way that cardio does. everything is imperfect!
  • EmIsabel
    EmIsabel Posts: 69 Member
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    I do kickboxing for 45 Minutes to an hour at least 4 days of the week. I don't know how accurate MFP database is. Until I get my HRM watch I am just estimating. or hoping its around what I may burn..

    I am also going to start spinning classes in about a week and a half. :)
  • kelseyhere
    kelseyhere Posts: 1,123 Member
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    I have an HRM and when I wear it to Body Pump I burn about 400 calories. You have to remember, the Les Mills website is also an estimate. I think Les Mills figures their averages by the max calories a fit person would burn if they were pushing themselves to the max the whole time. Class to class it even varies. I go to Body Attack (a different Les Mills class) twice a week, and because both classes are taught by different instructors with different intensity levels, that has a big impact on my total calorie burn. On Tuesday's class I burn about 350, and on Thursday's I burn about 450. Obviously the Thursday teacher pushes me harder.

    Congrats for finishing both classes though, that's not easy!

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