Hi! I'm on W6D3 of the C25k program and I'm having the same problem with calories. When I log my runs on MFP it says that I'm burning about 250 calories or so, but when I log it on my active trainer account through the C25K program it says I'm burning over 400 calories. I'm not really sure which is correct. I tend to go with the active trainer because I bought the program through them and I figure they know how much you should burn during each phase.

I'm really looking into getting a heart rate monitor because this is a reoccurring question for me as well. I'm on Week 3 Day 1 today after work. Keepin' my fingers crossed.

Seriously, my HRM is the very BEST investment I've made for losing weight. I ended up spending about 100 bucks for mine (Polar ft7), but I wanted a quality one that would last, and had the money saved for it. However...there are a TON of different ones you can get...try checking amazon...I'm not sure about the quality of them, but I've seen HRMs for about 25$ on there. The biggest thing is having a chest strap, as they're more accurate than the non-chest strapped version. I thought the chest strap would annoy the heck out of me, but really it's barely noticeable. I definitely would recommend getting one...MFP and other sites almost always over calculate my burns. It sucks when you go from thinkingyou're burning like 2,000 calories to half that, but in the long run, it's what you need to know, particularly if you eat back your exercise calories. Oh, also, I got a waterproof one, because I like to swim with mine...so it all depends on what you want in one....mine stores like 99 workouts and has all the other features which were important to me...but like i said, it's all about what you want in yours.

I created a new workout and input the calories I was burning according to active trainer, but before that I would log the walking and the jogging separately.

This link has a chart at the end that tells how many calories you are burning from running according to your pace and weight. The amounts are per hour though. Hope this helps.

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Portion-Patrol.htm

Ok, so I'm back in from my w5d2 run, and for 36 minutes (16 jogging, 20 brisk walking) MFP gives me a calorie burn of 261, whereas my HRM gave me 298 burned. So they're pretty close, though I'm happy that I've been burning a LITTLE more each run than MFP has been estimating

I think I'm ready for the 20 minute next session, hoping I get into my rhythm fairly soon in with it because that first run is always a killer to me, no matter if its 90s or 5 minutes lol.

On a side note, I think I'll be leaving my running buddy at home for this next one, because she's too freaked out by being on that section of promeade since being run over by a cyclist the other day. I'll feel a little bare without her with me, but I'll work her confidence up slowly so she can enjoy it with me again

I just did the 20 minute one this morning...omg! I'm so happy I got through it but there was a while during it I didn't think I would! It's definitely manageable, but it takes a lot of will power, or it did in my case! Good luck!!

I just finished week 4...I have been over 300 for any week/day, according to my HRM. I find my burns fairly high in general, but hopefulyl everything will even out when I get my heart rate down...
You guys are awesome!

I ended up getting a HRM from bodytronics ($61.88) just last week-- and started C25k just this past week. It told me I burned 350-something calories today (week 1).

I wish I knew. My pedometer said I burned 177 calories during W1D1 last night, while active.com said 403.

yesterday was W1D1 for me. i did thirty minutes total, including warm up and cool down and my HRM said i burned 499 calories.

yesterday was W1D1 for me. i did thirty minutes total, including warm up and cool down and my HRM said i burned 499 calories.

And that might be a true reading of your total calorie burn, but your net calorie burn would be less. Net calories is your total calories burned (in your case, 499) subtracting your resting calories (the cals you would have burned had you never left the couch).

All I'm saying is you won't do yourself any favors by using your total calorie burn.

And when I say "yourself" please know I'm using that collectivly. If you want to get a good idea, from a really good source on running (Runner's World) see the article I posted.

I hardly consider myself a runner yet but I like to pretend I am and reading this magazine gives me lots of tips to improve my fitness and my C25K!

I also use a Polar HRM. I now burn about 250-300 calories per run. I have been running C25K for 5 weeks. I have repeated each week twice. Tonight I do Week 3 Day 2. When I begain 5 weeks ago, I was burning 375 ish calories. I think as you get more conditioned and efficient, less calories are burned.

Edited to add: tonight I upped my intensity significantly and burned 404 calories according to my hRM:)