Using the Exercise Database

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charanne52
charanne52 Posts: 88 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm wondering how much faith many of the new dieters put in the MFP exercise base. I'm not saying the database is entirely inaccurate but you must keep in mind that it has been assembled by the MFP community. Let's take walking at 3.5 mph for example. If you are not the same age, height, weight and gender as the person who originally submitted this exercise to the database you are not going to get an accurate reading of your burned calories. Therefore, if you are one of those who "eats back" your exercise calories you may be eating back too much which could be why you are not seeing a signifcant change in your weight loss.

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  • simplysassi
    simplysassi Posts: 138 Member
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    Have to say... I stopped using MFP's exercise database for that very reason. One day I did heavy gardening (eg, unloading a truck load of mulch, wheelbarrowed it up and down hills, shoveling, etc) In 4 hours the database said I burned 1184 calories - which seemed crazy to me. I just took half of it for that day and got me a FitBit to use from then on. The FitBit is a great device but I am convinced it doesn't calculate high enough for my intense workouts (zumba, weight-lifting) but there are ways to make adjustments on MFP - I just choose to leave it as is and know that my exercise cals are likely higher than what's being recorded. I'd rather be erring on that end than to overestimate what I can eat.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    I've used the very unscientific method of taking MFP's word for most exercise, especially since for my height, weight, and usual intensity levels (6' 3", 220, and GO-GO-GO!!!!), I find they are pretty accurate. Some of them I take with a rather large grain of salt and will reduce them considerably if I don't feel they are at all close.

    Intense exercises (cycling because I do it in hilly terrain, elliptical because I get to max-cardio and stay there, etc) seem to be really accurate and in some cases a little low for me. Other things like raking leaves just seem overly optimistic in terms of the calories burned, so I'll often reduce those, but knowing I'm burning calories does make me rake more vigorously so there's some benefit to me for logging it.
  • ImJDLookatME
    ImJDLookatME Posts: 290
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    I'm wondering how much faith many of the new dieters put in the MFP exercise base. I'm not saying the database is entirely inaccurate but you must keep in mind that it has been assembled by the MFP community. Let's take walking at 3.5 mph for example. If you are not the same age, height, weight and gender as the person who originally submitted this exercise to the database you are not going to get an accurate reading of your burned calories. Therefore, if you are one of those who "eats back" your exercise calories you may be eating back too much which could be why you are not seeing a signifcant change in your weight loss.

    And this is why I don't eat back my exercise calories!
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    I don't know how accurate it is but I do know that if say I do a run and put in from the data base how fast I went that the calories burned per MFP were pretty close to what the TM said for my weight.
  • Raiderxx
    Raiderxx Posts: 105 Member
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    It is OKAY imo, but I still use a heart rate monitor to track my calories instead of just going off of the site. It's much more accurate.
  • dottheyes30
    dottheyes30 Posts: 39 Member
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    When they do the calories they are determining it by how much you weigh. If you look at other sites, even Weight Watchers, it is pretty accurate with what they have on here. When you do really physical lifting you really burn tons of calories. I try to not eat more because I burned some calories. I am on 1200 calories but I try not to go over 1500 even though I exercise every day.
  • tigmic
    tigmic Posts: 12
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    Yeah, I just don’t eat back my calories. I still record exercise, but only to see if there are any trends with how my weight fluctuates with more or less physical training.
  • iuew
    iuew Posts: 624 Member
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    the exercise bike calories burned calculator seems wildly off compared to what my bike is telling me. i put in the readout that the bike gives me. same with treadmill.

    walking and mowing the yard seem fairly dead on.
  • seamonkey789
    seamonkey789 Posts: 233
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    I finally broke down and bought a heart rate monitor because the machines were telling me 1 thing and MFP another. The heart rate monitor is right in the middle, so I go with that
  • ashiggins
    ashiggins Posts: 144 Member
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    Not saying that the database is accurate, but it's not like the food database. The calories burned do actually take your stats (height/weight) into account when calculated, which is why my friend and I have different calorie burns when we input the same time and exercise from the database. I tend to decrease the calories by 20-30%, but I know that I put in max effort when I work out so I'm not too obsessed with it. In the end, almost everything is simply an estimate.

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