is this site realistic

An HRM will give you a more accurate picture of calorie burn; they're under $100 on Amazon.

It might not be 100% accurate..but for me, it just gives me an idea of where I am.

For instance, It's too easy to go to a restaurant and grab a salad and feel like I'm eating healthy, and then wonder why the scale won't move down.

When I log what I eat, even if it's not 100% accurate, I stay within a certain range. If I don't log, I tend to grossly underestimate the calories I'm consuming.

Try a heart rate monitor. I just got one and it's working out fine. It does help to know that you are getting somewhere.

I use a site like runkeeper or mapmyrun to map out where I go when running or walking the dog, and time myself. Those sites give a calorie estimate, too.

I have a HRM, but I mostly bought it for the stopwatch function (it was cheap) and to be honest, I trust MFP's calorie counts more than the ones that gives me. Other HRMs are probably better. Because I highly doubt I only burned 450 calories running 11 miles in two hours.

I like this site for the support and it keeps me motivated by checking in, but my question is how reliable is the calorie count of the food, and calorie count for the exercise . For example I went for a walk/jog (wog) and went to log it into my exercise diary, but who is to say how many calories I burned., or if I was going 5.5 mph. I guess I just wish that more people were concerned with what they ear and what amount of exercise they did and not so much on the numbers

I always double check the nutr facts w/ the ones on here b4 I add my food. So i know the ones I use are correct. & I have an HRM, so I put mine burn in manually now.

Regarding the food logging, i find that even if I can't find what I need, I can just add it myself and keep it accurate. Over time, you build up your favorites and meals and logging gets faster and faster, while still remaining accurate.

As for fitness, I never go off of what this site says. I use my bodymedia fit device.

Before I had that device, I never logged my fitness in. I use this site primarily to hold myself accountable. And for that reason alone, it's a great tool!

I joined MFP beginning of 2011. I'm pretty sure the first 12 months on here, my logging wasn't very accurate at all.

I now have an HRM (best purchase ever!) and try to be as accurate as possible with the food. I weigh mostly everything, I do a lot of research, I cross check and I double check! Sometimes I become a little bit too obsessive over it and I get anxious when I can't log accurately or when I am out of routine...which is when I try to relax and pull back a bit!

It's probably never going to 100% perfect, but the more we stick to it and the more we learn, the better and more accurate it will become. Either way, I think this site is really beneficial if you use it properly. Especially the community side of it :-)

double check whatever you add in your diary, you can edit anything that isn't correct. weigh and measure your portions, buy a heart rate monitor, use mfp to track. It's as accurate as you are.

For example I went for a walk/jog (wog) and went to log it into my exercise diary, but who is to say how many calories I burned., or if I was going 5.5 mph.

By doing a little bit of mathematics (manipulating the 'distance= rate x time' formula), you can figure out your rate and distance. This will give you a more accurate count for your calories.

blessings,
sam

StunninS12 - I'd like to know too. Today I was doing some pretty intense gardening - digging holes, squatting, dragging pots around, etc. and when I used the gardening entry on MFP's exercise page, it said I burned over 600 calories in two hours. I don't think so! I'm sore and all, but 600?

I need to use a heart rate monitor, because I just don't think MFP takes into consideration what kind of shape you're in. If a sedentary person gets out and walks a mile in 20 minutes, he's going to burn a lot more calories than someone who's in great shape doing the same 20 min. mile.

As others have said, for best estimate of calories burned get a HRM. I have a Polar RS100 it was under $100 at Best Buy. The calories burned on this site and MANY other online calculators are very rough estimates. A HRM will provide a much better estimate since it knows your HR during the entire workout, but even then its an estimate. It is all scientific formulas, nothing will ever be exact as no ones bodies are the same.

For food facts, it is only as accurate as the person who entered it into the database. Anything with a * is entered by a member. I always check the facts when adding to my log. If its not right, I fix it. Also be aware that this site is used by members in many countries. The same food by the same manufacturer can have different facts in different countries.

An HRM will give you a more accurate picture of calorie burn; they're under $100 on Amazon.

Let's see, my weight loss/"slimming down" is very important to me while my husband is deployed. As a result, I have a food scale to weigh what I eat, and I have a fitbit (which uses MET's for caloric burn). I do go by my fitbit calorie burn, and when I do want to calculate how fast I have walked i use this formula: #miles/(min walked/60 min)= #mi/hour

I need to use a heart rate monitor, because I just don't think MFP takes into consideration what kind of shape you're in. If a sedentary person gets out and walks a mile in 20 minutes, he's going to burn a lot more calories than someone who's in great shape doing the same 20 min. mile.

I agree, however "sedentary" doesn't mean you aren't in great shape. I am sedentary as I am sitting at a desk all day at work. Although I work out 7 times a week on average.

I have an app that tells me how fast, and how long I walked/ran. Also how far I walked. I go off of that.
I also time how long I swim.

I don't know about most people, but I don't have time to double check my calorie intake or exercise output on another website. Really? I think this site is great in the fact that is gets you to realize what you are putting into your mouth, and lets you take credit for "moving". Just the fact that a person is committed to being accountable everyday to intake & output is a start.