Calories burned exaggerations

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Lady_Bane
Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
You guys can't keep going off the numbers in MFP, nor what your elliptical/spin/treadmills say. If you went on the elliptical for an hour, as I do (level 17/20), and it says you burned 1200 calories...chances are you most likely did half. In the end isn't it better to underestimate it and NOT eat back those hard earned calories. Just sayin'....

Edit: I am talking about people who are of a lower weight body type who cannot possibly burn a bazillion calories doing 20 squats...sorry for the confusion.
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Replies

  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    I think if you don't have an HRM, it's ok to go with the estimate for a while and see if it works. If it doesn't work, adjust.
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    I'll admit I use the elliptical numbers. However the one I use allows me to enter my height, weight and age and then I subtract 100 from it. Weight training, I don't really even count whatever numbers it spurs out I just know to eat a bit more. It's worked well for me. Still interested in getting a HRM but haven't decided yet. Yes I agree though, I've seen some numbers that have my chin drop and shake my head. Hey whatever floats your boat, but if your stuck in a month still with no loss this is where I'd be looking at first.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    The ellipticals I use are almost exactly spot-on compared to my HRM. That's around 80% resistance nearly as fast as I can go for an hour. If you've got pools of sweat under the machine when you're done, it's probably accurate.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol
    I've never seen anything quite that extreme, but yes, the "estimates" aren't very reliable.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol
    Well yeah, some of them are pretty obviously wrong. I do use the estimates for my exercise because I only do dumb stuff like walking and hula hooping, which doesn't burn a whole lot anyway. If you're doing the elliptical and so forth, it can make a bigger difference.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,051 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

    How does it hurt you?
  • chrystee
    chrystee Posts: 295 Member
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    You guys can't keep going off the numbers in MFP, nor what your elliptical/spin/treadmills say. If you went on the elliptical for an hour, as I do (level 17/20), and it says you burned 1200 calories...chances are you most likely did half. In the end isn't it better to underestimate it and NOT eat back those hard earned calories. Just sayin'....

    I agree. I only burn about half of the machines or MFP tell me.
  • stopdangerpi
    stopdangerpi Posts: 34
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    I've seen people say they burned 1,000 calories for an hour of Zumba. That's impossible. Plus, an hour long zumba class includes warm up and warm downs. You need to RUN 10/mph for an hour to burn that.
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

    How does it hurt you?

    ^^^ This.

    You go with your method. Leave other people to theirs. If it's working for them, why does it matter to you? And if it stops working for them, they'll likely change what they're doing, and again, it shouldn't matter to you.
  • plbrown81
    plbrown81 Posts: 32 Member
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    I like to use the treadmill at my gym's calorie estimations. I feel like they're on the low end, but it gives me a more realistic expectation. Walking at 3.8 mph for 1 hour = 260 calories. So at 30 minutes, it's 130. And I figure most people who are walking for 30 minutes probably aren't going at that brisk of a pace unless they're serious.

    Hell, I ran 3.5 miles, walked another mile on an incline above that for a total of 1 hour and broke about 550 calories according to the treadmill. Given they have a 10% margin of error, I COULD have gone over 600. Or I could have gone about 500. It's nicer to be realistic about things..
  • xafricanqueen07x
    xafricanqueen07x Posts: 98 Member
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    The important question is why are YOU so concerned? If you know whats working for you..then you should keep doing what works for you. But to put a whole post up because you "see" people on MFP putting what you deem "exaggerated" calorie burnt amounts is a bit sad. How do you know they aren't using HRMs?, How do you know that they don't weigh more than you? Everyone is different, learn to use constructive criticism or hold your tongue.
  • Taneil27
    Taneil27 Posts: 253
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    Well like today for example I was on an elliptical machine and it said I burned 250, so I just rounded it down to 200. I would really love to get a HRM to know forsure......
  • Lady_Bane
    Lady_Bane Posts: 720 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    If someone is overweight, out of shape, and just starting a workout program, they could be burning 600 in 30.

    How does it hurt you?

    The people I refer to are around my body weight and it does not hurt me, its when they ask why they are not getting anywhere.
  • weetabix34
    weetabix34 Posts: 14
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    erm dont wanna upset u but just been on a health status website and they calculate calories burned during exercise based on your weight and from the calculation i did mfp is bang on.
  • thepanttherlady
    thepanttherlady Posts: 258 Member
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    It also depends on how overweight you are. The more weight you have to lose, the more you'll burn compared to someone who doesn't have as much.

    I have a co-worker that was upset because I was burning more calories than her doing cardio for the same length of time. I was burning 100+ more calories per session than she was. She'd also already lost 80 some pounds at that point, I hadn't.
  • weetabix34
    weetabix34 Posts: 14
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    www.healthstatus.com
  • sculptandtone
    sculptandtone Posts: 300 Member
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    This is my pet peeve. In general, the machines are easily 30-50% out of whack and so is MFP. It's not just a little bit. a LOT. I have a hard enough time sticking with diet and exercise without having false burn numbers giving me disappointment. But, honestly, when I have said similar things, most people don't really want to hear it. Some just really want to believe they burned 1200 calories, even if they didn't.
  • Onaughmae
    Onaughmae Posts: 873 Member
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    I have seen where someone burned more calories than me doing something, but if they are significantly heavier than me, than I can see how that may be right. I just usually go by what the machine I am on tells me since it calculates according to my weight..but I rarely eat back exercise calories anyway.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    HRMs are a different story, I agree...its the people that say they burned 600 calories walking for 30 minutes and Im like...WHAAAATTT?!! Lol

    You do know that someone that weighs more is going to burn significantly more calories doing the same thing as you do, right? I guess if there is any benefit to being larger - we burn more doing the same things you do.

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