MFP and exercise calories

laurie0507
laurie0507 Posts: 92 Member
edited December 23 in Fitness and Exercise
I don't quite understand how MFP calculates exercise calories. When I ride the stationary bike for 50 minutes, the machine itself usually shows the calories I burned, but MFP shows almost 3 times as many. ???

Replies

  • heatherina1983
    heatherina1983 Posts: 35
    I was cycling for about 50 minutes and the machine told me I had only burned 200 kcals, although the machine has different resistance so it might be more accurate than MFP.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    MFP has no way of knowing how intensely you rode the exercycle. If your bike has some way of asking for your weight and age, it will be the most accurate. If it doesn't, you may have to monitor your heart rate or get a heart rate monitor to estimate calorie burn more accurately.

    I find MFP's estimate for machines pretty accurate, but I also set the resistance to the highest I can tolerate and run or pedal like I'm being chased by rabid weasels. I also use machines with a heart rate monitor and my goal in cardio is to keep my heart rate at the very top of the "cardio" range (about 85% VO2 Max, if I recall correctly, or about 150BPM for my male 43-year-old ticker). You get out of a cardio machine exactly what you put in it.
  • josiereside
    josiereside Posts: 720 Member
    The calories shown burn on the machines are not accurate. I wear a HRM and usually they over estimate by at least double. Same for the calories burned listed in MFP - too high estimate.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    The calories shown burn on the machines are not accurate. I wear a HRM and usually they over estimate by at least double. Same for the calories burned listed in MFP - too high estimate.

    ^^^ I meant to also mention - a lot of MFP's calorie estimates "feel" very high to me, though I don't have a heart rate monitor.

    In general, I'll look for the activity on another more specific site (mapmyride.com for bicycling, for example, since it knows my height, weight, and age and also the type of bicycle I use and how hilly the terrain I'm riding is). MFP claims I burn 870 calories on my ride in to work (14 miles, a good bit of hills, 50 minutes, on a hybrid bike), MapMyRide says 790, so I just override the calories to about 750 to be on the safe side by a few calories.

    On the other hand, with the exception of my bicycling, most of my exercise adds up to numbers like 500-800 calories a day at most. I'm running a 750 calorie deficit per day at the moment. So even if the estimates are off by half, I'm only cutting my deficit and slowing my weight loss - I'm still losing weight. This is not a race, I'm not competing with anyone. If I can get lots of exercise in and get more fit and eat more food to support those excellent workouts, and the cost is that my weight loss slows a bit, I'll pay that price. I'm in this for the long haul, and I'm more concentrated on getting fit than making the number on the scale happy.
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