MyFitnessPal - does it way overestimate kj/cal burnt?

[minties]

I did level 1 of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and entered it as 25 minutes of general circuit training. It says I burnt 1545kj doing it which sounds like it is waaay over estimating to me? That is more than what I ate in kj for breakfast. I ate a crumbed piece of fish, a potato and a pile of mixes veg for dinner last night and that was about 1350kj.

I'm quite heavy...is that why? I apparently burnt 680kj going for a slow walk earlier too.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

It could be a combination of both. The more you weigh the more you burn... I know that since I've lost most of the weight exercising doesn't net me as much as it used to. I used to read the MFP forums a lot last year, and most of the veterans recommending only eating 50-75% of exercise calories back to compensate for MFP over-inflating the actual burn.

(MFP also doesn't take into account how much effort you actually put into the exercise as well... some days I give Jillian my all and end the session covered in sweat, panting curses at the TV... other days I'm more relaxed and give it less effort, so obviously I don't burn as much on those days. But the circuit training line still has the same amount of calories when the time is entered because it doesn't know that.)

If you really want to get a more accurate reading, you might want to check out the fitness trackers. There are a variety of options now, from the basic/cheap to the fancy/high tech ones. I have a wrist tracker and just leave it on, and it calculates everything but strength training for me and syncs it to MFP.

Edit: Also with the 30 Day Shred, some of those minutes are just light stretching, so I usually do something like 22 minutes of Circuit, an 2-3 minutes of mild stretching.

 

[minties]

I did my own warm up so it ended up 25 minutes of total activity. And yes I was pretty hot and tired by the end haha!

I'm not eating any more food, I am not even eating half the amount MFP wants me to.

I'll go check out the forum, cheers!

 

[Caite]

Silly question, but are you sure you're working in the same unit of energy? Are they telling you've burnt off so many KJ and then you're eating so many (k)cal?

 

[seoj]

Like mentioned- could be both? I actually googled the "average" calories burned for each excercise I was doing- and then I bought a HR monitor that displays calories burned to compare. And tbh- the monitor was kind of a waste of money! As it was well within what I found on google! LOL. Even found sites that went by my weight/height/age... to average it all out.

In time, you'll find what setting on your app works for you. To maintain- I have mine set for 1/2lb loss each week- as there are days I go over or under... so it averages out and I maintain very easily this way. Plus- I can be under for a few days, then feel Ok when I do eat a bit more on the weekends. As your overall week counts more than just day to day- but it all factors of course

I do think my loseit app is pretty accurate- I've noticed it's more accurate than the machines I've used... those tend to be on the high side. If only they were right! LOL. Then I'd burn much more than I thought

 

[minties]

Silly question, but are you sure you're working in the same unit of energy? Are they telling you've burnt off so many KJ and then you're eating so many (k)cal?

It is all in kJ and tells me that if I have burnt, say, 500kJ exercising, then I can eat that many more and it adds it to my daily total kJ goal. The goal is set to about 5100kj (1218 cal), MFP set that itself. I am averaging 3000kj per day.

To the other poster, half a pound would be pretty sad (for me, not anyone else!). I have a lot to lose. I am aiming for 2kg a week. I think that is about 4.4lbs. I have to drop this weight quickly else I'm afraid I'm going to die shortly. At least for the first 20kg anyway and I'll relax a bit more from there. I only started MFP last Sunday but have managed a loss of 5kg (10-11lbs?) in 18 daya.