Jurnal DrewsyVugs, 02 Apr 23

I wouldn’t recommend using any app for “calorie burn”. There are far too many variables for that to be accurate. This is from an article where the University of Stanford did on study using various popular trackers… “An evaluation of seven devices in a diverse group of 60 volunteers showed that six of the devices measured heart rate with an error rate of less than 5 percent. The team evaluated the Apple Watch, Basis Peak, Fitbit Surge, Microsoft Band, Mio Alpha 2, PulseOn and the Samsung Gear S2. Some devices were more accurate than others, and factors such as skin color and body mass index affected the measurements. In contrast, none of the seven devices measured energy expenditure accurately, the study found. Even the most accurate device was off by an average of 27 percent. And the least accurate was off by 93 percent.” The entire article can be found here: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html 

Thank you for that. Interesting article… but it doesn’t really apply to what I am thinking. Their argument is based on using heart rate to “miscalculate” calories burned. I don’t use any of those tools. So, my data is restricted to my weight, the number of steps, the time spent stepping, or my calculated speed. I crunched a bunch of my historical walks last night and came up with some reasonably consistent results. Limiting the data to those above parameters above, it would appear that Apple Health is fairly consistent with most universities that have published extensive studies on the topic. I buzzed around the Stanford site and came up with a link to this calculator https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-walking/ which restricts itself to those parameters. All that being said, I agree, the only real gauge of what we are doing is in monitoring our calorie intake, which can be done reasonably accurately, and the resulting two week trend at the scales. As a result, we either adjust your diet, and/or our exercise, while watching for that new trend. So, other than, for the most general sense, we can only ever speculate on calories burned. They are a shiny object with little meaning. And having said all that again, if I was going to recommend one app over the other, I would go with Apple Health over Fat Secret for the accuracy of calorie burn. The apple health is a much more conservative tool, thereby leaving you trying harder to meet those dietary goals which is where we should be focused. Sorry, this was a rabbit hole :( 

As with most things, if it’s working for you, keep at it! For most people though, tracking calories burned is not a recipe for success, as generally, a TDEE calculation encompasses energy out. It sounds like you’ve got a decent understanding of energy balance though, so may be less of an issue for you. For most, though, it’s is more effective to focus on calories in, what those calories are made of, some exercise, and of course the most important factor…consistency! Have a great Monday! Let’s get those goals together! 💪  

The thing that got me started with all this, was when I wrote my first post, just a week ago —> “Somebody Pinch Me…” because I had such a gap between Fat Secret’s estimated calorie burn and my reasonably accurate calorie intake — it was over a 1,000 calorie deficit and it left me with the impression that this is going to be easy. I knew better than that, therefore I did what I always do! I struggle in complexity with the answer until StomachMonkeys comes through with a proper realignment of my thinking. Thank you StomachMonkeys! You really do make an already quite exceptional site, an even better tool. You are a master of what I call the KISS principle —> Keep It Simple Socrates Thanks again to all for your support and a very warm welcome. I can be a handful at times, but, like everything else… I’m working on it :)