Are you overestimating the amount of calories you are burning during your workout?

According to a study conducted in Stanford University on calorie and exrcsie counting devices, Apple, Samsung and fitbit included, the step counters where accurate but the calorie counting ability has been completely overestimated. The researchers concluded that a 5% difference would be acceptable but a 27-96% had been observed between samples.

Calculating calories burned during exercise can be a tricky game, as many variables are needed to control for accuracy, including height/ weight/ current fitness levels/ diet/ intensity of exercise/ sex etc…

The obvious issues that many trainers/ trainees are seeing is alterations in daily calories in response to the “inaccurate” data received from the calorie counting device, which obviously leads to issues with motivation, results and measurements.

To combat this its important to note that unless you are enduring long bouts 1 ½ – 3hour training sessions for example long distance running/triathlon or Crossfit then according to a recent publication by the Mayo clinic, your weight loss goals should be controlled by diet “reducing calories is a much better predictor of weight loss than exercise alone”.

Like always it’s best to talk to an exercise and nutritional professional and leave the frustration and guesswork aside.

Why not drop us a mail to info@theedgegym.ie and we can get you started on your road to a happier and healthier you!