Calories on Machines

lyrical_melody

I am sure this has been asked before, but I can't find a thread for it yet....but how accurate is the calories lost calculated by the machines (stairs, elliptical, treadmill, etc.) when inputting height and weight? I realize the only true way to 100% know how many calories you are burning is by using a heart rate monitor, but I'm not able to purchase one at the moment...

eldamiano

Dont trust them with a bargepole... probably. Use the streets instead. Much better for you.

Sweetvirgo63

No matter which ones you use, those from websites or machines, they are all estimates based on body weight and height that you entered and they will all vary from one another. If you're using MFP daily, they recommend using the number displayed on the machine rather than the ones they provide.

TeaBea

Calorie burn estimates are based on height, weight, age, gender, exertion level, and more.

If you input several factors into the machine it's going to be a better estimate. MFP is also an estimate. For many things MFP's estimations are high. For that reason many people eat back just a portion of exercise calories 50-75%.

Heart rate monitors (with a chest strap) are going to give the best estimation for steady state cardio type workouts. Weight lifting, hiit, circuit training....not so much.

999tigger

Nope they are unreliable and id be wary of eating more than 50% of exercise calories back based on MFP estimates.

It also varies between machines and people often overestimate the intensity they exercise.

That said some exercise like wlaking and rowing are fairly well documented. You are still likely to burn off more calories the more you weigh though because you are moving more weight.

palwithme

I guess I disagree with the comments above. I burn about 1,600 calories a workout on the machines and when I calculate that, plus what I eat, each week I should lose between 2 and 3 pounds. This is what I am losing. So for me it is accurate enough. I wouldn't waste money on a heart rate monitor. Just work really hard and "stay in the moment" if you can.

leggup

A heart rate monitor on an elliptical isn't even accurate. It's really best when you're covering ground. My heart rate monitor won't calculate a calorie burn for stationary steady state cardio, like stationary bike, elliptical, or treadmill.

I find that runkeeper gives me really good estimates for steady state workouts like treadmill/elliptical/cycling. When I walk 1 mile in my neighborhood, I burn about 190 calories (Runkeeper + heart rate monitor). When I walk 1 mile on the elliptical (Runkeeper manual logging) it gives me about the same.