How do I actually know the amount of calories I burned?

goldenvulture
goldenvulture Posts: 22
in Fitness and Exercise
Without a HRM, because I'm a poor high school student moving on to be an even poor-er college student. Apparently, the calories that a machine says you burn are WAY off. By how much? If I'm on a machine for an hour, with high speeds and a medium level of resistance, and it says I burned ~750 cals, how many did I actually burn?

I would just like to know your opinion so I don't end up over/under eating. I like being as precise as possible...

Replies

  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Trial and error. :smile:

    If you're getting the results you want, the calorie burns are close enough to accurate. If you're not, adjust until you are getting the results you want.
  • Andrea8985
    Andrea8985 Posts: 107
    I google to get an idea if I'm not sure. My treadmill says I burn 77 calories for 30 minutes at 3mph. I google and the numbers are closer to what MFP says, so that's what I go with.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Trial and error. :smile:

    If you're getting the results you want, the calorie burns are close enough to accurate. If you're not, adjust until you are getting the results you want.

    Yup. I'd start with eating half or three quarters of them back. Then adjust as necessary after a month.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Trial and error. :smile:

    If you're getting the results you want, the calorie burns are close enough to accurate. If you're not, adjust until you are getting the results you want.

    Yup. I'd start with eating half or three quarters of them back. Then adjust as necessary after a month.

    This.

    Don't be fooled by the HRM thing - they aren't totally accurate either. The value of the HRM is highly overrated here.

    Look at it this way, people successfully lost weight before HRMs, and tons still do without them. My biggest advice is to be honest.
    I break it down this way - running - on average (so if you weigh less it would be a little under, more a little over) burns about 100 calories per mile. If you run about a 10 minute mile that's 600 calories. When MFP tells me I burned way more than that in a hour for something that wasnt as hard, I'm skeptical.

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