Calories Burned, who's right

cujina

I've been going at it on my treadmill lately, but MFP says I burn about twice the calories on it through the exercise look up tool than my treadmill says I've burned in calories. I've been using my treadmill's calorie ticker, but then I started thinking - my treadmill has no idea how much I weigh, and I think depending on how much weight you're trudging around, that would impact the amount of calories you burn. Same time, MFP doesn't know how fast I'm going or at what incline, so it can't really know what I'm doing either. So, they're both wrong to some degree.. and if we were talking about 30-40 calories, then no big deal. But, in a 45min stint.. MFP has me at around 500 versus the 250 on my machine..

Any thoughts?

Also, I've found some beginner ab exercises - more or less leg lifts and crunches... but, modified for the "i don't have any abs left after four children" people... should I add this in to MFP? and how? Or just call it strength earned and not worry about tracking it.

I appreciate any guidance!

55in13

Go here:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm

plug in your vitals, 45 minutes and then look at all the values on the Walking tab. I am pretty sure 500 is really high.

susannamarie

I would go with the treadmill. If you find your weight loss is too rapid, you can re-evaluate.

Runhard13

You don't really burn cals doing ab work ..just strengthing muscles..you can log it but its hard to pin point and quantify

strongmindstrongbody

Go here:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm

plug in your vitals, 45 minutes and then look at all the values on the Walking tab. I am pretty sure 500 is really high.

Thanks for posting this site. Did a double take at a few of the activities listed. Like under the Walking tab, there's "to and from outhouse." LOL

strongmindstrongbody

I'm thinking MFP is overestimating my calories burned. I've upped my calorie intake and will try out not eating back exercise calories for a few weeks.

kganc001

I got a cheap HRM that measures my calories ($30 at Walmart) and it's relatively accurate. I plugged in my weight, height, etc. to the HRM and it's always much more accurate than my treadmill and CRAZY lower than the MFP guesses. I'd suggest the investment, since you can find a HRM relatively inexpensively and if you're really concerned about being on point with calories burned, it's a good tool.

ferocityturbine

I find it really difficult to estimate calories burned. I spend 40 mins on the elliptical each day. My machine gives me a 600cal burn, while MFP gives a 318cal estimate. I go with 400cal, as I'm certain it isn't anywhere near 600, but MFP doesn't know how high I have the resistance set. It's always best to err on the lower side and calories burned are notoriously overestimated.

Heart rate monitors give the most accurate estimate, but I ha ven't got around to investing in one yet. Maybe try a selection of online calculators and go with the average estimation...

sueclare38

A heart rate monitor gives better results, a 30 minute stint on the gym treadmill said I burnt 370, mfp says 282, my hrm said 260.

h9dlb

both are wrong - exercise machines vastly over estimate calories burned, take no account of your age, weight and fitness. Also if you're on a treadmill for an hour and the reading is 500 cals, the actual net calories burned are 420, because if you had been sat at home on the couch doing nothing instead, your body would have burned 80 calories just surviving

cujina

Thank you for all of your input! I do appreciate it!

ferocityturbine

If you know your average heart rate from the treadmill and don't have a heart rate monitor, you can use the heart rate calculator here:

http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

to estimate the burn. I'd love someone else's feedback on how accurate this is though!

Phrick

Go here:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm

plug in your vitals, 45 minutes and then look at all the values on the Walking tab. I am pretty sure 500 is really high.

I like that this site has a tab for "At The Gym" exercises. I didn't browse it thoroughly enough to know if treadmill walking is in there but elliptical is at various degrees of effort which could be helpful in the future. Definitely going to bookmark it, thanks!

acpgee

My typical workout is 65 minutes on the elliptical, targetting a heart rate of at least 140. I will sprint for 20 seconds whenever my heart rate is too low.

HRM: 540 cals
Machine (which knows my weight, resistance and speed): 780 cals
MFP (which knows nothing except my height and weight): 926 cals

I trust the HRM.

raingirl21

I take things like vollyball, hackysack, rock climbing and log in about a third of the time spent as MFP gives me a huge number of calories burned, which I know is unaccurate. I also try to only eat half my exercise back as it seems like MFP says I'm burning a lot. Just figure out what works best for you.

55in13

Go here:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_burned.htm

plug in your vitals, 45 minutes and then look at all the values on the Walking tab. I am pretty sure 500 is really high.

Thanks for posting this site. Did a double take at a few of the activities listed. Like under the Walking tab, there's "to and from outhouse." LOL

I saw that one also. I like how it lists a bunch of similar things to give you a range of data points.

Someone else posted this earlier and I am just spreading the love...

I did compare the running tab to some estimates I have from fairly thorough research and they were close. That's all you can ask for since exact is near impossible.

butterflycutie1

A heart rate monitor gives better results, a 30 minute stint on the gym treadmill said I burnt 370, mfp says 282, my hrm said 260.

I agree