Do you trust the calories burned from an Exercise machine???

oneallmama

I've been riding an Upright exercise bike for a year now, and have lost 21 pounds since I've been riding it. There are 16 pre programmed settings and I'm on level 14. By the end of my workout it says that I've burned 1100 calories but I keep telling myself that it's over estimating my burn. Is it actually possible to burn that many calories on an Upright exercise bike? My weightloss has stalled and I've been inputting that I burn 700 calories when I workout (not 1100) but I still think that 700 is too much. Oh, and it says that my wattage is 250... I don't know if that's overestimated either. I'm 5'3 and weigh 131 pounds and am trying to get in the low 120's. Thanks in advance for the input!

erincricket

I don't know how your machine measures up, but I've found that my HRM compared with my Nordic Track elliptical's calories results in a 33% to 50% difference in calories burned. The Nordic track vastly overestimates my burn. I think your estimation is on the high end at 700. With your weight stats, I don't think you're burning that much. I don't know how to tell you how much you're burning, these are only the estimates I use.

strong_curves

No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.

barryplumber

I have the same issue with the tread mills, i walk/run at 5 - 5.5 miles/hr for 40 min i do 3.5 to 3.75 miles it says i burnt 620 calories i log it but then don't weight training

MKEgal

Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
Heart rate monitors are better.
But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

oneallmama

strong_curves wrote: »

No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.

I ride the bike at almost the hardest setting for one hour and going at a pretty fast pace. I'm pretty frazzled lately though, my weightloss has stalled and my hair has been falling out
Badly for a year now and I've had two thyroid tests in that time span for the Drs to tell me that it's normal. The only logical thing I can think of right now is either I'm not eating enough or my body is reacting badly to the exercise.

oneallmama

MKEgal wrote: »

Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
Heart rate monitors are better.
But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

strong_curves

oneallmama wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
Heart rate monitors are better.
But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg

oneallmama

strong_curves wrote: »

oneallmama wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
Heart rate monitors are better.
But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg

Thanks for the video! I definitely need to invest in a scale. I think this would make a huge change for my food intake

999tigger

How far and how long ?

strong_curves

oneallmama wrote: »

strong_curves wrote: »

oneallmama wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
Heart rate monitors are better.
But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg

Thanks for the video! I definitely need to invest in a scale. I think this would make a huge change for my food intake

Food scales are pretty reasonably priced imo. You don't need to get a super duper fancy scale, most can be found for $10-$20 bucks. Get a food scale, log your foods as accurate as you can, give it a few weeks. Be as consistent as you can. This thread may help you also:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

atypicalsmith

Unless exercise machines ask me for my weight, height, and age, I don't trust them.

oneallmama

999tigger wrote: »

How far and how long ?

I ride for an hour but I'm not sure the mileage.

scottb81

700 doesn't sound unreasonable for an hour. But if your hair is falling out there is a problem. maybe too much exercise without recovery (i.e. exhaustion) or bad nutition.

oneallmama

scottb81 wrote: »

700 doesn't sound unreasonable for an hour. But if your hair is falling out there is a problem. maybe too much exercise without recovery (i.e. exhaustion) or bad nutition.

I'm thinking I'm lacking in protein and vitamins and have currently been taking a daily multivitamin to try and get my hair to stop falling out. I had been exercising six times a week really hard, then cut back to 5 and now I'm at three. If I don't stop losing my hair I may cut out exercise all together.

scottb81

You my just need a short break. If you take your resting heart rate each morning you can track your recovery each day. If its elevated about 10% above normal you need a rest day

oneallmama

scottb81 wrote: »

You my just need a short break. If you take your resting heart rate each morning you can track your recovery each day. If its elevated about 10% above normal you need a rest day

I'll try this out, thanks!

999tigger

oneallmama wrote: »

999tigger wrote: »

How far and how long ?

I ride for an hour but I'm not sure the mileage.

Knowing your speed or how far you traveled is important. There are plenty of cyclists in the fitness forums who can give you a better indication. The one thing you have against you is your weight as lighter people burn less calories. Some exercise machines are better at calculating than others.

I wouldnt trust the accuracy of your machine and as i cnat figure out how fast then i cnat even get a ballpark figure really. your 700 is closer than the 1100 and i be down maybe at 600 or 500 if you were being conservative. Obviously stationary bike burns less than a road boke because of different condition, but a lot depends on your weight as well as the time speed and distance traveled.

tomatoey

oneallmama wrote: »

strong_curves wrote: »

No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.

I ride the bike at almost the hardest setting for one hour and going at a pretty fast pace. I'm pretty frazzled lately though, my weightloss has stalled and my hair has been falling out
Badly for a year now and I've had two thyroid tests in that time span for the Drs to tell me that it's normal. The only logical thing I can think of right now is either I'm not eating enough or my body is reacting badly to the exercise.

Iron deficiency and some other hormonal disorders can cause that. Also, I've heard that those ranges for thyroid are somewhat in debate, that the tests ordered may be incomplete, also that people can be within the normal range yet be imbalanced for them.

Foamroller

Nope, you're probably not burning 700 (with the info you provided). I'm same height and a bit lighter. When doing Spin cycling at gym, I have to work REALLY hard for 450 kcal/55 mins class, measured with HRM. I'm talking intervals of heavy panting, unable to speak and an average of ca 85% of maxpulse. Try google physiological signs for exercise intensity. Might give you a better overview.

Re hair falling out. I had that too. It could be a number of reasons. In my case I was malnourished. Scrutinized my micronutrients, changed macros and now hair and nails are great! So I advise you to bring it up with doc or troubleshoot what you're missing in your diet. Good luck!

sijomial

Weight is pretty much irrelevant for stationary cycling (unless you are standing cycling) as it's not a weight bearing exercise.
Speed on a stationary bike is very unlikely to be an equivalent to outdoor cycling (many trainers take estiimated "speed" from pedal cadence which ignores gearing/resistance).
A good quality power meter equipped indoor trainer (Wattbike for example) can be very accurate for power and therefore calories but that's an expensive piece of kit.

You would have to be an extremely good cyclist to hit 250watts for an hour though so think your machine is inaccurate.

For perspective my mate who is a club record holder (441 miles in 24hrs) can manage about 260w for an hour.

For a more average but regular rider like me (100 mile cyclist) 600 cals is an easy workout, 750+ is a very hard workout for an hour. Think my max is about 870cals but that's to exhaustion.

markiend

When I started to doubt my burns, I halved them and then subtracted what I would have burned sitting at my pc for that exercise duration. So , if MFP or a machine tells you that you burned 600 for an hour, I would go for about 220.

I too started on a stationary exercise bike, it helped kickstart my weight loss, then I started paying a lot more attention to nutrition and got myself a food scale and a HRM .

Check with your Doc with regard to the hair falling out etc

sijomial

scottb81 wrote: »

You my just need a short break. If you take your resting heart rate each morning you can track your recovery each day. If its elevated about 10% above normal you need a rest day

Agree with this - would actually go a bit further. Take a "diet break". Spend some time eating at maintenance levels. Focus on good nutrition. Exercise moderately but not to excess or exhaustion. Be kind to your body - extreme exercise is hard on your body, prolonged calorie deficit is hard on your body. Not a great combination for health which should be paramount.

oneallmama

Thanks everyone for the very helpful advice! I've decided to keep my workouts at 3 times a week for an hour. And because the upright bike says that I'm burning 1,100 calories in an hour, I'm going to cut that way down and input 500 in as my burn or maybe even 450. I weigh 131 and am 5'3 and a lot of my weight I do believe is muscle. I really need to trim my belly down though which cycling is most likely not the answer. This weekend I'll be purchasing a food scale to weigh out everything I eat and will be making very nutritious foods for a while to see if it solves my hair loss. I've also started taking a multi vitamin every night for the past 4 days to see if that helps out with my hair... so we'll see! I'll keep you guys updated!