Calories burned accuracy - HELP!

skyeashlee

Hi Everyone
Ive been using my elliptical trainer for years with my age, sex, weight and height recorded into the machine for accurate calories burned info.
Just got a Fitbit Charge HR and did my first work out whilst wearing the fitbit.
My elliptical said 650 cals burned doing 30mins (highest incline). My fitbit however says 238 cals burned which is apparently based off my heart rate and movement.
Im confused and worried that over all these years I've not been burning as much as I thought.
Can I get some info from anyone who would know which is more accurate?
Cheers
Skye

ValerieMartini2Olives

Do you honestly think you were burning 20 calories a minute on an elliptical?

janejellyroll

Unfortunately, exercise machines -- even those that allow you to enter your personal information -- are notorious for giving inflated calorie burn estimates. I have found that most exercise machines over-state my calorie burn by hundreds of calories (depending on the duration, intensity, and activity). I have been going with my Fitbit Charge HR burns and either losing or maintaining as expected -- if it was giving me too low of a number (that is, if I was burning 500 calories on my treadmill run instead of the 200ish that Fitbit gives me), I'd be losing more weight than expected.

So I would go with my Fitbit, not the equipment.

Ready2Rock206

FitBit sounds much more realistic - and even that seems high to me for just 30 minutes.

ScubaSteve1962

If you can check your heart rate chart to make sure your fit-bit was reading your heart rate the whole time, wrist based HRM are notorious for missing some heart beats when moving on your arms. Now not know how much energy you are exerting while doing the exercise it's hard know if the numbers are right. According to my activity monitor I burned 621 calories doing 65 mins of vigorous keeping my heart rate above 80% this is including my BMR, it's 521 w/o BMR.

Pawsforme

IME the Fitbit will be much more accurate. Much.

sijomial

My elliptical said 650 cals burned doing 30mins (highest incline).

For an hour, yes very possible. For 30 minutes I would be asking which year you won the Tour de France.

victoria_198

Talking of fitbits does anyone know whether i should still be manually entering my calories burnt at the gym if my fitness pal app is now synced with my fitbit to pick up my calorie burn on steps throughout the day? Im worried about thinking i have more surpless calories than i actually do ! Any advice appreciated!
Vicky

Asher_Ethan

I would definitely use your fit bit burn.

skyeashlee

Thanks for the replies. Through obvious change of lifestyle - eating better and counting calories plus using my elliptical trainer religiously, I managed to lose 30kg....it took alot of commitment and lonnng sessions on the elliptical , so I feel pretty disheartened by the potential false info given from it...

Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace which works out to be 20cals per minute....apparently...within 10-12mins am sweating and by the end am drenched...

So regular sessions would be:
30mins burn 650cal
42mins - 850cals
62mins - 1250cal
1hr40min - 2000-2050cals

I love my fitbit and of course want it to be most accurate but perhaps im in some kind of denial that the elliptical is substantially innacurate as I have been so loyal to it... it has been my core motivator and pushed me so far at times... well pretty much every day (

Any ideas on how I can experiment with the two to work out which is more true???

robertw486

skyeashlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Through obvious change of lifestyle - eating better and counting calories plus using my elliptical trainer religiously, I managed to lose 30kg....it took alot of commitment and lonnng sessions on the elliptical , so I feel pretty disheartened by the potential false info given from it...

Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace which works out to be 20cals per minute....apparently...within 10-12mins am sweating and by the end am drenched...

So regular sessions would be:
30mins burn 650cal
42mins - 850cals
62mins - 1250cal
1hr40min - 2000-2050cals

I love my fitbit and of course want it to be most accurate but perhaps im in some kind of denial that the elliptical is substantially innacurate as I have been so loyal to it... it has been my core motivator and pushed me so far at times... well pretty much every day (

Any ideas on how I can experiment with the two to work out which is more true???

Based on your photo and profile being reasonably up to date, and assuming you aren't a complete cardio monster, the elliptical is giving you inflated calorie burns. But without specifics of your size, how fit you are, and the specifics of the machine manufacturer, it's really impossible to say.

If the machine allows programming for weight, it may also require an HRM for accurate measurements of calories burned. Some will default based on assumptions without that, and some with hand grip HRMs will default if you don't use them frequently enough. Combine that with machines often calculating BMR, and error will exist.

Some manufacturers will have information on how their calorie burns are calculated, some don't have such info available. But in either case in this example I'd say the FitBit is likely much more accurate. We own a commercial grade Precor elliptical, and at 180 lbs I have to do about 5 miles or more an hour to burn 650 calories. Since the Fitbit would break down the BMR and exercise in difference readouts, the Fitbit burn for that would probably be in the 560-570 range. But since calories per minute would still rely somewhat on both weight and fitness, I'll tell you now that on our machine I'd bet that very few people my size would sustain 20 calories a minute for a half hour. Even 15 calories a minute is pretty taxing, I want to say in the range of 12 METs.

But get some information, do some math, and figure out which is best. Regardless of which is more accurate, if the elliptical helped you lose weight it still worked. I have done through the same process with apps and trying to find accurate exercise logging methods. And I'm still trying to find apps that are even close, as some are great at one thing but suck at others. I guess in that sense they are similar to HRMs and wearable devices of all sorts.

MeanderingMammal

skyeashlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Through obvious change of lifestyle - eating better and counting calories plus using my elliptical trainer religiously, I managed to lose 30kg....it took alot of commitment and lonnng sessions on the elliptical , so I feel pretty disheartened by the potential false info given from it...

So 1200 cals in an hour is unrealistic. For me that would be 2 hours of running, so covering about 13 miles. fwiw sweat isn't an indicator of calorie expenditure, merely temperature and if you're indoors then that's going to compound that. I'll be saturated after an hour on a turbo trainer, but pretty comfortable putting in the same effort out in the real.

Notwithstanding that, you've lost, which is the main thing. As your elliptihell is overestimating then that would suggest that you've got some error elsewhere that's compensating for that. Of course you haven't been explicit about whether you've been eating those calories back or not?

Any ideas on how I can experiment with the two to work out which is more true???

What is truth anyway?

ericGold15

Skyeashlee,
Before I answer your question, I want to say that I don't understand your angst: you are getting the results you want.

To answer your question:
If you can do an exercise session on a flight of stairs, it would be easy to check the FitBit.
Go up and up, or up and down for 10 minutes or so. Check you heart rate on the FitBit and manually when you finish the exercise

Measure the total height up in meters (height of one stair * number of stairs)
Multiply Height_up*9.8*Your_Weight_in_Kg = Joules of work
Multiply JoulesofWork * 5 (an estimate of body efficiency) = BodyWork
Divide BodyWork by 4184 = kCals expended

Compare this number to what the FitBit says. If both the energy calc and the heart rate numbers are close then believe the FitBit in the future.

Congrats on losing 30 Kg!

ScubaSteve1962

skyeashlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Through obvious change of lifestyle - eating better and counting calories plus using my elliptical trainer religiously, I managed to lose 30kg....it took alot of commitment and lonnng sessions on the elliptical , so I feel pretty disheartened by the potential false info given from it...

Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace which works out to be 20cals per minute....apparently...within 10-12mins am sweating and by the end am drenched...

So regular sessions would be:
30mins burn 650cal
42mins - 850cals
62mins - 1250cal
1hr40min - 2000-2050cals

I love my fitbit and of course want it to be most accurate but perhaps im in some kind of denial that the elliptical is substantially innacurate as I have been so loyal to it... it has been my core motivator and pushed me so far at times... well pretty much every day (

Any ideas on how I can experiment with the two to work out which is more true???

If you were getting the results you wanted before you got the fitbit, just keep doing what you've been doing.

ericGold15

"Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace ..."

Are these levels resistance to movement or the incline ?

ericGold15

sijomial wrote: »

My elliptical said 650 cals burned doing 30mins (highest incline).

For an hour, yes very possible. For 30 minutes I would be asking which year you won the Tour de France.

Funny, and not so far from the truth. 1300 kCal per hour is ~ 300 watts

Tour De France Performance

ScubaSteve1962

ericGold15 wrote: »

"Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace ..."

Are these levels resistance to movement or the incline ?

Resistance to movement if it has the handles.

skyeashlee

janejellyroll wrote: »

Unfortunately, exercise machines -- even those that allow you to enter your personal information -- are notorious for giving inflated calorie burn estimates. I have found that most exercise machines over-state my calorie burn by hundreds of calories (depending on the duration, intensity, and activity). I have been going with my Fitbit Charge HR burns and either losing or maintaining as expected -- if it was giving me too low of a number (that is, if I was burning 500 calories on my treadmill run instead of the 200ish that Fitbit gives me), I'd be losing more weight than expected.

So I would go with my Fitbit, not the equipment.

Thanks Jane. It is certainly true to some extent!

skyeashlee

ScubaSteve1962 wrote: »

If you can check your heart rate chart to make sure your fit-bit was reading your heart rate the whole time, wrist based HRM are notorious for missing some heart beats when moving on your arms. Now not know how much energy you are exerting while doing the exercise it's hard know if the numbers are right. According to my activity monitor I burned 621 calories doing 65 mins of vigorous keeping my heart rate above 80% this is including my BMR, it's 521 w/o BMR.

Hey Scuba Steve, thanks for your reply! Ive loved all the help/feedback/opinions!!
I took note of the heart rate monitor after the first workout using my fitbit and whatdyaknow….it doesn't constantly monitor the heart rate, it does lose track etc so in itself a little inconsistent with facts!
On the other note, I have since learnt to sync my fitbit with MFP and get similar results (that my x trainer was actually giving me initially!)…I've also learnt about different heart rate zones (fat burn, cardio, peak etc) and overall think the fitbit is going to help push me more on the elliptical (he he)….
It seems and in my relief , i am averaging 20cal per minute !
woot woot…either way and as you say, its given me massive results over the last few years so will keep up with it all!
All the best

skyeashlee

ericGold15 wrote: »

"Basically my elliptical has levels 1-16 , I always do it on level 16 at a fast pace ..."

Are these levels resistance to movement or the incline ?

Hi eric - it's resistance I strongly believe…don't quote me on it….

skyeashlee

victoria_198 wrote: »

Talking of fitbits does anyone know whether i should still be manually entering my calories burnt at the gym if my fitness pal app is now synced with my fitbit to pick up my calorie burn on steps throughout the day? Im worried about thinking i have more surpless calories than i actually do ! Any advice appreciated!
Vicky

Hi Vicky, Ive since discovered Fitbit have their own little community too! Prob good to point these kinda questions that way as they are actually familiar with the fitbit (rather than just opinion-ating their beliefs as such).
I have the cHARGE HR and can actually hold down the button to start a timer for workouts and simply hit the button again which finishes the workout…then i log into MFP which syncs all the info together and updates over to fitbit app too..hope that makes sense! Im still working it all out but very exciting much more indeoth than my garmin fit i had for the last year!!!

skyeashlee

sijomial wrote: »

My elliptical said 650 cals burned doing 30mins (highest incline).

For an hour, yes very possible. For 30 minutes I would be asking which year you won the Tour de France.

steroids?

skyeashlee

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

skyeashlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Through obvious change of lifestyle - eating better and counting calories plus using my elliptical trainer religiously, I managed to lose 30kg....it took alot of commitment and lonnng sessions on the elliptical , so I feel pretty disheartened by the potential false info given from it...

So 1200 cals in an hour is unrealistic. For me that would be 2 hours of running, so covering about 13 miles. fwiw sweat isn't an indicator of calorie expenditure, merely temperature and if you're indoors then that's going to compound that. I'll be saturated after an hour on a turbo trainer, but pretty comfortable putting in the same effort out in the real.

Notwithstanding that, you've lost, which is the main thing. As your elliptihell is overestimating then that would suggest that you've got some error elsewhere that's compensating for that. Of course you haven't been explicit about whether you've been eating those calories back or not?

Any ideas on how I can experiment with the two to work out which is more true???

What is truth anyway?

ericGold15 wrote: »

Skyeashlee,
Before I answer your question, I want to say that I don't understand your angst: you are getting the results you want.

To answer your question:
If you can do an exercise session on a flight of stairs, it would be easy to check the FitBit.
Go up and up, or up and down for 10 minutes or so. Check you heart rate on the FitBit and manually when you finish the exercise

Measure the total height up in meters (height of one stair * number of stairs)
Multiply Height_up*9.8*Your_Weight_in_Kg = Joules of work
Multiply JoulesofWork * 5 (an estimate of body efficiency) = BodyWork
Divide BodyWork by 4184 = kCals expended

Compare this number to what the FitBit says. If both the energy calc and the heart rate numbers are close then believe the FitBit in the future.

Congrats on losing 30 Kg!

Thank you so much !!

Working2BLean

It is terribly terribly wrong!!!!

I have a VivoSmart watch I used this morning that ports straight into MFP.

I rode for 67 minutes at 18.3 mph.

VivoSmart with HRM gave me 568 calorie burn it sent straight to MFP

My Garnin Edge 500 on the bike that uses the speed cadence and HRM was turned on for comparison. It gave me 608 calories

MFP Map My Ride was on using the same sensors and it gave me a whopping 1628 calories burnt

That is so wrong I would be gaining weight eating my calories back

Definitely do not blindly believe MFP calorie burn info

It is horribly wrong.

sijomial

skyeashlee wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

My elliptical said 650 cals burned doing 30mins (highest incline).

For an hour, yes very possible. For 30 minutes I would be asking which year you won the Tour de France.

steroids?

@skyeashlee
No. Nothing to do with PEDs.

Tour de France riders are genetically gifted freaks who have trained exceptionally hard for many years.
1300 / hour would equate to being one of a very few elite athletes.

My VO2 max ("fitness") would be rated excellent for a man in their late 30's but 829 cals is the most I've seen in an hour (measured with a power meter, 894 with a HRM).
Hence my disbelief at your machine's estimate of 650 in 30 minutes.

There's quite a few ways to calibrate yourself to get a ballpark figure of what you can realistically achieve with your current fitness level.

alyssagb1

ValerieMartini2Olives wrote: »

Do you honestly think you were burning 20 calories a minute on an elliptical?

That would be awesome. Just saying lol