Are the calorie counter on treadmills accurate?

LeannaRoseJim

At my gym, like many others, the cardio machines have a calories burned setting on them. I was wondering how accurate they are?

CafeRacer808

Cardio machines at the gym are notoriously inaccurate and many say the same about MFP's exercise calorie estimates, which tend to be overestimated. Eating back 50-70% of your exercise calories helps compensate for this, which is why it's often recommended here.

The only way to accurately measure exercise calories is to get tested in a lab, where they will measure the amount of oxygen you're consuming while exercising. Everything else is just an estimate.

spiriteagle99

Unless the machine asks for your weight, it is assuming a 155 pound person. It also assumes that you are not using the handles at all. So for most people, it isn't going to be accurate. I just use the MFP numbers for walking or running at x mph, which underestimate the calorie burn in my case because they don't include incline. It's still just an estimate.

minsunho

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

Cardio machines at the gym are notoriously inaccurate

very true. Take them as estimates. Use them as motivation, as a general way to track your peogress, or forego the whole thing and focus on distance and time.

Azdak

If you don't use the handrails, are working on a commercial model at a gym, and are walking or incline walking at speeds less than 4.2 mph, then the calorie counters on treadmills are as accurate as any other method available. The equation used to estimate calories burned during walking is relatively simple and relatively accurate--it is easy to program into a treadmill. If you are someone with a higher-than-average heart rate, it will be much more accurate than an HRM.

Running is a different story in that both the biomechanics of treadmill running and the equation for estimating running calories are a little less accurate, but you will still be within 20% (overestimate) or so, which, again, is about as accurate as any other device. For other machines---esp elliptical trainers--it's a different story and there the numbers are often really off.

One of the best uses of the calorie counter on a treadmill (or other machine for that matter) is to track the total amount of aerobic work performed in a session. Since the machine is using a consistent method of counting and it is calculating continuously, you can compare workouts, even if you are constantly changing the workloads. Let's say you are doing a 45 min treadmill walk using a program that constantly changes elevation; and on a number of occasions you change the speed as well. How can you compare progress from one workout to another? Distance is not valid because the treadmill records distance according to speed, regardless of elevation. Heart rate doesn't work for too many reasons to list here. So if you burned 450 calories in one 45 min workout and 470 in the same amount of time a week later, that would indicate an improvement in your ability to sustain a higher effort.