Exercise machines (treadmills, ellipticals, etc.... Are the calories accurate

NatashaCrnjacBoyce
NatashaCrnjacBoyce Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm sure this has probably been brought up many times in conversations prior but still throwing it out there. I'm trying to push my cardio up everyday and it's kinda hard to believe if I'm really burning the among of Calories the machines are showing. Just want to hear others opinions on this matter? Thanks guys!!!

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,558 Member
    Not usually, no. They're usually rather optimistic.

    That's why many suggest that we eat only half of our exercise calories back.
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  • Tblackdogs
    Tblackdogs Posts: 325 Member
    I would say definitely not. I'm not sure how accurate the ones are where you can type in your stats but if you can't, then they're definitely just feeding your ego!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Maybe, maybe not. It'll be more accurate if it asks for your stats, but still not 100%.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    All my treadmill knows is my height so it can't be super accurate, but it's not hugely off. Its count is usually similar to what my Apple Watch gives me for total cals burned during the workout, but that includes my NEAT burn or whatever you call it, my active calories that I can eat back are less.
  • nicolefreese16
    nicolefreese16 Posts: 2 Member
    People say no but it's usually kind of close to what my Fitbit tells me based off my heart rate :)
  • phill_143
    phill_143 Posts: 64 Member
    I've been comparing the machine count with my fitbit out of interest and (even on machines where I'd entered my age/height/weight), the machine is about 30%-50% higher
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    Mine, I think, grossly underestimates. It told me I covered 7.5 miles at a moderate incline the other day but only burned 200 calories in an entire hour.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    tomteboda wrote: »
    Mine, I think, grossly underestimates. It told me I covered 7.5 miles at a moderate incline the other day but only burned 200 calories in an entire hour.

    That does seem pretty unlikely!
  • Madwife2009
    Madwife2009 Posts: 1,369 Member
    The ones at my gym overestimate hugely.

    For example, the stepper I use (having input my weight, it asks for no other details) gives me a burn of about 330 calories for 25 minutes.

    My HRM gives me 205 calories for 25 minutes.

    I don't think that either is particularly accurate.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Some are over, some are under some are fairly accurate, some are the most accurate you are going to get outside of a sports science lab.

    If they give you a power output reading there's a better chance they are somewhat accurate.

    After a while you will get an idea of what is reasonable for you for a certain perceived effort - then you can spot the outliers.

    BTW - the accuracy of your food logging has a far greater impact on your calorie balance than the accuracy of your exercise estimates.

  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    I've looked at it a few times and the value on the cross-trainer at my gym was considerably lower than what MFP gave me as additional calories to eat. I only eat 'some' of my exercise calories to offset the inaccuracy, but anomalies like that make it harder to keep tabs on my net calories on MFP.

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