How accurate are exercise machine displays?

naf2014

Hi everyone,
I've recently started using my stationary bike (took long enough!). I have gradually built up stamina to be able to use it for 55/60 minutes and am spending the majority of the time with it on highest resistance (8). Anyway, according to the bike I'm burning around 580 calories. That seems a lot, and I can't imagine I am, but does anyone know how much these estimates are usually out by?
Thank you

sijomial

There is no such thing as usual - can vary from comically bad (low or high) to the most accurate estimate possible.

I could hit those calories in that time easily, but I'm not you.

BrianSharpe

Any idea of how far you're pedaling in that time?

Like sjomial I can hit 600 cal in an hour of intense riding but without knowing how far / how fast it's all guesswork.

rsclause

I am not sure but I think you can use a heart rate monitor to calculate calorie burn to see if it is even close to accurate.

estherdragonbat

I use a Nordic track ski machine. It tells me that a 45-minute work out burns roughly 445 calories, which is around 10-15% below what MFP tells me. It's a basic machine that doesn't let me adjust tension; hand levers, foot boards, and an LCD display, pretty much. I log the machine calories, but generally try not to eat back more than half. So far, it's working for me.

naf2014

Thank you for the replies. When at highest resistance the display states I ride at a speed of 19.5 to fastest being 19.7km/h, and if I take it down to 6 then I'm riding st a speed of anything between 20.5 to 21.1km/h.
I will look into getting a heart rate monitor

mrspett323

Not accurate at all in my opinion. I have a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor that syncs with my gym equipment by displaying my heart rate without me having to grab the hand sensors. I did Cardio for 45 mins and my Polar said I burned close to 500 cals and the machine said something like 646. It's always way off and these are new machines so I never go by their numbers.Its always like 150 cals off compared to my Polar.

Sharon_C

The elliptical at my gym is pretty darn accurate if I input my age and weight. And it's roughly about 20% less than what MFP gives me. Through trial and error I've learned that most of MFP calorie burns are about 20% higher than what I actually burn. Of course that will vary per person.

sijomial

mrspett323 wrote: »

Not accurate at all in my opinion. I have a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor that syncs with my gym equipment by displaying my heart rate without me having to grab the hand sensors. I did Cardio for 45 mins and my Polar said I burned close to 500 cals and the machine said something like 646. It's always way off and these are new machines so I never go by their numbers.Its always like 150 cals off compared to my Polar.

And a very basic HRM like that could be miles out too.
When I was average fitness my FT7 would over-estimate by up to 20%.