So confused on Calories Burned?

ThomasPM

I've been hitting the elliptical at the gym 4 to 5 days a week for 45 mins.
The Monitor on the elliptical says my calorie burn was 545 The heartbeat has me around 150 - 155
My Samsung Gear 3 watch has the same heartbeat but the calories burned Samsung is saying 835 for the workout.
My fitness pal says with me entering the info from my workout it is over 900 calories burned.
So what is the real truth on calorie burn?

tinkerbellang83

I'd go with logging 50% of what your Samsung Gear states for 4 weeks and see what your weight is doing. It's your real world results that will determine what the truth is.

If you are losing more weight than expected (the rate of loss you're set to in MFP) then eat more of them back, if you're losing less weight than expected then eat less of them back.

CarvedTones

I use the ARCTrainer, which is similar to the elliptical but seems more intense as far as resistance goes. Anyway, I am starting to have faith in this rule of thumb - 10 calories a minute on average is about the most I can do and it is really hard to do. Usually it will be less. So I start with that and back off. I did 45 minutes this morning, so I started with 450 and figured I was at maybe 80% and logged 360. I have given up on trying to get this exact. If I start to see a trend of gaining or losing weight, I will adjust my calorie goal instead of fiddling with the exercise.

sijomial

My guess is that none of them are the truth - even the lowest estimate would require a very good level of fitness.
The top two estimates sound ludicrously high, you would need to be an elite athlete to come close to that rate of burn.

At least the elliptical might be proportionate if not accurate, what data is it using to give you an estimate?
(Power? Weight?)

HR isn't at all accurate for estimating energy expenditure for many people, there's really large differences even amongst very fit people let alone between different levels of fitness.

The MFP estimate knows nothing about your actual workout intensity.

How far can you run in 45 minutes might be a guideline....

AnnPT77

ThomasPM wrote: »

I've been hitting the elliptical at the gym 4 to 5 days a week for 45 mins.
The Monitor on the elliptical says my calorie burn was 545 The heartbeat has me around 150 - 155
My Samsung Gear 3 watch has the same heartbeat but the calories burned Samsung is saying 835 for the workout.
My fitness pal says with me entering the info from my workout it is over 900 calories burned.
So what is the real truth on calorie burn?

There is no real truth we can measure, but I'm a believer in estimating consistently and adjusting based on results.

Is your goal weight loss?

I'd suggest consistently using the lowest estimate, and eating back 50% of that on top of your MFP-calculated base calories for 4-6 weeks, and seeing what your average weekly weight loss rate is. If the first two weeks differ dramatically from the ones that follow, throw out the first two when calculating the average. Most people should aim to lose no more than 1% of current body weight per week on average, and less than that when within around 50 pounds of goal weight.

After the initial 4-6 weeks, do the math to adjust your calorie goal (using the estimation that 1 pound = 3500 calories) to get a reasonable loss rate. Thereafter, adjust your calorie goal periodically (if you wish) to keep loss at a reasonable rate, as you will burn fewer calories daily (just living, and in exercise) as you get lighter.

If you start to feel weak or fatigued during the initial 4-6 weeks, that's a danger sign, so in that case eat a little more to feel better. Otherwise, try to stick it out in order to get good data, even if you think you're losing more slowly than you'd prefer. Patience is a good partner, in order to achieve insight.

Just my opinion.

mail3845

Hi guys - bit of a newbie here!

I’m 6’3” and 96kg male

I use my viavito sina cross trainer to exercise - and have told the machine my stats.

I put it on the most challenging setting and increase the load/resistance to maximum.

The program climbs from about 50% load to 100% then back down to 50%
I set the countdown on the machine to calories: 500
I complete this in about 10mins

However after reading some posts I’m concerned this isn’t accurate...

Does anyone know if it’s likely to be anywhere near what it claims?

I’m keeping under my net calories of 1680 every day - and during the week almost always under total calories even without exercise

I’m losing weight - about 4kg so far in a 3/4 weeks

cwolfman13

ThomasPM wrote: »

I've been hitting the elliptical at the gym 4 to 5 days a week for 45 mins.
The Monitor on the elliptical says my calorie burn was 545 The heartbeat has me around 150 - 155
My Samsung Gear 3 watch has the same heartbeat but the calories burned Samsung is saying 835 for the workout.
My fitness pal says with me entering the info from my workout it is over 900 calories burned.
So what is the real truth on calorie burn?

The real truth is that it's all estimation...be conservative. That said, I don't know anyone who can burn 800+ calories in 45 minutes...I would burn around 900 calories on a 30 mile bike ride, which is going to take me a couple of hours.

AnnPT77

mail3845 wrote: »

Hi guys - bit of a newbie here!

I’m 6’3” and 96kg male

I use my viavito sina cross trainer to exercise - and have told the machine my stats.

I put it on the most challenging setting and increase the load/resistance to maximum.

The program climbs from about 50% load to 100% then back down to 50%
I set the countdown on the machine to calories: 500
I complete this in about 10mins

However after reading some posts I’m concerned this isn’t accurate...

Does anyone know if it’s likely to be anywhere near what it claims?

I’m keeping under my net calories of 1680 every day - and during the week almost always under total calories even without exercise

I’m losing weight - about 4kg so far in a 3/4 weeks

500 calories in just 10 minutes? Highly, highly, highly unlikely, even if you're a fairly large person. But that may not matter, at your loss rate.

Exercises at high load increase heart rate via strain in a way that can cause calories to be over-estimated. (The classic example is weight training, which burns sadly few calories despite being well worth doing).

At 96kg (212-ish pounds), 4 kg in 4 weeks is a fairly aggressive loss rate, on the border of too aggressive for best health odds. Since you're not massively overweight now, I'd suggest slowing that down in order to minimize lean tissue loss - though if you just started, you may be seeing a big scale impact from descreased water retention and reduced average digestive system contents.

Starting on MFP as a 150-something-pound (68kg), 5'5" woman, age 59, I lost most of another 30ish pounds (of a total of 50+) in less than 6 months at 1400-1600 calories plus all of my (conservatively-estimated) exercise calories, so eating 1600-1900 gross calories most days. You're much larger, male, and probably younger. You burn more calories just being alive than I do.

Target a sensible (not excessive) loss rate for your size - for sure no more than 1% of bodyweight per week, and ideally less within 50 pounds of goal weight. Eat all of the calories MFP recomends, not less - it's already built in an allowance for weight loss. Use your results to adjust calories as needed. Getting the exercise calorie estimate spot-on is optional in that "experiment and adjust" context . . . but 500 calories in 10 minutes probably is a major overestimate.

mail3845

AnnPT77 wrote: »

mail3845 wrote: »

Hi guys - bit of a newbie here!

I’m 6’3” and 96kg male

I use my viavito sina cross trainer to exercise - and have told the machine my stats.

I put it on the most challenging setting and increase the load/resistance to maximum.

The program climbs from about 50% load to 100% then back down to 50%
I set the countdown on the machine to calories: 500
I complete this in about 10mins

However after reading some posts I’m concerned this isn’t accurate...

Does anyone know if it’s likely to be anywhere near what it claims?

I’m keeping under my net calories of 1680 every day - and during the week almost always under total calories even without exercise

I’m losing weight - about 4kg so far in a 3/4 weeks

500 calories in just 10 minutes? Highly, highly, highly unlikely, even if you're a fairly large person. But that may not matter, at your loss rate.

Exercises at high load increase heart rate via strain in a way that can cause calories to be over-estimated. (The classic example is weight training, which burns sadly few calories despite being well worth doing).

At 96kg (212-ish pounds), 4 kg in 4 weeks is a fairly aggressive loss rate, on the border of too aggressive for best health odds. Since you're not massively overweight now, I'd suggest slowing that down in order to minimize lean tissue loss - though if you just started, you may be seeing a big scale impact from descreased water retention and reduced average digestive system contents.

Starting on MFP as a 150-something-pound (68kg), 5'5" woman, age 59, I lost most of another 30ish pounds (of a total of 50+) in less than 6 months at 1400-1600 calories plus all of my (conservatively-estimated) exercise calories, so eating 1600-1900 gross calories most days. You're much larger, male, and probably younger. You burn more calories just being alive than I do.

Target a sensible (not excessive) loss rate for your size - for sure no more than 1% of bodyweight per week, and ideally less within 50 pounds of goal weight. Eat all of the calories MFP recomends, not less - it's already built in an allowance for weight loss. Use your results to adjust calories as needed. Getting the exercise calorie estimate spot-on is optional in that "experiment and adjust" context . . . but 500 calories in 10 minutes probably is a major overestimate.

Thanks - I thought as much - so just makes me wonder why the machine suggests this in the first place!
PS I'm 36. Thanks for the advice