Treadmill not found in the exercises database in MFP

bismillah111

How come the normal treadmill is not listed on this site? The closest one I found is the stair climber listed as "Stair-treadmill ergometer, general" here.

I do treadmill on a daily basis, and would really want it to be listed here. Can anyone help pls?

Thanks

Machka9

Do you run or walk?

Both running and walking are listed.

Deviette

You input the exercise you do on the treadmill.

If you run, you input running. If you walk, you input walking. If you do a combination of the two, well, you do a combination of the two.

The idea is that it doesn't matter if you're running on a treadmill or out on the street, if you're running the same pace, then it's the same exercise.

erikayblue

Machka9 wrote: »

Do you run or walk?

Both running and walking are listed.

running/walking on the treadmill does not burn the same number of calories as running/walking at the same speed on the ground. Not even close enough to use one for the other. When I walk on the ground at the same pace as compared to the treadmill, my body is way more stressed. The treadmill does part of the work for you. You're not propelling your own body weight in the same way.

To OP, I don't believe calorie burn estimates are all that accurate anyway so it might be a moot point. If you exercise regularly, I would just change your settings to show lightly active or active – whichever you think is the case rather than sedentary and that should adjust your calorie goals enough without having to input every time you exercise. Unless you are eating super low calorie it's unlikely that you need to add in any extra calories to compensate for the treadmill.

Exercise is amazing for your health – don't get me wrong. But as far as weight loss goes, diet is waaaaaay more important. And if you add in extra calories for every calorie you think you're burning at the gym, you may end up stalling yourself quite a bit. The calorie burn estimates here or especially on the machine itself can be way off.

kami3006

erikayblue wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Do you run or walk?

Both running and walking are listed.

running/walking on the treadmill does not burn the same number of calories as running/walking at the same speed on the ground. Not even close enough to use one for the other. When I walk on the ground at the same pace as compared to the treadmill, my body is way more stressed. The treadmill does part of the work for you. You're not propelling your own body weight in the same way.

To OP, I don't believe calorie burn estimates are all that accurate anyway so it might be a moot point. If you exercise regularly, I would just change your settings to show lightly active or active – whichever you think is the case rather than sedentary and that should adjust your calorie goals enough without having to input every time you exercise. Unless you are eating super low calorie it's unlikely that you need to add in any extra calories to compensate for the treadmill.
Exercise is amazing for your health – don't get me wrong. But as far as weight loss goes, diet is waaaaaay more important. And if you add in extra calories for every calorie you think you're burning at the gym, you may end up stalling yourself quite a bit. The calorie burn estimates here or especially on the machine itself can be way off.

Calories estimates are just that, estimates, but that's no reason to disregard them. MFP uses standard MET values and are a good starting point for most people. They're actually spot on for me.

Yes, diet is way more important for losing but the deficit is already built in to MFPs goals with the expectation to add in exercise. Using those calories, even if just a couple hundred, can make a difference in how a person feels, how they adhere to their plan, how they progress in their workouts, and in mood overall. There's no reason to ignore them. And, I wouldn't recommend just upping activity level to compensate because that will give more calories every day and if the person isn't working out every day, then they will be overeating.

OP, just use the appropriate corresponding workout to what you're doing on the treadmill. Start conservatively with the numbers if you want (ie. eat a portion of them) and evaluate after four weeks to see how you're doing and then adjust. Your actual data will be what's most accurate.

bismillah111

Thanks a lot everybody for your valuable input! Highly appreciated.

I walk on the tread mill at about 6.2 speed level for max 15 minutes and do elliptical for 5 -10 minutes as well every day, total cardio not exceeding 20 minutes a day as I am a beginner at the gym. I used to work out before but only aerobic dances and have started using the machines from this week only.

I will use walking in MFP now. Yes, I don’t eat back the calories I burn on the treadmill. Infact I think I don’t even eat the required calories as suggested by MFP.

Regards,

TavistockToad

bismillah111 wrote: »

Thanks a lot everybody for your valuable input! Highly appreciated.

I walk on the tread mill at about 6.2 speed level for max 15 minutes and do elliptical for 5 -10 minutes as well every day, total cardio not exceeding 20 minutes a day as I am a beginner at the gym. I used to work out before but only aerobic dances and have started using the machines from this week only.

I will use walking in MFP now. Yes, I don’t eat back the calories I burn on the treadmill. Infact I think I don’t even eat the required calories as suggested by MFP.

Regards,

Why, when MFP gives you a calorie goal and explicitly tells you to eat back exercise cals, would you follow neither?

bismillah111

I would really want to eat the prescribed amount of calories, however I am not too sure as I estimate the weights of the foods I eat. Also, I get full with the current volume of food I am taking, so i don't eat after I get full.

Machka9

bismillah111 wrote: »

I would really want to eat the prescribed amount of calories, however I am not too sure as I estimate the weights of the foods I eat. Also, I get full with the current volume of food I am taking, so i don't eat after I get full.

Buy a food scale. Take the guesswork out of it.

bismillah111

I will : ) Thanks!

Running2Fit

erikayblue wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

Do you run or walk?

Both running and walking are listed.

running/walking on the treadmill does not burn the same number of calories as running/walking at the same speed on the ground. Not even close enough to use one for the other. When I walk on the ground at the same pace as compared to the treadmill, my body is way more stressed. The treadmill does part of the work for you. You're not propelling your own body weight in the same way.

To OP, I don't believe calorie burn estimates are all that accurate anyway so it might be a moot point. If you exercise regularly, I would just change your settings to show lightly active or active – whichever you think is the case rather than sedentary and that should adjust your calorie goals enough without having to input every time you exercise. Unless you are eating super low calorie it's unlikely that you need to add in any extra calories to compensate for the treadmill.

Exercise is amazing for your health – don't get me wrong. But as far as weight loss goes, diet is waaaaaay more important. And if you add in extra calories for every calorie you think you're burning at the gym, you may end up stalling yourself quite a bit. The calorie burn estimates here or especially on the machine itself can be way off.

It’s only a 3-7% difference. I burned around 400 calories on my run yesterday. Accounting for the treadmill vs outdoor difference that’s only a 12-28 calorie difference. Hardly enough to say they aren’t close enough to say you can’t use the same entry for them. And if you bump the incline up to 1% there is not a difference.

Obviously the longer a run becomes, the bigger the difference but you do really have to get up there in calories burned for it to start making a big difference.

bismillah111

I think i will stick to the elliptical rather than the treadmill, i feel i am putting more effort on the elliptical than the treadmill (even at speed 6.2!)