Calories on exercise equipment different than on MFP

SarahLangley35

So, I just got a new elliptical and recumbent bike I was doing the recumbent bike and I worked out for 30 minutes on it, I was going a pretty fast speed and different intervals of resistance. The problem is, that the calories the bike says I burned and the calories MFP says I burn are a big difference apart, which one should I be going with? I did choose the "light" stationary bike option from the workouts even though I was pushing harder just because I don't want to over calculate calories burned but I wasn't expecting this much of a difference and I'm not sure why.

AvianDB

Both are probably incorrect, there’s not really a reliable way to measure exercise calories burned. If you need the number just go with the lower one to be safe, especially if you’re eating back exercise calories.

MikePTY

They both likely have issues but the machine is probably more accurate since it is based off the actual activity you did. On MFP it's just an estimate of your activity so what you did in reality is probably significantly different. A lot of people choose to eat back around 50-75% of their calories since a lot of time both the machine and MFP overestimate.

sijomial

Unless your recumbent is an outdoor bike the speed shown is an irrelevance, the real work done is a combination of your cadence and resistance.

Be cautious in assuming interval training burns more than steady state - often it's the opposite despite feeling harder.

Without knowing the numbers involved or anything about your fitness levels there aren't any clues to go on.

spiriteagle99

I have the same issue with my bike. I just take the lower number.

adotbaby

I think the calories on the machine tend to be higher. My treadmill is based on a 185 pound person, so I calculate my (lower) weight into that and adjust accordingly. I don't know what MFP bases the calories on, if it takes your actual weight or the weight of the original database entry. I use the machine entry, bc it's more accurate IMO.

cwolfman13

sarahertzberger wrote: »

So, I just got a new elliptical and recumbent bike I was doing the recumbent bike and I worked out for 30 minutes on it, I was going a pretty fast speed and different intervals of resistance. The problem is, that the calories the bike says I burned and the calories MFP says I burn are a big difference apart, which one should I be going with? I did choose the "light" stationary bike option from the workouts even though I was pushing harder just because I don't want to over calculate calories burned but I wasn't expecting this much of a difference and I'm not sure why.

Because outside of a lab and some very expensive testing equipment, it's all estimation.