How accurate are treadmills?

jwrnjjp

When I log in my cardio on MFP it gives me less calories than what my treadmill says. Today my treadmill said I burned 430 calories, but here is much less.

jrich1

only thing accurate are HRMs, the rest are just guesses

ProTFitness

ITs an average may be higher or lower. HR monitor is the mosr accurate

Amarillo_NDN

If you enter your correct age and weight, and use the pulse sensors, it will be close. As for MFP, I never rely on it's accuracy, I always input my own.

But bottom line is, nothing will ever give you 100%, body bugs are close but everything is math and can vary between one person and another.

My best advice is to just stick with the same thing and go with it. As long as you lose weight don't sweat the small stuff. *wink*

Beth720

Well, given that I've discovered I can run FASTER than the treadmill says (and pretty regularly do according to my Garmin), I would have trouble trusting the accuracy on a treadmill for anything!

pauldbarnhart

I'm with Amarillo on this one -- don't worry about the actual numbers. Use them solely as a guide to compare what you did today to what you did yesterday.

The key is that you are getting exercise. If you're losing weight and shaping up, it's fine (even if the numbers are way off). If you're not losing weight or shaping up, then you probably need to do more than the numbers tell you to.