Burned Calorie Tracking???

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JessDetro
JessDetro Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
When I look at what the elliptical says vs what MFP says I've burned for a specific exercise, I question which one I should use? MFP always seems so much higher than the machine. Its not the in budget to buy the tracker (which i would love)... so I was wondering if anyone has any advice?

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  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Both are likely overestimates. MFP tends to give 20-50% higher burns and most cardio machines give around 30% higher burns. Unless you're doing something at a high intensity (like running) or you're super obese (which you're not), it's unlikely that you'll be burning more than 10 calories per minute.

    You can adjust the number when you input your burns though. Say you put in that you did 30 minutes on the elliptcal and MFP says you got 500 calories. You know that's probably wrong by about half so change the calorie amount to 250-300.

    Good luck!!
  • buzzardsrule
    buzzardsrule Posts: 183 Member
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    It was doing my head in trying to work out the most accurate way to calculate calorie burn so now when I run or walk on the treadmill I use the treadmill figure for calories burned. It's programmed with my age, gender, weight and height. I also wear a HRM with my Forerunner 305 for all my exercise and use an online calculator to get calories burned based on my average heart rate for anything other than the treadmill: http://www.calories-calculator.net/Calories_Burned_By_Heart_Rate.html. Calorie amounts tend to come up lower than on MFP but who knows what's accurate anyway. I know the HRM is not designed for cardio, HIIT and strength exercises but it works for me.

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