Calorie counter watches vs treadmill readouts

Boredboytn
Boredboytn Posts: 40
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, I thought I would be smart and buy one of those watches that shows the heart rate plus the calories you supposedly burn by doing whatever you do throughout the day. I thought this would help me a lot because I am one of these people who like to know how many calories he is burning, especially at the gym. I like to look at the counter and thing "Well, there went the Subway sub I just ate.".. it helps me focus.

I got to the gym today thinking I would test this new calorie counting watch out.. something isn't right. Either the treadmill is lying to me or the watch is.

Final calorie burning total on the treadmill = 854
Final calorie burning total on the watch = 510

Hm..

Just to throw out some more info. I was on the treadmill for 1 hour, with an incline of 7.5 and a speed of 4.0.

I'm not sure which one to believe now. All the websites I have looked at say in order to truly know how many calories you burn, you have to put in your weight because the more you weigh, the more calories you burn.. the treadmill does ask for my weight.. the watch did not.

So.. I ask every one here. Should I go by the watch, or what the treadmill says?

Replies

  • HawkeyeGuy
    HawkeyeGuy Posts: 183
    Go by the lower of the two...if you're in a weight reduction phase, err on the side of conservatism. Regardless, the machines typically overestimate (more people use machines that tell them they're doing more work with less perceived exertion).
  • EDBENAGLIO
    EDBENAGLIO Posts: 424
    DID YOU GET ONE WITH A CHEST STRAP
  • FaeFae
    FaeFae Posts: 243 Member
    I go by my watch!!! my watch tends to read about 100 calories lower than the machine. Although my watch asked for my weight, height birthday etc......
  • davidmsheppard
    davidmsheppard Posts: 17
    Yes I have suffered this also. It is a bit depressing. The longer I work with mine, the closer they get, but I suspect they are both estimates!
  • dp1228
    dp1228 Posts: 439 Member
    if you got an hrm with a chest strap then its more then likely spot on. machines at the gym are notorious for overestimating the calories burned. the machines generalize what a person of the weight you enter is SUPPOSED to burn while the hrm is customed to YOUR body.
  • Boredboytn
    Boredboytn Posts: 40
    Thanks everyone. I was hoping I would hear GO WITH THE TREADMILL lol.. because it is always higher but I will go with the watch. I suppose that would be the smarter thing to do.
  • HawkeyeGuy
    HawkeyeGuy Posts: 183
    There's just no way for any of these HRM's to be extremely accurate based on how they operate and the lack of variables entered. For instance, a 200 lbs. person with 10% BF vs. a 200 lbs. person with 50% BF will 'look' the same to either device, but the person with the 10% may actually have a much higher V02 max, all the while showing a lower average HR...but burning a considerable amount more calories, while the HRM's would report it opposite. Make sense?
  • davidmsheppard
    davidmsheppard Posts: 17
    The Polar Heart Rate Monitor is a bit more subtle than that, apparently it uses information about the resting variation of your heart rate to calculate your fitness, which it plugs into its algorithm. Similarly when you start training it looks at the way your heart rate varies and makes similar calculations and also updates your training zone. I agree I suspect it's not precise, but it is clever.
  • andreasoulcastle
    andreasoulcastle Posts: 478 Member
    weird I have a watch with a chest strap and I usually come over as burning more calories than the machine I am on. I agree that the watch with the chest strap is cleverer than the machine.
  • LindieAndie
    LindieAndie Posts: 45
    I think typically those watches asks your age and weight too. Might be time to invest in a new one? You can buy them pretty cheap on eBay.
  • Boredboytn
    Boredboytn Posts: 40
    Yeah, I am going to either get one that asks my weight or just kind of go by the machine as a rough idea of how many calories I have burned. There is no way this watch is giving me the right amount without it knowing my weight and it didn't have me input my weight so.. I'm returning it today or soon.

    I did cheat today, I told myself I was only going to weigh once a week but I wasn't exactly happy the last time I weighed (only lost 2 lbs) so I weighed again this morning and I have actually lost 5 lbs (including the 2 from Friday morning) BUT, I'm not going to put that on here yet, not until next Friday.

    So, the extra weight loss has made me feel better about it but still, I am a little bummed at the watch being 300 calories below the machine :(
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