Calories burned

hilaryferejohn

Hi All,

I'm sure this has been asked before....

If you use a machine at the gym that calculates calories burned, is that the figure you enter in when tracking exercise? I just started exercising, and tend to shave off some calories to play it safe. E.g., if I work out for 30 minutes on the elliptical and it says I burn 350 calories, I'll maybe record 200.

I don't record any calories for strength training, but I'll record the exercises/reps/weight I did.

Thanks!

dawnkitchen

Before I had a HRM, I was shaving calories like you're talking about just to make sure.

I got a HRM and contrary to everyone else that will tell you machines overestimate for them, they were actually *under* estimating for me. Different HRM will give you different numbers based on their program, but they will be more accurate than a machine that doesn't read your HR through the whole exercise time.

Good luck!

anubis609

If the machine bases burns off of weight input and preferably HR, I'd go with what the machine says. If it's just a general amount that it gives you without any prerequisite information, I'd go with what MFP states, since MFP does take into account your weight for calorie burns based on whatever type of exercise you do. Though, I don't believe MFP gives an accurate measure of resistance levels, specific to elliptical burns, since there are all kinds of elliptical machines.

Maybe you could look into getting a HRM in order to accurately track your calorie burn, if it's something allowable to your budget.

shells9973

I just posted the same question today. MFP tells me one thing, the machine tells me something else. I'm trusting the machine for now, till I get some sort of heart rate monitor.