Cardio Equip Calorie Counter issues

dunq13

So I am a huge fan of cardio equipment. I run on a treadmill, use the eliptical, the stair stepper, you name it. My issue is with the calorie counter. I've read numberous articles about cardio equipment inflating the calorie expenditure by around 30% (more or less). For as much as I feel like I worked my behind off, I doubt that I burned 700+ calories in 50 minutes on the eliptical today, for example. I've read similar articles about heart rate monitor accuracy and although I think they are MORE accurate (and will likely invest in one in the future), I don't have one right now...so I need a plan.

Since a part of the MFP plan is figuring how many calories you burn doing cardio and ensuring you eat those calories, I want to make sure I'm not eating TOO much due to overinflated machine readouts. My new plan is to take 25% off of the number the machine gives me and use that as my guide.

Anyone else have suggestions?

nel0311

help me out..so if mt treadmill said i burn 200 cals....how many did i really burn?

dogdaze

I agree I don't know how accurate the machine calorie counters are. When the machine asks for my weight prior to making a calculation, I can't help thinking it may be more accurately assessing my power and calories.. I wear a pedometer when walking or running and enter those calories (again, it is calibrated by my weight). I rarely eat all of my exercise calories and trust that the difference makes up for any inflated calorie expenditure.

Does anyone have experience of heart rate or activity monitors?? Are they worth the fuss and expense?? What is a good brand of HR monitor??

juliapurpletoes

For WHEN you do get around to getting a heart rate monitor, this MFP blog teaches what you need to know:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472


In the meantime....hmmmm, the elliptical I have actually reports over DOUBLE from my HRM! It doesn't ask me any personal info like height, weight, gender, max heart rate etc. Point being it is based off of some average and uses a vry broad algorythm to come up with the numbers it does. So for me, I'd only report and eat back about half of those calories....it's a real crap shoot though because we are all different and work at different intensities each time we work out......

If you can take a heart rate every 5 minutes or so, then figure an average heart rate for the exercise session, then you can plug it into a calculator like this one (it was pretty accurate for me):

http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

best of luck and get that HRM!

mcrowe1016

You can estimate how accurate the calories are by how healthy you are. I run in for 45 minutes on the treadmill and have a five minute cooldown. At the end of the 45 minutes, the treadmill says I burned 50 more calories more than my HRM, but by the end of the cooldown, my HRM has caught up to the treadmill.

Let me explain this. The treadmill knows my weight and age. So it thinks that a 200lb woman running should have her heart beating out of her chest, but my HRM knows that my heart rate stays around 160.

When I am cooling down, the treadmill expects my heartrate to be around 100, but because I worked out hard, my heart rate slowly falls to 130. So at this point, my HRM calculates a lot more calories burned.

So take that into account when looking at calories burned according to the equipment. I do suggest a HRM. They are awesome.

Queen_Christine

I have the same complaints and can't find absolute answers. My treadmill always gives me huge numbers so I cut it in half. My elliptical doesn't have a calorie counter so I use the MFP numbers. I know side by side treadmills of different brands give wildly different readings for the exact same workout.

In my mind there are way too many variables for accuracy. I like to ride my bike but I will never know how much I really burn - I know I work a lot harder on breezy days. I also have an old fashion single speed bike, so I would think I'm working harder on that than if I were on a multiple speed bike, going faster with less resistance in pedaling. Yet the MFP calculator gives higher calorie burn to the higher speed acquired. Anyway, I would love to hear answers to some of these scenarios.

Azdak

You can simplify things by not trying to be so precise.

To estimate calories burned per hour of exercise during steady-state aerobic workouts, multiply your body weight in KG by the following:

If your fitness level is low to moderate (e.g. a walking program): 3-4

If your fitness level is moderate (walking is too slow, can push an elliptical at a pretty good pace, zumba-type class): 5-6

If your fitness level is moderately high (running at 5 mph, doing more vigorous spin class, some P90X workouts done at a vigorous effort): 7-8


If you can run at least 9:30 per mile or sustain that same level of effort doing other aerobic exercise or machines: 9-11.

Again, that gives you calories per hour--multiply by fraction of an hour spent exercising (actual exercise minutes) to get workout calories. Those numbers should be close enough--you are never going to be more than 75%-80% accurate anyway and you shouldn't be eating back 100% of exercise calories so, again, precision is not necessary.

Or try a completely different approach: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/why-i-don-t-count-exercise-calories-114873

momocurti

I say get a HRM. totally worth the money. but make sure you get a decent one... I have a Polar and spent about $130 at walmart.com. I love it. Also, the cardio machines at the gym pick up the signal of your HR so the calorie count will be closer to what your hrm says. The machines are almost ALWAYS inflated compared to my hrm.

Good luck to ya!

Azdak

I say get a HRM. totally worth the money. but make sure you get a decent one... I have a Polar and spent about $130 at walmart.com. I love it. Also, the cardio machines at the gym pick up the signal of your HR so the calorie count will be closer to what your hrm says. The machines are almost ALWAYS inflated compared to my hrm.

Good luck to ya!

Gym machines pick up the heart beat transmissions from a chest strap and display HR on the consoles. The heart rate display comes from a separate Polar receiver module that is plugged into the console via a simple headphone-type jack. It has absolutely nothing to do with the machine calorie estimate display. Those calculations are programmed into the machine itself and are based on the actual workload being performed. Heart rate is irrelevant in that case.