how accurate are calories burned on the machine

doliveresti

do you know how accurate the calories burned on the machine... i did an interval walk and variety's of incline range and it says i burned 510... that must have been messed up ... what do you think?

worldhurdler

I think every machine is different - I've found that running on a flat treadmill to be fairly accurate, but today discovered that the stationary bike showed 100 more calories than my HRM. Blarg. I could have eaten extra chocolate with that 100 calories...

curlyclo

Well it depends on a lot of factors - your weight, age, the intensity level the machine was set at, your heart-rate (what zones you were in), the brand of the machine, how long you exercised for.....

They are more likely to be accurate if you entered your weight/age into the machine and had it monitor your heart rate.

lindalee0315

Not very. In my experience, they can be nearly 100% off. I use the Cybex Arc Trainer once or twice a week: It says I burn between 1029-1171 calories. My HRM tells me I burn between 550-630 (for an hour). That's the most "off" a machine is for me, but usually it's around 30% off.

mkallie

Yeah - I've tried the machines with HRM and the Arc Trainer is definitely the farthest one off. Unfortuantely, before I got the HRM, I believed it... silly me. No wonder I wasn't losing much weight for a while.

SpaceMarkus

I have a bodybugg. Some machines I use are only 50cal off, others over 500.

GTOgirl1969

In my experience, they aren't very accurate unless you have the chance to enter in your height and weight. I've worn a heart rate monitor on various pieces of gym equipment, and found that most machine readings were at least 30% too high and sometimes even more.

Ilovedrinkingtea

According to my HRM this morning, I'd actually burned almost 50 more cals doing a 5km per hr walk for 15 minutes than what the machine was telling me, I was shocked that the difference was so big xx

maura5880

If you don't have a HRM & you're planning to eat back some exercise calories, I'd definitely figure that the machines are 30-40% off. That way you won't be overestimated your burn. I find that every single machine I use (which is pretty much all of them) is overestimating.

jecka31

Most machines are programmed for a 150-lb person. There are some that you can input your age and weight and these tend to be a little more accurate. I use a HRM and base my calorie burn on that.