Calories burned ? ? ?

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BabyBubbles31
BabyBubbles31 Posts: 35
in Health and Weight Loss
If you are not sure if the machines are counting calories burned correctly because of an older age does the automatic calorie count that shows up with the time on your exercise diary sufficient? I noticed that most of the time the machines I use are like half of what the calorie count burned is when I put the time into my exercise diary.... Anyone know the answer to that one? Does our weight and things we put in change the calories burned when doing exercise or is it just a set number for everyone?

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If you don't have an HRM go with the lowest of the estimates between MFP and the machine.
  • pupcamper
    pupcamper Posts: 415 Member
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    Could be effort! When I started out on the elliptical trainer at my gym the calorie count on it was always lower that the suggested count on MFP but now that I am getting fitter I burn more on the machine than on MFP suggests!
  • momma3sweetgirls
    momma3sweetgirls Posts: 743 Member
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    weight and height affect calories burned. If you don't input your height, age, weight on a machine, then I wouldn't trust what it says. My treadmill doesn't allow for such input and it overestimates calories burned (twice as many!). I do have an HRM and find that MFP is pretty close to what I get wearing it for most activities.
  • mleipe
    mleipe Posts: 54
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    It's my experience - see my recent post - that MFP typically tells me that I've burned twice as many calories as my heart rate monitor does, and the machines themselves (e.g. exercise bikes, ellipticals, etc.) tell me I've burned 50% more calories than the HRM does.

    So I recommend that you get yourself a heart rate monitor. If you're not able to do that, I'd say divide the calories that MFP says you've burned by two, just to be on the safe side, especially if you intend to "eat back" your exercise calories.
  • Gunff
    Gunff Posts: 47
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    I go a little under halfway between machine and MFP.

    When I'm on the elliptical it usually says i do about 12 calories per minute, where MFP gives more around 15.

    so in 25 minutes the machine is around 270. MFP at 375ish.

    When I used a website and entered all of my information and average heart rate it shows about 311. so I go with that.
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
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    I've no idea how accurate my wii fit and passive trainer bike is, but if I eat my calories according to the numbers they give me.. I'm finding I'm still managing to lose as long as my deficit is working out at somewhere between 400-600 cals.
  • rajivdubey
    rajivdubey Posts: 382 Member
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    You cannot get accuracy on MFP or any Machines! So one should keep a buffer of 20% both in calories consumed and calories burnt.

    That is to say-If your allowance is 1800 Calories, consumption of 1500 odd calories is not going to kill you!

    In terms of Calories Burnt-If you work out for 40 Minutes X 5 Times a week another 5 minutes/day is not going to hurt so bad!

    So in a nutshell, eat a little lesser and workout a little harder and you will see the results!!

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