Exercise database accurate??

mukamom

I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks

erickirb

MFP and machines are usually quite a bit off, usually over estimate the burn. The best estimate you can get would be one from a heat rate monitor (HRM). If you don't have that I would suggest just eating back 75% of the lower of the machine or MFP.

kmanwant2

Please dont rely on the exercise equipment to show how many calories you burned it is not and accurate depiction of your true calories burned. Most "Good" gym equipment has and average herat rate monitoring system or do what most do and get a heart rate monitor system and go to this site and it will calculate correctly based on your average heart rate http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx ,
you will notice a huge difference in what the machine says to what actually was lost.

oneIT

MFP has been off by alot for me, just depends ont he person. Get a HRM.

maru84

I honestly think that the calories on MFP are overestimated, so when I get a chance I'm going to figure out how many calories I actually burn at an activity, compare it to MFP, and I'll repost with the results.

MaximalLife

I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks

167 for 10 minutes sounds high.

You must take a few weeks to tweak your numbers of both calories burned and setting the correct BMR.

It's never an exact science.
And once you discover your zone, that's when the fun begins.
You are now in control!

whtlatina1214

I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks

cool pf there is a group for us lol
and well i do the elliptical BUT you do have to choose a setting i do either weight loss/ intervals/fat burn
and then it does show you ...
and yes the first time i stepped on that and an arc trainer lasted about 2 mins now im up to 45 on both machines
love love love it now lol and congrats on your join

ScarlettVamp

Honestly, it depends on how much effort you are putting into your workout. I have been doing low impact aerobics and the MFP database had me burning 232 calories in 32 minutes. I am now wearing an HRM and that same workout is actually burning 271 calories. Not a huge difference, but still a difference. I think MFP gives you a really good ballpark figure, especially considering that it can't tell if you are giving 110% in your workout. That being said, I would use the MFP database as an estimate and don't eat back all of your exercise calories. That way you know you aren't going over your daily calorie goal. :flowerforyou:

77tes

It is only an estimate, but so are the number of calories in lots of foods. But if I eat approximately "x" calories and burn approximately "y" calories, I will lose approximately 1 pound a week! That is approximately AWESOME!

scott091501

MFP has been off by alot for me, just depends ont he person. Get a HRM.

All fitness equipment and sites vastly over estimate calories burned. As far as HRMs, even Garmin will vastly overestimate.

For instance here is the scientific info pulled from Runner's World:

Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile ...........................Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
Running .75 x your weight (in lbs.)________ .63 x your weight
Walking .53 x your weight _______________.30 x your weight

Adapted from "Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running," Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.

badgerbadger1

I use this:

http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Since my HR is at or near MHR most of the time I'm on a treadmill or ARC.

ZyheeMoongazer

I use a lower end HRM that only gives average BPM and duration. Then use this formula in an excel spreadsheet to tell me calories burned.

For me MFP has been WAY over what this formula says. Today for example I used the elliptical for 30 mins. MFP said 400+, this formula said 264.

If you aren't good with math, don't let the formula scare you. Just enter it into Excel and it will do the work.

Formula

The Journal of Sports Sciences provides a calorie expenditure formula for each gender. Men use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) -- (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x Time / 4.184. Women use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) -- (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) -- 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.
Calculation

Let your age be 32 years and let your weight be 173 lbs. for this example. You're male and your average heart rate during a 37-minute exercise session was 133 bpm. Your calorie expenditure during this exercise session was [(32 x 0.2017) -- (173 x 0.09036) + (133 x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x 37 / 4.184 = 174 calories.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/221621-formula-for-calories-burned-during-exercise/#ixzz1je7nJSx1

ZyheeMoongazer

PS: Livestrong is a great website. Lots of good reading there and they provide scientific references.

mukamom

Thanks to all....

@kman I went to that site to figure out a better estimate of what I am burning, and it was wayyyy over-estimated. Thanks, I am going to that site for getting a more accurate number
@erickirb..That 75% was a damn good estimate of how many calories to eat back. I was really concerned I was eating too much back for the exercise I was doing.
@scott..the formula was very close to what the estimate was at the website that kman listed. Will keep that handy.

Thanks again for all of your input. Happy Monday!

rockerbabyy

I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks

i usually burn about 100 calories every 10 minutes on the elliptical, according to my heart rate monitor. its awesome since i usually spend about an hour on it!
*edit* just saw you got a lot of great answers