We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!
Calories Burned: Which is it?

amersmanders
Posts: 118 Member
Still struggling with how to determine how many calories were burned during exercise.
The Elliptical machine says 172, Nike+ says 230, MFP says 330.
Used intervals circuit, avg. 3.5 mph on level 5, bp 154, Matrix brand elliptical machine at Snap Fitness.
I weighed in at 192, which is what I set the machine at. I decided to go with the Nike+ results since it was in the middle, and I don't want to give myself too many calories burned and then end up over eating, but I would really like to know what the MFP amount is based on and which of the three calorie burn amounts is most accurate, and how to determine that.
EDIT: I don't need an exact number obviously, since everything is an estimate anyway, I just want to be in the right ball park, especially since reports show that people tend to overestimate how much they pushed themselves, and therefore how many calories were actually burned.
The Elliptical machine says 172, Nike+ says 230, MFP says 330.
Used intervals circuit, avg. 3.5 mph on level 5, bp 154, Matrix brand elliptical machine at Snap Fitness.
I weighed in at 192, which is what I set the machine at. I decided to go with the Nike+ results since it was in the middle, and I don't want to give myself too many calories burned and then end up over eating, but I would really like to know what the MFP amount is based on and which of the three calorie burn amounts is most accurate, and how to determine that.
EDIT: I don't need an exact number obviously, since everything is an estimate anyway, I just want to be in the right ball park, especially since reports show that people tend to overestimate how much they pushed themselves, and therefore how many calories were actually burned.
0
Replies
-
I would average them all together. The machine has approximately 20% margin of error, I'm not sure about the other two. Heart Rate Monitors are obviously the safest bet since they are strapped right to you, but yeah.. I personally would take an average and call it a day0
-
The best way to get closer to a true estimate is a HRM. I am not sure how nike+ works... the cardio machines, in my experience as usually 30-40 % too high. I do find, however, when I use runkeeper that the calories that gives me is fairly close to my HRM.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 394.6K Introduce Yourself
- 44K Getting Started
- 260.5K Health and Weight Loss
- 176.1K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.7K Fitness and Exercise
- 444 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153.1K Motivation and Support
- 8.1K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 4.1K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 1.3K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.8K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions