Calories burned on treadmill

hungrypotato
hungrypotato Posts: 1,642 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Everyday I do an hour of walking at 3 mph and an incline at 3.0.
It's a precor treadmill and I put my weight and age in it. I do not hold on ever.
I was wondering if the calories burned on the treadmill are accurate.
Also I don't see a walking 3 mph with incline in myfitnesspal.

Replies

  • jalara
    jalara Posts: 2,599 Member
    In order to know you need to have your heart rate measured. Otherwise, go by MFP and consider the rest of it a wash.
  • gbtesq
    gbtesq Posts: 84 Member
    You should invest in a heart rate monitor (HRM) for accuracy.
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
    On a high end machine like a Precor, with your stats entered into it, the calorie count is probably pretty accurate. I would go ahead and use the number the machine provides.
  • Moonlitedi
    Moonlitedi Posts: 94 Member
    If you want an accurate reading you should invest in a heart monitor to see how hard your heart is pumping. Then just create an exercise on MFP and add your numbers from the heart monitor. Good Luck!
  • Machdude
    Machdude Posts: 136 Member
    This is reasonably accurate.

    Step 1
    Know your speed, grade, weight and time spent exercising. Record this information on your scratch paper (Example: Speed 2.5 mph, Grade 2 percent, Weight 130 lbs., Time 30 minutes).
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    Step 2
    Convert units. Your speed needs to be in meters per minute. If your speed is in miles per hour, multiply it by 26.8 to find meters per minute (Example: 2.5 mph x 26.8 = 67 meters per minute). Percent grade needs to be written as a decimal (Example: 2 percent / 100 = .02). Your body weight should be converted into kilograms by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.2 (Example: 130 lbs. / 2.2 = 59.09 kg). Write the time that you spent exercising in minutes.
    Step 3
    Complete the equation. If your speed was 3.7 mph or less, use the walking formula: (0.1 x speed) + (1.8 x speed x grade) + 3.5. If your speed was faster than 3.7 mph, use the running equation: (0.2 x speed) + 0.9 x speed x grade) + 3.5. Insert your speed and grade from Step 2 into the correct formula [Example: (0.1 x 67 meters per minute) + (1.8 x 67 meters per minute x 0.02 grade) + 3.5].
    Step 4
    Calculate the results. Use your calculator to find how much oxygen you used. Multiply the numbers in parentheses first and then add those two answers with 3.5 [Example: (6.7) + (2.4) + 3.5 = 12.6 mL/kg/min].
    Step 5
    Calculate calories per minute. Multiply your oxygen used in Step 4 by your weight in kilograms. (Example: 12.6 mL/kg//min x 59.09 kg = 744.534 mL/min). Dividing this number by 200 will give you your caloric expenditure per minute (Example: 744.53 / 200 = 3.72 calories per minute).
    Step 6
    Calculate total calories used. Multiply your calories per minute by your minutes of exercise to find your total caloric expenditure (Example: 3.72 calories per minute x 30 minutes = 111.6 calories).


    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/34973-calculate-treadmill-calories/#ixzz28BpwdMs1
  • Masterdo
    Masterdo Posts: 331 Member
    Difficult to say. Probably not that reliable.

    Best bet would be to get a Heart Rate Monitor. Still an estimate, but a much better one. And you can use it for more than one activity, which is nice.

    Otherwise I would just log the 3 mph walk without caring too much about the incline. Walking calories on MFP are probably as accurate as anywhere else, it's literally the activity that has the most documented tested calorie burns around, so it's pretty safe. Whatever extra is burned would be just that, extra :p

    Good luck!
  • SomeoneSomeplace
    SomeoneSomeplace Posts: 1,094 Member
    In short they tend to overestimate GREATLY for example I used to be addicted to the elliptical because I thought I was burning 900 calories in an hour and it felt so easy. I thought Wow this is amazing burns so much more calories than running but takes half the effort. Turns out I was burning half the calories. When I got my HRM I found out I was only burning 350 or so an hour on the Elliptical. As for the treadmill the difference wasn't AS drastic but it was there normally off by about 15-20 percent. HRM's are worth the money and you can find them quite cheap. I LOVE mine. Oh yeah for the record I ALWAYS put in my height, and age and I normally put in 5 pounds less then I weighed in an attempt to make the calories more accurate but I still found the discretion
  • JustPeachy044
    JustPeachy044 Posts: 770 Member
    I was curious about this too and have a HRM. When I run, I generally go 4 to 6 mph, cycling lower to higher speed in that range. I wore the Polar HRM I own as well as the one with the treadmill. The Polar HRM I own gave me a 100 calorie lower reading for 45 minutes of exercise like this. I chose to trust the lower rate from my personal Polar HRM over the machine's reading.
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
    I use this site to estimate my calories:

    http://nutritionfirstfitness.com/tools.php?tool=running
  • Amy911Gray
    Amy911Gray Posts: 685 Member
    When I started on the elliptical machine, I took the calories burned from the machine and compared it to the results in MFP. I wasn't staying on the machine very long and the numbers were about 10 calories off.

    A couple of months ago, I increased the intensity of my workouts by striving to go faster and farther. The elliptical machine that I use counts calories burned by distance and time whereas MFP seems to just count calories burned by time which does not consider distance. I also check my heart rate on the machine and on my phone to make sure that the read outs are the same (I really hate spending money).

    Compare the numbers and use what works best for you!

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