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treadmill VS mfp

LovelyLumos
LovelyLumos Posts: 44 Member
edited January 4 in Health and Weight Loss
so for some reason my treadmill always says i burned more then twice the amount of calories then mfp says and im conflicted and dont know who to trust? i always feel like i burn more then mfp says but then we all wish that right? so who's information can i trust? suggestions?

Replies

  • kellicci
    kellicci Posts: 409 Member
    Neither! HRM are the only way to really know. I'd say the treadmill estimates for me were about 25-30% over.
  • jmeyer925
    jmeyer925 Posts: 326 Member
    You'll get a lot of responses like mine, so I apologize. BUT, you should get a HRM that's going to give you the most accurate response.

    For example I used to elliptical at a good pace. In one hour I had the results of the elliptical saying I burned 850, MFP 702. Finally got a HRM and at that pace I was ACTUALLY burning about 450 calories!

    Can't really trust either the treadmill OR MFP. That's why "eating back calories" is kind of hit and miss for people sometimes.
  • ReinasWrath
    ReinasWrath Posts: 1,173 Member
    I'm too cheap to get a HRM so I go with the lower of the two choices.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Both the treadmills and MFP always over estimated mine, so I was grateful for my HRM purchase. The main problem with treadmills is that they are calibrated to be a rough average of anyone that gets on it. Meaning that it has to be viable for men and women, but women burn less then men do. So you enter your weight and age, but then it's going to give you a number that is somewhere in the middle of what a woman and a guy would burn.

    Also, think about it this way with a treadmill - if you turn it on, enter all the stats and info, set it to the speed and incline that you want, and then sat next to and read for an hour while the treadmill just went - would the readout still give a caloric burn? And would that burn have any relation to what you did during the time it was going?

    An HRM is still an estimate, but it's a much more accurate estimate since it's tied directly to all of your stats, including gender, and takes into account your actual effort exerted during the workout. For the overall benefit in the long run, the $60-$80 investment for a Polar HRM is a small price to pay.
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