Fitness Machine Calorie Counts

Gusman14

Are they correct? Are they close? As I was at the gym doing my workout on the elliptical trainer, my friend and I did the same workout. 5K at a 7.5 MPH pace at level 10. We ran side by side by side and my calories burnt were racking up nearly twice as fast. My question is, does the weight and age that you enter play into the calculations of what the machine tells you that you burnt in calories? I am about 15 years older and 140 pounds heavier. My heart rate was about 10 BPM less also. Any thoughts on this? I see that I burn a boatload of calories when I use the elliptical compared to other folks that use it and I am curious why.

Doodlewhopper

Are they correct? Are they close? As I was at the gym doing my workout on the elliptical trainer, my friend and I did the same workout. 5K at a 7.5 MPH pace at level 10. We ran side by side by side and my calories burnt were racking up nearly twice as fast. My question is, does the weight and age that you enter play into the calculations of what the machine tells you that you burnt in calories? I am about 15 years older and 140 pounds heavier. My heart rate was about 10 BPM less also. Any thoughts on this? I see that I burn a boatload of calories when I use the elliptical compared to other folks that use it and I am curious why.

Age and weight do make a difference.

As we get older our max hr lowers, so generally your hr would be less than that of a younger guy running the same speed. - http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/Target-Heart-Rates_UCM_434341_Article.jsp -

Also remember that a calorie is a unit of energy & it takes more energy to move 100 pounds than it does 50.

Re: the accuracy of the machines.- I use a HRM and calculate calories burned by average HR. ---http://www.calories-calculator.net/Calories_Burned_By_Heart_Rate.html--- I also use the Map My Run app on my Blackberry, and of course MFP.

All 3 give different values; though I find MFP & the HR/Cal calculator are fairly close (within 20 -100 cals). I average MFP & the Calculator and use that number for my cals burned.

Below are the past two days cals burned:

2/13/2013

MFP - 578
Calc - 554
Map - 422

2/15/2013

MFP - 757
Calc - 666
Map - 554