Cardio machines are so inaccurate. Photo proof!
musiche
Posts: 214 Member
Well, there it is...
I got my BodyMedia armband a couple of months ago and I finally see how inflated the calorie burns are on cardio machines... After only half an hour it's more than 100 calories over my actual burn. The armband measures my caloric burn through a few different sensors and is considered to be the most accurate on the market with 95% accuracy.
My armband is feeding my calorie burn into my iPod (265 calories burned in 32 minutes) and the cross ramp (elliptical of sorts) is telling me I burned 376 calories.
Armbands are so worth it!
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Replies
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I just realized the same thing the other day. I finally got a great HRM and compared it to the machine...wow was it off!! The machine says i burn about 650 and my HRM days 400-425!!0
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I always tell people that, but I never realized how bad it was!0
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Always figured that, thanks for giving me more of a reason to invest in a HRM!
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I always tell people that, but I never realized how bad it was!
Every machine I've used (bike, elliptical, treadmill, crossramp...) is consistently at least 100 over after half an hour. The most accurate I've seen is my own personal treadmill, but it's still off by about 40 after half an hour.0 -
Why do you think the arm band one is the better number?
I hear this a lot but both are based on approximations. Is the armband more tunable to you?0 -
Always figured that, thanks for giving me more of a reason to invest in a HRM!
Just in case you you were wondering, the BodyMedia Fit armband is not a heart rate monitor. It's more accurate than that, but you can get a HR monitor that will work in conjunction with it. The armband is similar to a Fitbit if you've heard of that. It measures your skin temperature, and the electrical conductivity of your skin (which increases with activity), the rate of heat loss and it measure your movement (like a pedometer but it measures more than up and down movement). It logs my sleep patterns too, and efficiency. It logs it all using software on my smartphone and computer via bluetooth. It's by far the coolest weight loss gadget I've ever come across. Totally worth the money!0 -
Interesting...it is the other way for me; not by much but it is (I just got a polar T4). Are you entering your weight and age on the machine?0
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Why do you think the arm band one is the better number?
I hear this a lot but both are based on approximations. Is the armband more tunable to you?
Refer to my last reply about the armband and what/how it measures you. It's not a HR monitor (though I have one of those too, and they're still not very accurate).
The armband is 95% accurate and is considered to be the best tool on the market for measuring your REAL caloric burn down to the minute. The cardio machines are definitely 'approximate', as they don't gauge how hard my body is working, they just do simple math calculations based on "this many steps, weight, age... blablabla" whereas the armband is measuring real data (and three different methods of gathering data) taken right from my skin multiple times every second. :P0 -
Did you enter your weight into the machine? Its formula depends on weight. If you don't tell it your weight then it assumes an average person and thus can be off, low or high, depending on how much you weigh.
Well, there it is...
I got my BodyMedia armband a couple of months ago and I finally see how inflated the calorie burns are on cardio machines... After only half an hour it's more than 100 calories over my actual burn. The armband measures my caloric burn through a few different sensors and is considered to be the most accurate on the market with 95% accuracy.
My armband is feeding my calorie burn into my iPod (265 calories burned in 32 minutes) and the cross ramp (elliptical of sorts) is telling me I burned 376 calories.
Armbands are so worth it!
I've found that it also depends on brand. The Precors I've used mainly are pretty accurate in relation to a HRM.
Edit: Duh! The picture shows that it's a Precor. It also shows that its an elliptical machine. I've found that elliptical machines' calorie count isn't as accurate as other types of machines such as treadmills. The reason is that the motion can exaggerate variations in bio-mechanical efficiency.0 -
Interesting...it is the other way for me; not by much but it is (I just got a polar T4). Are you entering your weight and age on the machine?
Yep0 -
what real data?
body temperature?
Gps for distance moved?0 -
For the elliptical, for an hour the machine says about 600...my HRM says about 300. However, for the treadmill and the bike, my HRM always says about 100 more! 0
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Someone else asked this, but did you put your weight in?
Also, I always put 10-15 lbs under my actual weight to get a better approximation because I heard the inflation is so large. I rather do that then break the bank
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Always figured that, thanks for giving me more of a reason to invest in a HRM!
Just in case you you were wondering, the BodyMedia Fit armband is not a heart rate monitor. It's more accurate than that, but you can get a HR monitor that will work in conjunction with it. The armband is similar to a Fitbit if you've heard of that. It measures your skin temperature, and the electrical conductivity of your skin (which increases with activity), the rate of heat loss and it measure your movement (like a pedometer but it measures more than up and down movement). It logs my sleep patterns too, and efficiency. It logs it all using software on my smartphone and computer via bluetooth. It's by far the coolest weight loss gadget I've ever come across. Totally worth the money!
^ that data0 -
I've never believed the cardio machines. I've had them tell me I burned less than I actually did. They are just extremely inaccurate. I really want to get a body bugg or something along those lines.0
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BodyMedia said that they included a HR monitor originally, but found that the results were no more accurate with it than without it, and that the other three types of data collection were as accurate as it got. The HR monitor just made the armband bigger and clunkier so they left it out. If you really want the information, you can sync several different brands of HR monitors with the software too for a fourth way to measure your burn throughout the day.0
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they're all just estimations, whether it's your band or the machine. listen to your body and watch the scale.. you'll see where your calories are going.0
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I found today that the machine I used today had a way different calorie burn than the one right next to it on Sunday. Same intensity/level/ duration etc. And info was the same other than the 1 pound I lost as of Monday. go figure0
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I've never believed the cardio machines. I've had them tell me I burned less than I actually did. They are just extremely inaccurate. I really want to get a body bugg or something along those lines.
I wanted a bodybugg for the last 3 years, then someone told me about BodyMedia. I looked it up and couldn't resist. Jillian Michael's endorses it, instead of the bodybugg now. It's the most accurate one of its kind on the market. I absolutely love it!0 -
It's funny because the elliptical at the gym in my apartment building will tell you that you only burned 100 or so calories while doing it at moderate effort for 45 minutes!0
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I love my BodyMedia too
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they're all just estimations, whether it's your band or the machine. listen to your body and watch the scale.. you'll see where your calories are going.
Right... cuz we're all cookie cutter... I lost 80 pounds doing exactly what you just said. That doesn't work anymore for me. The scale didn't move for me with a 1000+ deficit that I didn't know I was running for months. I had adapted to a low calorie diet after months of living on it. I still never ate less than 1400 calories mind you. The scale has become my enemy, I want to lose fat, not 'weight', so the scale isn't useful anymore. I bought myself callipers, that's the way to go.
Information is the best weapon.0 -
On the elliptical, do you use your arms like your running, or do your keep them on the arm rests? Wondering if that is part of the issue?0
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they're all just estimations, whether it's your band or the machine. listen to your body and watch the scale.. you'll see where your calories are going.
I couldn't AGREE more................0 -
Where can you get one?0
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On the elliptical, do you use your arms like your running, or do your keep them on the arm rests? Wondering if that is part of the issue?
I put in a concrete effort, don't you worry. I am drenched by the end of the workout! Yes, I use my arms on the outer handles.0 -
Where can you get one?
I bought mine online. Just google BodyMedia Fit. I got the "Link" armband.0 -
Cool. Thanks, I was wondering cause I do elliptical on my non-lift days. Some days I use my arms, others I don't.On the elliptical, do you use your arms like your running, or do your keep them on the arm rests? Wondering if that is part of the issue?
I put in a concrete effort, don't you worry. I am drenched by the end of the workout! Yes, I use my arms on the outer handles.0 -
they're all just estimations, whether it's your band or the machine. listen to your body and watch the scale.. you'll see where your calories are going.
I couldn't AGREE more................
I couldn't agree LESS........
I was morbidly obese for the first 19 years of my life. Then I lost 80lbs pretty fast, then gained 60, then lost 60... My body is all screwed up, and for the most part, I don't eat enough anymore - and that's what feels natural to me now. It's not natural, it's adaptation, and my body has adapted to so many drastically different lifestyles, it's totally screwed up and I don't even know what normal was. I never had a chance to be normal (my ENTIRE family is super fat, diabetic, riddled with heart disease and early death), and I learned all the wrong things. I have been changing my life for me, but spending more than 75% of my life on the wrong path (and all of my childhood learning years) has left my body and mind in need of major repair.
There's an obesity epidemic out there that most people are aware of - that's because people are doing what comes naturally to them and it's making them fat. I never INTENDED on getting obese or unhealthy, but I was never taught differently, so I did what came naturally.
The biggest point: WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT and we all need different things. What you need and what works for you, is based on YOU. What WORKED for me no longer works for me, and what I need is based on ME.0 -
Cool. Thanks, I was wondering cause I do elliptical on my non-lift days. Some days I use my arms, others I don't.On the elliptical, do you use your arms like your running, or do your keep them on the arm rests? Wondering if that is part of the issue?
I put in a concrete effort, don't you worry. I am drenched by the end of the workout! Yes, I use my arms on the outer handles.
I do the elliptical on non-lift days too. It irks me that there are no real decent cardio workouts for arms, so sometimes I'll make the elliptical a more arm-focused workout and really push and pull with increased resistance and lower RPMs. I read somewhere that you get a better heart workout if you work your upper and lower body symbiotically because it forces your body to push blood through the upper and lower arteries causing it to work harder.0
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