Treadmill Calorie Count Accuracy?

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sdmcgowan
sdmcgowan Posts: 13
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all,

I was hoping to get some help figuring out if the calorie tracker on my treadmill is somewhat accurate or not. A heart rate monitor is not within my budget right now and I want to know if I'm anywhere near what the treadmill says.

I have the treadmill on #3 incline(not sure what % incline that is...). I start out walking at 3mph for 3 minutes, then start jogging at 4mph for 7 minutes. At the 10 minute mark I go up to 4.5 mpg, at 15 minutes 5mph, 20 minutes 5.5mph, and 25 minutes 6mph. At 30 minutes I go back down to 3mph for 3 minutes to start cooling down.

At the end of this I go just over 2.5 miles and the treadmill says I burn around 420 calories. I log in my diary 400 calories burned for it.

Anybody have a clue if this is somewhere near accurate given the workout I described? I'm not looking for 100% accuracy, but would like to know if it's close.

Thanks for any help on this,
Steven

Replies

  • cdavis1126
    cdavis1126 Posts: 301 Member
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    Take your total minutes, add a zero to the end and divide by 2. This gives you the approximate amount of calories burned.
  • rlsluvr
    rlsluvr Posts: 130
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    I read somewhere quite a while ago that the machine calories are off by about 10%... I'll see if I can find the artile.... and post here if I do....
  • mamacassi
    mamacassi Posts: 131
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    well i mean incline is a lot. I burn about 700 in 83 mins on 3 mph. or more. I forget, but that's a 7-8 incline.
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    You can't rely on the machines. How hard your heart works determines how many calories you burn. So even though you might put your hands on the heart-rate sensors the entire time you're on there, it still doesn't have all the info it needs to determine accurately. The machines don't take into account sex, age... I recently bought a heart-rate monitor, and even though my heart-rate is communicated to the machine, it stills figures out how many calories I burned differently. The machine over-inflates calories burned for me anywhere in the the range of 10-30% more. You can rely on what it tells you, but I would do it loosely. If you can, get a heart-rate monitor with a chest strap...that's the most accurate way to know.
  • Supermel
    Supermel Posts: 612 Member
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    I find that ours is accurate. I've never checked with a heart monitor but anywhere (Weight watchers online and here) that i've cross checked the amount of time and effort its coming up with a simliar #. I may ask for a heart monitor for my birthday to double check it. I think ours is close anyway.
  • sdmcgowan
    sdmcgowan Posts: 13
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    I had room on my credit card, so I decided to go ahead and get a heart rate monitor. I just got in inexpensive one at Walmart. The brand is Sportline model SX. It cost 48 bucks. Has a chest strap and tracks calories. Couldn't beat the price and I can always upgrade down the line if I feel I need to.

    I was very surprised when I used it today. After a 35 minute run my treadmill said I burned 430 calories. The HRM said I burned 428! Pretty close after all! I'll keep using it to make sure it's accurate, but I feel much better knowing I can log in the right number of calories. I did log only 400 though just to be on the safe side....

    Thanks for all your responses everyone.

    Steven

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