treadmill calorie readings

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kabooky2
kabooky2 Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Can somebody tell me which is more accurate-the information that my treadmill tells me or general mfp information. I am confused on how many calories I am burning because my treadmill says a different amount than mfp for the same amount of walking.

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  • skankamaggot
    skankamaggot Posts: 146 Member
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    The treadmill will be more accurate IF you input your age/weight into the machine, however it still won't be as accurate as a HRM. My HRM reading and the treadmill readings are always 100~ calories or so off from eachother, and I find that the MFP calculation is always very high.
  • AmyMgetsfit
    AmyMgetsfit Posts: 636 Member
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    That is why I bought a HRM. I figured calculating my stats and heart rate, would be more accurate than a general calorie burn. It hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know how the readings differ.
  • lauramacaroni
    lauramacaroni Posts: 25 Member
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    The treadmill will be more accurate IF you input your age/weight into the machine, however it still won't be as accurate as a HRM. My HRM reading and the treadmill readings are always 100~ calories or so off from eachother, and I find that the MFP calculation is always very high.

    This is my experience with MFP as well - the calculations are very high.....Be careful with using them so you don't overestimate your burn.
  • drop_it_like_a_squat
    drop_it_like_a_squat Posts: 377 Member
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    MFP is always over estimating.
    I found out that the treadmill I use (Technogym) is super close to my HRM.
  • crazylesty07
    crazylesty07 Posts: 15
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    MFP calculations are often way off for me...I just bought a Polar heart rate monitor (HRM) to make sure I'm recording the correct amount of calories burned. I also had to manually change my "goals" for my macronutrient levels because it was WAY off. The treadmill will give you a more accurate read if you put your information into it, but still might be a bit off.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    The treadmill will be more accurate IF you input your age/weight into the machine, however it still won't be as accurate as a HRM. My HRM reading and the treadmill readings are always 100~ calories or so off from eachother, and I find that the MFP calculation is always very high.

    Wrong.

    HRMs are NOT miracle devices and they can be just as inaccurate as any other estimate. There is a known workload associated with walking/running, so as long as the treadmill allows you to enter your weight it will be as accurate as you can get.

    MFP is dead on for a lot of people, and way off for a lot of people. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which number you choose, you just have to figure otu which number (MFP, HRM, machine, some other website, etc) matches up best with how you estimate cals. If MFP overestimates cals burned, that's fine if you also overestimate cals eaten. Most people don't do that, but the point holds true... figure out which numbers result in feeling good and seeing progress and use those. It's all just an estimate, so worry less about the number and more about how you feel.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,583 Member
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    Neither. Get an HRM or just use 65% of the calories that either of them give you. The treadmill will be more accurate than MFP.
  • SaltWaterTaffy78
    SaltWaterTaffy78 Posts: 375 Member
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    I had the same problem. I noticed that my treadmill calories were lower than the MFP ones so since I don't have a HRM yet, I'm using my treadmill ones. I also noticed that my nike app on my cell gives me a different calorie reading as well, but only about 50-70 calories higher than my treadmill ones.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    I use this calculator http://42.195km.net/e/treadsim/

    Then I input however many minutes = the answer.

    For me it is something like an hour of brisk walking on a 2% incline= 600 using the calc and than I input 40 minutes into MFP to = that 600
  • SaltWaterTaffy78
    SaltWaterTaffy78 Posts: 375 Member
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    Thanks for the link, bgmgreg! Seems interesting. :happy:

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