calories burned?

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GirlTenney
GirlTenney Posts: 33
in Fitness and Exercise
How accurate do you think the calories burned calculated on a machine equals upto the real number of calories burned?

I use a elliptical and it says I burned 1600 in approx. 72 minutes. The caloried totaled on this sites calc. is 900+ which is right and which should I go with? I have been just going with the sites number because its lower and its better to have burned more then i needed too right?


Laura

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  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    Its all over the map for me. I have a Heart Rate Monitor to tell me what I am burning and I have seen variances from the machines of 30-40% and as far as the website, its usually not even in the same ball park.
    If you want a realistic number you might have to get a HRM, Mine is a Polar Ft7 its arounf 90-100 bucks
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    the best way to estimate caloric burn is with a HRM. In the absence of one I would go with the lower number just to be safe.
  • missouri_rain
    missouri_rain Posts: 560 Member
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    I don't think even close.....I wear a HRM in the pool now because mfp was saying I was earning way over a thousand calories for treading water, when really it was 300 - 400
  • karinalynne
    karinalynne Posts: 8 Member
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    Hmm...calorie counts for machines are notoriously inaccurate, ESPECIALLY if they don't ask you your weight before you work out. But even if they do, I never trust them, and when I was training to become a personal trainer they advised us to make sure that our clients knew NOT to go by those numbers. I'm just flabbergasted that the machine told you 1600 cals in 72 minutes;;; there is NO WAY. Typically, women (between 120-175 pounds) burn between 9-12 calories/minute on elliptical machines. If you're doing intense intervals, this number will be slightly higher, but still. It would be nearly impossible to burn over 20 calories in a minute, especially not for such a prolonged time...our bodies just don't work that way. I would definitely go by MFP's calculations, but even take that with a grain of salt. It's definitely a good estimate, but the fact that MFP doesn't ask for your pace or resistance level tells you not to take that information to the bank. What I do is I look at the machine's estimate, I put it into MFP, and keep both of these numbers in my mind while I realistically think about how hard I was pushing myself and how hard I was sweating. I hope this helps! Congratulations on working out so hard for so long...72 minutes is INTENSE! All the best...K
  • GirlTenney
    GirlTenney Posts: 33
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    I dont know why I put 1600 I guess I was day dreaming haha! Actually it was around 1300 (still high right) I cant remember exactly. I usually do 30 minutes but The scale said I gained 5lbs over the weekend and all I did out of the usual was drink a little. So I have been trying to up my work outs and I am back down to what I was last week but my god I might kill myself trying. I did 62 minutes yesterday and I was going to do the double up hump day challenge and I just couldnt do 2 hrs. I put my good foot forward! I could have but I have a 4yr old and a 2 yr old so I just couldnt make it happen.
    I do try to keep the elliptical at a 10 which is as high as it will get. The lowest I go is to a 6 and I do that for 5 minutes then go back to 10. I am going to have to get a HRM. I would really like to know how many I am burning. I sweat pretty good... does that mean anything?

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