eliptical calories

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I use the elliptical on a regular basis. I have never paid any attention to how many calories burned. Today I started journaling my fitness. The calorie counter on the elliptical says I burned 681, MFP says I burned 1123. Which is right? Thanks

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  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    If you search this topic on MFP, you'll see that the difference between "gym machine" calories and "MFP calories" is a recurring theme.

    What "gym machine" calories DON'T generally do is take into account your current body weight/ fitness level, so they use some "average" drawn from goodness knows where. MFP tries to do that to some extent by adjusting your calories burned by your age and weight. . . but that adjustment is also imperfect because MFP doesn't know how in shape or out of shape you are.

    Ultimately, a heart rate monitor is the only way to really get an accurate assessment of what you're burning.
  • BIGDOGDAD1
    BIGDOGDAD1 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thanks for your reply. My machine asks for my age and weight. It also has a heart rate monitor which I use. How do you convert heart rate to calories burned?