Why am I not burning calories?

katieannd
katieannd Posts: 66 Member
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
So, I go to the gym almost daily, and typically do 30 mins on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the tread mill or the bike. I push hard, make myself sweat! I enter my age and weight on the machines to measure the calories I burn, and at the end of an hour according to the machines I have only burnt around 300 calories total. I thought this was great - until I went to enter it in on mfp...

According to the mfp fitness database I should have burnt close to 1000 calories. My friend who is a similar weight to me also says that she burns waaay more when she is at the gym (I have been to the gym with her, I push much harder).

Am I reading something wrong?

Replies

  • DrBorkBork
    DrBorkBork Posts: 4,099 Member
    Machines are notorious for being innacurate. Invest in a good quality Heart Rate Monitor like Polar. Treat yourself to one for Christmas! You'll thank Santa over and over ;)
  • katieannd
    katieannd Posts: 66 Member
    Thanks! I think my gym actually has some on hand...I will have to check into it!
  • tjradd73
    tjradd73 Posts: 3,495 Member
    does the machine ask your age and weight?? that's what mfp uses to calculate! the only way I would go with the machines number vs mfp's number is if is takes your weight, age, and checks your HR. otherwise stick with mfp's value!!
  • katieannd
    katieannd Posts: 66 Member
    Well, now that I think about it...the machines only ask for my weight. They have heart rate monitors on them too but I never use them...maybe I should start?
  • bytebeast
    bytebeast Posts: 3
    Also check the level of resistance set for the machines such as the elliptical or bike. If you leave it at the minimum, usually level 1, then you will not burn as many calories as someone who places the resistance midway or towards the high end.

    Burning 500 calories in 30 minutes and this is quite a feat unless you have been training for some time.

    I am curious, when you are on the treadmill for 30 minutes, what do you have the settings at? If you have the incline of the treadmill set to 0%, you could increase your caloric burn by 50% by changing the incline to 5%. If you set the incline to 10% that will increase the burn 80% over having the incline at 0%.

    The following website can help you calculate how many calories you will burn based off specific types of cardio.
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp

    I hope this has helped some.
  • Debrajo1954
    Debrajo1954 Posts: 4 Member
    Hi,
    I don't go by what those machines say about my work out. Because when I did, I wanted to say forget it. Now, I just do what my plan is for my workout and just pay attention to the time I have spent on the machine and how my clothes are fitting me. I have an outfit that I want to get into, and every week I try it on... And can see it getting easier and easier to get on.. That's my encouragement and my pat on the back. And now that favorite outfit is getting too big...
    Good Luck...
  • katieannd
    katieannd Posts: 66 Member
    I typically do 'level 9' on the elliptical and bike (whatever that means) and do 4.3 mph with a 5% incline on the tread mill.

    Thanks for the info!

    I think that for the next two weeks I am just going to hide the scale, keep working hard at the gym and enjoy getting healthy :)
  • BughaBear
    BughaBear Posts: 201
    Yea sometimes those machines give wrong into and if its just askin ur wt maybe it isnt givin u the right info I would go with a separate calorie counter they have one at walmart for less then 10, its a thing that counts ur steps and calories at the same time.
  • craek
    craek Posts: 201 Member
    Yes, those machines can be really inaccurate..same goes for the gym's scales! When you are entering them in MFP database, keep in mind that some people may manually put in how many calories they burned and it those are most likely going to be different from yours because everyone is different. I'd suggest getting your own heart rate monitor. It changed my look on everything once I got one!
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