Treadmill calories burned vs MFP

pwmw1272
pwmw1272 Posts: 17 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I've been running on the treadmill for months now and keeping track of my calories burned. When I input it into MFP, it's always higher. Today for example, the treadmill said 573 but when I input it into MFP, it says 631. Which would you go with? I'm not entering my weight on the treadmill. Since MFP knows my weight, should I go with that??

Replies

  • DM01234
    DM01234 Posts: 317 Member
    I agree - MFP estimates high. I go with my Treadmill and even drop that read by 10 as a "buffer". I do enter my weight / age on the treadmill I have though. Not sure if that matters or not.

    Lastly, I'm not into the idea of wearing a fit band of any brand so I'm going with it. So far it's working so I'm not changing the approach.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
    I always use the treadmill calories. I've compared the treadmill readouts to online treadmill calorie calculators, and the treadmills has always been within 10%. MFP's estimate of calories burned on the treadmill is not nearly as accurate.
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
    There are calculators on shapesense.com that always come out very close to my HRM. I found them through a thread on MFP a while back and really like them, finding both the machines and the database here to be quite high. I enter the details and then take that number to a net burn calculator on the same site.
  • awesomedjmcvey
    awesomedjmcvey Posts: 50 Member
    When I wore the Body bugg the MFP cals and body bugg were pretty close. Someone told me once that the MFP cals are based on mid level resistance. So on an elliptical it would be level 8 or so. Not sure how that works on the Treadmill though. I do all my runs in nature! :)
  • woofer00
    woofer00 Posts: 123 Member
    I found that the treadmill/running app, fitbit, and MFP all disagree. As a general rule, if it's within 10-15%, I use the most conservative (lowest) burn number to give myself the least eat-back flexibility.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Calorie burns depend upon height, weight, age, gender, exertion level and more. MFP & machine over estimate calories burned. For steady state cardio a heart rate monitor is the best estimate.

    This is why many people only eat back 50-75% of their exercise calories. Pick something conservative and monitor. If weight loss is slower than it should be, you're eating too much. If you feel tired and run down, you aren't eating enough.
  • nahiluoh
    nahiluoh Posts: 41 Member
    I also err on the conservative side. I read someplace that setting your incline around 1 degree (not much) helps balance the lack of wind resistance from treadmill running vs. outdoor running.
  • agal129
    agal129 Posts: 215 Member
    I have this issue as well. MFP is always higher than what the cardio machines estimate.

    I just always use the cardio machine's readout since I'd rather under-estimate than over-estimate.
  • NikonPal
    NikonPal Posts: 1,346 Member
    Today, MFP says gave me a credit of 265 for my treadmill walk. I entered the same numbers into another app and got the same credit. The treadmill is normally within 5%... I usually go with the most conservative number, but don't go crazy if the numbers are within 10 calories.

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