Calorie counting watch question

poxyfairydingle
poxyfairydingle Posts: 3
edited September 24 in Fitness and Exercise
I have a Sportline calorie counting watch (cost about $40 at Wal-Mart), and I also have a treadmill with a calorie counter. Last night, I used my watch for the first time on the treadmill. I did 60 minutes at the steepest incline level and walked at about 3 mph with hand weights doing arm exercises with 5lbs. or just holding 3lbs. while walking. My treadmill said I burned well over 400 calories with around 120 fat calories burned, but my watch said I only burned 139 calories. Everytime I checked my heart rate monitor on the watch, it said I was over or at my max heart rate. Plus I did about 5-7 minutes of ab work after that. So I'm confused....are the 139 calories on my watch calories from fat, and what's the difference really? I didn't see anything in the booklet that came with the watch about what kind of calories I am burning. And I'm new to all this calorie counting stuff, so any advice would be helpful. Thank you!

Replies

  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    60 minutes of almost anything burns more than 139 calories. I'm not sure what kind of watch you have there, I've never heard of them. Does it track your heart rate, ask for your personal info (height, weight, age, gender), does it come with a chest strap to really 'feel' your heart beats?

    For ME, walking for an hour gives me about 350-400 burn. If I were to add weights, and incline? it would burn more.

    For now I'd go with the treadmill, and maybe try to find a similar exercise in the MFP database and compare those two. I feel very confident in saying your watch is very, very wrong.
  • bgagn085
    bgagn085 Posts: 14 Member
    Hello,

    I am not sure about the features on your watch or treadmill but whichever asks you to enter the most information (age, gender, height, weight) is typically the most accurate.

    I know for example, that the machines at my gym only ask for weight and they always tell me that I burn double what my heart rate monitor does, which knows all of my details. From what I have heard, machines are typically calibrated for men, so they overestimate how much your burning, especially if youre short!

    Also, if you are concerned that your watch isnt reading your heart rate properly, I would suggest trying a Polar watch. They're a bit pricey but they last a long time and are a great investment for your health!

    I hope this helps!
  • CricketKate
    CricketKate Posts: 3,657 Member
    I also have a watch from Walmart. It told me that I burned 40 calories doing the Shred while most people and sites that I've looked at say they burned about 150-200. My monitor also told me that I was in my "high" zone while I was wiping the kitchen counters and in my "low" zone while I was jogging 6 mph. I would definately return mine if I still had the receipt.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    HRMs that don't have a chest strap are not as accurate as the chest strap ones. You def. burned more than 139.
  • MakingAChoice
    MakingAChoice Posts: 481 Member
    I have to agree that the watch is very wrong. 139 calories for an hour is way off, especially at that pace and incline. I would also caution you to not listen to the treadmill saying that X amount of calories were burned from fat. There is really no real way for the treadmill to calculate that. Anything that has a 'fat burning' zone is just a sales gimmick. Total calories burned is all you really need to look at. There is research to support this on the fitness sites, I can dig them up if you want.
  • Knaroz
    Knaroz Posts: 23
    the sportlines at Walmart don't count calories based on the HRM you take, it uses a built in pedometer + time. So it cannot tell you are walking a very steep incline or doing other exercises it just calculates based on the built in pedometer. Honestly the only thing the sportlines are good for is quick easy cheap access to your HRM. For a good watch that will accurately track true calories burned you would need a Bodybugg or a Polar that tracks your HRM as well as your gait, GPS, etc
  • poxyfairydingle
    poxyfairydingle Posts: 3
    Thank you everyone! I knew that was off, but wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy. Ha! I will definitely look into buying a more expensive and more accurate one.
  • poxyfairydingle
    poxyfairydingle Posts: 3
    My watch is the one that let me put all my information in. It's kind of a piece of crap, I think. :(
  • hkennard
    hkennard Posts: 1
    I think I have the exact same watch, sportline from walmart, not too expensive... I just wore it for the first time at a zumba class, these hour long classes supposedly burn 500-1000 calories AN HOUR! and my watch told me I burned 68 calories, I thought I was crazy too! Thanks for posting this, it was really frustrating not knowing exactly how many calories I burned.
  • tam120
    tam120 Posts: 444 Member
    You can get a Polar for under $100, get rid of the Walmart crap. :tongue:
  • wallsy2014
    wallsy2014 Posts: 1
    The watch i have has different zones from 1-5 does any one else have this kind of watch ? And what zone would focus T25 be in 3 or 4 ? when im using it i usually count the calories in the 3rd zone which usually says i burn around 200 - 250 calories does that sound about right for focus T25 beta ?
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