exercise calories!

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tami05
tami05 Posts: 7
in Fitness and Exercise
can anyone help me? I have an exercise bike that I use regularly, for a 20 minute ride it says I use 120 calories. The exercise section on here says that using a stationary bike with moderate effort uses 161 calories for twenty minutes. This is one of my main calorie burners each day so I would like to get the amounts correct. The exercise bike does not take in to account the size of the rider, eg I am 157lb compared to my husband who is 220lb. which guideline should I follow, there is quite a difference!!

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  • tiffnday
    tiffnday Posts: 27 Member
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    Use the one on myfitnesspal, because they know all ur info and it's more accurate.:wink:
  • kao708
    kao708 Posts: 813 Member
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    If the machine doesn't consider your physical details then use the MFP calculations as they should take that in to consideration. Better yet, get a Heart Rate Monitor for more accurate results. You can get them for $30-$40 on Amazon. Make sure you get one with a chest strap for more accuracy!
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    Everything on here or on your bike is an estimate- an educated guess at most. If you are really looking to get it right, (and 40 calories is a big difference to you) than I would say invest in an HRM.
  • catherinern
    catherinern Posts: 36
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    Try wearing a Heart rate monitor. That way it will be tailored to you specifically. :) Most HRM tell you how many calories you burned during an exercise.
  • dianaw819
    dianaw819 Posts: 20
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    I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I average the numbers from the machine and what MFP calculates. I figure this is at least a general idea. The most accurate calorie count is with a heart monitor. Hope this helps some :)
  • morganadk2_deleted
    morganadk2_deleted Posts: 1,696 Member
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    Use the one on myfitnesspal, because they know all ur info and it's more accurate.:wink:

    i agree
  • elliecolorado
    elliecolorado Posts: 1,040
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    I figure that the actual number of calories burned is somewhere in the middle. I always use the lowest number.
  • Spayrroe
    Spayrroe Posts: 210 Member
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    I belong to a 'fitness club', and got a free session one with one of the trainers to help me make sure i'm doing the best exercises I can for my goals (and to show me how to use some of the less intuitive equipment, lol). He straight up told me that the number of calories the elliptical trainer says I'm burning tends to high and the number of calories the stationary bike says i'm burning tends to be low (he knows this because he uses the heart rate monitor thinger, and he was telling me based on what the machine said as compared to what his monitor said). I would say go with the MFP numbers. I've noticed that the MFP numbers seem to differ in the correct way (and about the correct amount from what the trainer told me) from the numbers I get off the machine.

    I will also say that the trainer spoke very highly of the heart rate monitors, and I'd like to get one at some point, but they are rather pricey. I know to some people $30-$40 isn't much (and really, they range from $30 - $250), but to me it is. Like I said, hoping to get one some day in the next few months, but I can't just run out and buy one because I get conflicting numbers.

    I hope this helped you :)
  • tami05
    tami05 Posts: 7
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    thank you everyone X :happy: x

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