Calories according to equipment or to MFP?

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leonamuni
leonamuni Posts: 24
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone, I'm just starting here and I was wondering whether it's better to log cardio using the options MFP gives you or just log the calories the treadmill/elliptical/ bike tells you you've burned? Today I used the stationary bike for 40 minutes and it said I did 18.6 km and burned 620 calories! Seems like a lot to me, I was going in the 22 - 35 range the whole time. I've been usisng the MFP options to be on the safe side because they give me much lower numbers but I'm not sure what is more accurate. Thanks for any advice :)

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  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    MFP & many machines over estimate.

    Calorie burns depend upon height, weight, age, gender, exertion level and more. How much data do you plug into the machine?

    Many MFP users start by using a % of MFP estimates and then increase/decrease (depending upon progress) after a few weeks.

    For steady state cardio a heart rate monitor is helpful. Chest strap models are best.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
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    whatever is lower and subtract 15% from that

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  • whatatime2befit
    whatatime2befit Posts: 625 Member
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    I have always just used MFP, but I've noticed such a high discrepancy between MFP and what the machines record, that I've switched to using the machine data. On cardio machines I've started adding my age and weight, so that hopefully the calories burned info that is provided is more accurate.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
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    MFP is better than the machines most of the time.
  • leonamuni
    leonamuni Posts: 24
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    Thanks for all the advice! You guys rock

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