Calorie burning difference on Elliptical & MFP or MMW

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charlenemsanders
charlenemsanders Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
I have an elliptical that the calories burned or lower then what is showing for MFP or MMW. Each show difference on how many calories I'm burning. Which would be most accurate? The elliptical is preset for a fit male, 30 years old & his height & weight. MFP & MMW are set for my information. The Elliptical show 330 calories, MMP 592 & MMW 720. I've been changing to show the Elliptical information.

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  • fearlessleader104
    fearlessleader104 Posts: 723 Member
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    Heart rate monitor will tell you
  • charlenemsanders
    charlenemsanders Posts: 3
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    Thank you, I'll check into getting a heart rate monitor.
  • robinmarkz
    robinmarkz Posts: 93 Member
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    Map My Fitness -- all activities and apps, uses a formula called MET. It's explained in this article.

    https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/corrected-mets

    I think I understand why the machines are showing different counts. They don't know my statistics, and significantly, they don't take Resting Metabolic Rate into account. MET does multiples of the resting metabolic rate based on both the particular activity you did, and exactly who you are: gender, weight, age, and general lifestyle activity level.

    A heart monitor would make it even more precise. The machine, on the other hand, is only using data from what you did on their machine and nothing much else. (There are more sophisticated machines. But they cost a fortune.) I have a 15-year-old recumbent and I input the distance and time, but and the calories are way different.

    I am going to get a monitor and upgrade to "pro." That's the only way to figure in heart rate.

    In the event that you believe a MMF/W/B/H connected app is truly incorrect, uninstall the app or apps and reinstall. I have a very new phone, so that's done. It seems just like it was. (Except that it seems to give you less calories as you make progress and your stats improve. Which makes sense.)

    MFP gives me very similar readings to MMF, so they must be using the same formula.

    Oh, one more thing in this regard. I just got the Bit Gym app, and it's count is way off. Not scientific at all. (And the videos buffer, throwing away time spent on your machine.) But I like the interactive videos. It's just not accurate for calorie burn, which is quite complex. It measures your movements and that's about it. Gets the distance and speed okay. But it's not using the formula described above. That's the wrong way. MFP does not connect to that app. Only trust the ones that do.

    Best,
    Robin
  • valnoll
    valnoll Posts: 1
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    I love my heart monitor. I just use that to gage my workout. It allows me to get the most from my work outs even if they are short in time. Make sure your monitor has "zones". You will be happy that you do, as you want the majority of your workouts to be in zone 2. This will give you the maximum fat burn work out without breaking down the muscle you are trying to build
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    In your case, none of them are going to be accurate.

    The elliptical knows the effort you put forth, but it has no idea about your stats. MFP has no idea how hard your worked, and so is using some randomized guess work about your intensity level.

    Your best bet is to set MFP to lose 0 lbs per week. This will let you track calories in, which MFP is quite good at. Then set all your exercise to only burning 1 calorie. This minimizes what it doesn't know, which is calories burned. All your weight loss will come from exercise, which is kind of a good thing.
  • gusinott
    gusinott Posts: 26 Member
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    Was about to post something similar to this topic, but I think I found the answer I was looking for.

    I've been relying on the MFP data for calories burned when I'm doing cardio, and I also started using my watch/heart rate monitor (Timex) again recently. I found there's a big difference between the two in the total calories used up during a workout.

    For example, based on MFP, I burned around 164 calories during my 30 minute walk this morning, while my HRM watch showed about 270 calories (I'm 218 lbs, 5'10", 45y/o).

    I'm leaning towards the watch data. (BTW, the way I see it, more calories burned mean increased weight loss or being able to enjoy larger portions :p without compromising said weight loss. I guess I'll wait for next weigh-in to see if I'm on the right track [down 7 lbs since I signed up a couple of weeks ago, so maybe I am...])

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