burning calories...who do I believe

cwolfman13 wrote: »

always be conservative.

i would personally be very skeptical of an almost 500 calorie burn in 45 minutes...I would go with the lower number.

This.

Also consider getting a HRM for a more accurate reading.

jodigrengs wrote: »

We had to purchase another treadmill in Dec. 2014, Nordictrack. I walk for 45 minutes, 4.0, at 2% incline. Nordictrack says I burned 496 calories. On myfitnesspal, walking 45 minutes, 4.0, with no incline, it says I only burned 267 calories. Does that little 2% incline makes that much of a difference? Or who is closer to really number?

A typical treadmill needs about 2% incline just to more closely mimic walking "for real".

The only way to burn 500 calories in 45 minutes of walking is to weigh about 500 pounds. Scale the burn down accordingly, based on your own weight.

EDIT: Do NOT use an HRM for walking burns, as it will massively over-estimate. G-d, that needs to be a sticky....

tflyswagg wrote: »

I am having the same problem as far as going on the elliptical doing a HIIT workout for 45 mins and it saying I burned between 800-850 calories...

Even Lance eff-ing Armstrong hopped up on PEDs can't burn calories that fast.

Those numbers are a total fantasy - divide them by 3 and go from there.

I never trust the readouts on any cardio machine. Online calculators can be a little better.

Mr_Knight has it right. Runtastic shows walking at that pace as 182 calories for me. YMWV based on weight, age, etc, but um, no, not seeing over 400 for it.

If you are trying to lose weight, you are better off under estimating in any case.

Since I'm keeping track at MFP, I use their estimates. Eventually I hope I can stop eating exercise calories back, but at this point (newbie), I want every single one of them (and more). Down appetite, down!

I'm late to the party but I'm a big fan of this calculator:
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Since I don't know your weight, I guesstimated at 150 lbs. Results for 4.0 MPH:
0% incline: 280 kcal
2% incline: 324 kcal

So the 2% incline adds about 15%. A 5% incline would add 35% and a 10% incline would add about 80%.

I sometimes use the treadmill at 15% for training for backpacking, and that more than doubles the burn of walking on a flat surface. However, it's hard to maintain the same speed at that slope!

According to your numbers, you would have to weigh 282 pounds to achieve that calorie burn at that workload. So you can use that as a reference. If you don't hold on to the handrails, and you are using a name-brand commercial treadmill, the calorie numbers for walking should be relatively accurate (for running, they overestimate by about 15%). I can't speak for Nordic Track, other than to say it is no longer a serious fitness brand.

tflyswagg wrote: »

I am having the same problem as far as going on the elliptical doing a HIIT workout for 45 mins and it saying I burned between 800-850 calories and the person who created the video says the same thing that you should be burning that amount. Which would mean you burn like 200+ calories each set. Why would these machines have monitors if they are not correct? I know if your sweating your getting a great cardio workout but its discouraging to not be able to track this information correctly! Someone suggest I get a heart monitor, maybe that is a good solution.

You have to realize that equipment manufacturers are not making health monitoring equipment. The calorie displays are just another shiny object in many cases.

People also need to understand that estimating calories on exercise equipment is not simple--nor is it cheap. A company would have to conduct their own research to develop and validate machine-specific energy-prediction equations. To do it right is time-consuming and expensive. To the best of my knowledge, Life Fitness is the only company that has the resources and has even tried in the past--and I'm not sure if they even do it anymore.

The energy-prediction equations for walking and running are well-established. They are simple and can easily be programmed into a commercial treadmill. As long as you enter weight and don't use the handrails, the calorie readouts should be as reliable as anything, and more reliable than most sources and even HRMs. Even though treadmills may have different appearances, the movement is the same no matter which brand of treadmill.

Cross trainers are a completely different story. Every equipment manufacturer--life Fitness, Precor, Technogym, etc--has a completely different movement design for their elliptical/cross trainer. So the only way to get an accurate calorie burn is for each manufacturer to design and validate their own machine-specific algorithms. That doesn't happen, as I described above. I don't exactly how they do their calculations, but I think they base them on the walking/running formulas--which is why they overestimate so much.

Forgot to add, that if you're going to do steeper inclines, wearing a pair of lifting gloves is really helpful so your hands have a good grip. I also throw a thick washcloth over the center bar so I have a little extra cushioning.