Watch vs. Machine Help

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gypsydogmama
gypsydogmama Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Can someone who knows what their talking about explain to me why the cross ramp/elliptical said I burned 396 calories but my polarf4 (that has extremely good reviews, supposed accurate calorie counting and a heart rate strap) says I burned 553. Isn't it normally the other way around? Machine telling you you burnt more than you did?

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  • gypsydogmama
    gypsydogmama Posts: 24 Member
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    *they're :p
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    No, that is not always the case.
    Keep in mind a HRM is not necessarily accurate either.
    Each method of estimation has it's own issues.

    A couple of blogs you may find helpful.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/exercise-calories-sometimes-the-cardio-machines-are-more-accurate-404739
  • lindsayh87
    lindsayh87 Posts: 167 Member
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    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    No, that is not always the case.
    Keep in mind a HRM is not necessarily accurate either.
    Each method of estimation has it's own issues.

    A couple of blogs you may find helpful.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/exercise-calories-sometimes-the-cardio-machines-are-more-accurate-404739

    Wow! Thanks for sharing those blogs. I recenlty bought a polar ft4 thinking I needed it to get a better idea of calories burned during my work outs - which consist mainly of insanity and t25. Not sure if I should think the read out is high or low now from all the possible inaccuracies described in there =/
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    HRM are very good at counting heart beats. But no two people burn the same number of calories per heart beat. Machines actually have more information about the work expended, but they don't know how efficiently a person does the work. So, both are wrong.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    HRM are very good at counting heart beats. But no two people burn the same number of calories per heart beat. Machines actually have more information about the work expended, but they don't know how efficiently a person does the work. So, both are wrong.

    Heartrate and calories burned are not directly related.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    For me I found machines calories seem to go up in a straight line. Like it is 10 cal per minute but my Fitbit goes up and overtakes the machines calories.

    So at the start of walking in a treadmill my heart rate is say 50 and after 5 mins it's 100 so the fit bit says I am burning 5 cal a min at the start and ramps up to 15 cal by the end.

    But the machine from woe to go says you burned 10 cal a min every minute.

    So for me there is a point where the calories match but then the watch moves ahead.

    I trust my watch since it takes into account my heart rate etc.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    HRM are very good at counting heart beats. But no two people burn the same number of calories per heart beat. Machines actually have more information about the work expended, but they don't know how efficiently a person does the work. So, both are wrong.

    Heartrate and calories burned are not directly related.

    No, but there is a positive correlation. The body uses oxygen when it burns calories. The heart beats faster when the body needs more oxygen. Unfortunately, it also beats faster when the body needs to lower core temperature.
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    Not knowing the accuracy of my burns completely (even using an HRM) I opted to switch to the TDEE method instead.
  • gypsydogmama
    gypsydogmama Posts: 24 Member
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    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    No, that is not always the case.
    Keep in mind a HRM is not necessarily accurate either.
    Each method of estimation has it's own issues.

    A couple of blogs you may find helpful.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/exercise-calories-sometimes-the-cardio-machines-are-more-accurate-404739

    Thanks so much for this information. I mainly use the elliptical, step climber, walking, hiking and jogging. So I'm not really sure still which is more accurate. Either way I'm working out so I guess that's the good news. Haha thanks again.
  • gypsydogmama
    gypsydogmama Posts: 24 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    HRM are very good at counting heart beats. But no two people burn the same number of calories per heart beat. Machines actually have more information about the work expended, but they don't know how efficiently a person does the work. So, both are wrong.

    Well, damn! Haha Maybe I'll just keep inputting my HRM numbers and if I don't see a change in a month or so I'll reevaluate. :)
  • gypsydogmama
    gypsydogmama Posts: 24 Member
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    Amanda4change wrote: »
    Not knowing the accuracy of my burns completely (even using an HRM) I opted to switch to the TDEE method instead.

    I'll have to read about the TDEE method. I've never heard of it. Thanks!
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Amanda4change wrote: »
    Not knowing the accuracy of my burns completely (even using an HRM) I opted to switch to the TDEE method instead.

    So, because you don't know how many calories you are burning, you switched to a method that makes even less accurate assumptions about how much you are burning?
  • kindrabbit
    kindrabbit Posts: 837 Member
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    I use a hrm as I figure that is a more 'personnal' number rather than a general figure. I also have the polar f4.
    When I run I use map my run to calculate distance. It tells me calories burnt too. Map my run tells me I've burnt almost twice what my hrm says.

    If I have 2 different figures I use the lower one.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I use MapMyRide for calories burned, but I tell it I weigh less than what I do so it will spit out a lower number of calories.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    I had similar discrepancies between my HRM and machine readings. I ended up not using the calorie counts of either.

    I now use my HRM to get an average heart rate over the duration of the exercise. Then I go to shapesense.com and use their calculator to estimate the calorie burn. It's always less than either the machine or my HRM shows.

    I also use shape sense to get net calories. This the calorie burn after subtracting the calories you would have expended at rest.
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    Amanda4change wrote: »
    Not knowing the accuracy of my burns completely (even using an HRM) I opted to switch to the TDEE method instead.

    So, because you don't know how many calories you are burning, you switched to a method that makes even less accurate assumptions about how much you are burning?

    Since I'm losing 2lbs a week pretty consistently (which is my goal) it's working pretty accurately for me.
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    gypsydogmama wrote: »
    Can someone who knows what their talking about explain to me why the cross ramp/elliptical said I burned 396 calories but my polarf4 (that has extremely good reviews, supposed accurate calorie counting and a heart rate strap) says I burned 553. Isn't it normally the other way around? Machine telling you you burnt more than you did?

    Pick one method and stick with it, so either listen to your watch or listen to the machine.

    I noticed the same thing with my HRM, elliptical would say like 700 calories watch would say more like 1100. I wasn't a fan of wearing a chest strap for my HRM so I just follow the machine.

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