Do you trust the calories burned from an Exercise machine???

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oneallmama
oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been riding an Upright exercise bike for a year now, and have lost 21 pounds since I've been riding it. There are 16 pre programmed settings and I'm on level 14. By the end of my workout it says that I've burned 1100 calories but I keep telling myself that it's over estimating my burn. Is it actually possible to burn that many calories on an Upright exercise bike? My weightloss has stalled and I've been inputting that I burn 700 calories when I workout (not 1100) but I still think that 700 is too much. Oh, and it says that my wattage is 250... I don't know if that's overestimated either. I'm 5'3 and weigh 131 pounds and am trying to get in the low 120's. Thanks in advance for the input!
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Replies

  • erincricket
    erincricket Posts: 26 Member
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    I don't know how your machine measures up, but I've found that my HRM compared with my Nordic Track elliptical's calories results in a 33% to 50% difference in calories burned. The Nordic track vastly overestimates my burn. I think your estimation is on the high end at 700. With your weight stats, I don't think you're burning that much. I don't know how to tell you how much you're burning, these are only the estimates I use.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

    Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.
  • barryplumber
    barryplumber Posts: 401 Member
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    I have the same issue with the tread mills, i walk/run at 5 - 5.5 miles/hr for 40 min i do 3.5 to 3.75 miles it says i burnt 620 calories i log it but then don't weight training
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
    Heart rate monitors are better.
    But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
    Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
    weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)
  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    strong_curves wrote: »
    No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

    Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.

    I ride the bike at almost the hardest setting for one hour and going at a pretty fast pace. I'm pretty frazzled lately though, my weightloss has stalled and my hair has been falling out
    Badly for a year now and I've had two thyroid tests in that time span for the Drs to tell me that it's normal. The only logical thing I can think of right now is either I'm not eating enough or my body is reacting badly to the exercise.
  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    MKEgal wrote: »
    Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
    Heart rate monitors are better.
    But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
    Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
    weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

    I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    oneallmama wrote: »
    MKEgal wrote: »
    Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
    Heart rate monitors are better.
    But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
    Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
    weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

    I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

    Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg
  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    strong_curves wrote: »
    oneallmama wrote: »
    MKEgal wrote: »
    Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
    Heart rate monitors are better.
    But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
    Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
    weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

    I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

    Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg

    Thanks for the video! I definitely need to invest in a scale. I think this would make a huge change for my food intake :)
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    How far and how long ?
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    oneallmama wrote: »
    strong_curves wrote: »
    oneallmama wrote: »
    MKEgal wrote: »
    Machines, including MFP, overestimate.
    Heart rate monitors are better.
    But if you only eat to your calorie goal, it's not a factor.
    Ignore exercise calories for the purpose of deciding how much to eat every day. (This is what my dietitian and
    weight-loss doc told me to do, and I have the best results that way.)

    I would love to get a HRM but that's not financially possible at this time. I've always been confused about eating my exercise calories back or not and I usually lowball my calories burned in an hour. I wish I could afford a personal trainer and dietician to help me shed these last ten pounds but I don't have the money to. I guess I'm at a loss.

    Maybe try eating half of your exercise calories back. With only 10 lbs left to lose, you really should focus on tightening up your food measuring & logging. This may help you:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Health/MFP Flowchart lemonlionheart_zps3s3xqead.jpg

    Thanks for the video! I definitely need to invest in a scale. I think this would make a huge change for my food intake :)

    Food scales are pretty reasonably priced imo. You don't need to get a super duper fancy scale, most can be found for $10-$20 bucks. Get a food scale, log your foods as accurate as you can, give it a few weeks. Be as consistent as you can. This thread may help you also:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    Unless exercise machines ask me for my weight, height, and age, I don't trust them.
  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    999tigger wrote: »
    How far and how long ?
    I ride for an hour but I'm not sure the mileage.

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    700 doesn't sound unreasonable for an hour. But if your hair is falling out there is a problem. maybe too much exercise without recovery (i.e. exhaustion) or bad nutition.
  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    scottb81 wrote: »
    700 doesn't sound unreasonable for an hour. But if your hair is falling out there is a problem. maybe too much exercise without recovery (i.e. exhaustion) or bad nutition.
    I'm thinking I'm lacking in protein and vitamins and have currently been taking a daily multivitamin to try and get my hair to stop falling out. I had been exercising six times a week really hard, then cut back to 5 and now I'm at three. If I don't stop losing my hair I may cut out exercise all together.

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    You my just need a short break. If you take your resting heart rate each morning you can track your recovery each day. If its elevated about 10% above normal you need a rest day

  • oneallmama
    oneallmama Posts: 108 Member
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    scottb81 wrote: »
    You my just need a short break. If you take your resting heart rate each morning you can track your recovery each day. If its elevated about 10% above normal you need a rest day
    I'll try this out, thanks! :)

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    oneallmama wrote: »
    999tigger wrote: »
    How far and how long ?
    I ride for an hour but I'm not sure the mileage.

    Knowing your speed or how far you traveled is important. There are plenty of cyclists in the fitness forums who can give you a better indication. The one thing you have against you is your weight as lighter people burn less calories. Some exercise machines are better at calculating than others.

    I wouldnt trust the accuracy of your machine and as i cnat figure out how fast then i cnat even get a ballpark figure really. your 700 is closer than the 1100 and i be down maybe at 600 or 500 if you were being conservative. Obviously stationary bike burns less than a road boke because of different condition, but a lot depends on your weight as well as the time speed and distance traveled.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    oneallmama wrote: »
    strong_curves wrote: »
    No. How long are you riding the bike each time? Is there any resistance involved? I would think to burn that much you would have to be going pretty fast for an extended period of time and I mean more than 5 minutes.

    Weight loss happens in the kitchen, eat less than you burn if you're trying to lose weight.

    I ride the bike at almost the hardest setting for one hour and going at a pretty fast pace. I'm pretty frazzled lately though, my weightloss has stalled and my hair has been falling out
    Badly for a year now and I've had two thyroid tests in that time span for the Drs to tell me that it's normal. The only logical thing I can think of right now is either I'm not eating enough or my body is reacting badly to the exercise.

    Iron deficiency and some other hormonal disorders can cause that. Also, I've heard that those ranges for thyroid are somewhat in debate, that the tests ordered may be incomplete, also that people can be within the normal range yet be imbalanced for them.
  • Foamroller
    Foamroller Posts: 1,041 Member
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    Nope, you're probably not burning 700 (with the info you provided). I'm same height and a bit lighter. When doing Spin cycling at gym, I have to work REALLY hard for 450 kcal/55 mins class, measured with HRM. I'm talking intervals of heavy panting, unable to speak and an average of ca 85% of maxpulse. Try google physiological signs for exercise intensity. Might give you a better overview.

    Re hair falling out. I had that too. It could be a number of reasons. In my case I was malnourished. Scrutinized my micronutrients, changed macros and now hair and nails are great! So I advise you to bring it up with doc or troubleshoot what you're missing in your diet. Good luck!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Weight is pretty much irrelevant for stationary cycling (unless you are standing cycling) as it's not a weight bearing exercise.
    Speed on a stationary bike is very unlikely to be an equivalent to outdoor cycling (many trainers take estiimated "speed" from pedal cadence which ignores gearing/resistance).
    A good quality power meter equipped indoor trainer (Wattbike for example) can be very accurate for power and therefore calories but that's an expensive piece of kit.

    You would have to be an extremely good cyclist to hit 250watts for an hour though so think your machine is inaccurate.

    For perspective my mate who is a club record holder (441 miles in 24hrs) can manage about 260w for an hour.

    For a more average but regular rider like me (100 mile cyclist) 600 cals is an easy workout, 750+ is a very hard workout for an hour. Think my max is about 870cals but that's to exhaustion.

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