Disparity in suggested calories burned: MFP vs. machines?

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jennilea6
jennilea6 Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
During a 30 minute work out yesterday, my elliptical said I burned 152 cal on an increased strength training circuit.

When I was logging the entry into MFP, as soon as I put 30 minutes of basic elliptical training, it suggested closer to 350 cal burned. That's a 200 calorie difference/swing!!!

Which makes me wonder where does MFP get the values it uses and, more importanly, which one should I trust?

Thoughts, anyone?

Replies

  • cscox708
    cscox708 Posts: 10 Member
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    Good question! I've been wondering the same thing. Hopefully, someone with more experience with this program can provide some insight.

    Thanks,
    Carol in Indiana
  • jaimejean478
    jaimejean478 Posts: 152 Member
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    The machines are more accurate than MFP, but are sometimes either really high or low still. So to repeat the MFP mantra... "The only way you'll really know is by investing in a heart rate monitor".
  • Lima_India_Zulu
    Lima_India_Zulu Posts: 23
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    I use the calorie counter on my exercise bike and enter the number of minutes on my MFP app until it tallies with the calories my machine says I burnt. It usually matches roughly with the time I did too so I'm not too worried about the difference, although I would trust my machine more.
  • crunchymommy
    crunchymommy Posts: 30 Member
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    Are all of the MFP exercises user-entered? If so, they are probably based on the weight of whomever entered them. If not, they're probably based on some arbitrary average weight. I would go with the machines over the MFP ones, but as mentioned earlier, the machines aren't entirely accurate either.

    Here is a website that lets you figure out calories burned for an activity based on your weight, so it might be somewhat helpful, though of course, it doesn't take heart rate into consideration. http://www.healthdiscovery.net/links/calculators/calorie_calculator.htm
  • jennilea6
    jennilea6 Posts: 3
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    Aha! Thank you! Sound advice, indeed. My machine has a working heart rate monitor as part of it, so that's a plus!
  • kmp327
    kmp327 Posts: 97 Member
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    Honestly, I think people have input exercises from other websites (like caloriecount.com) and it is based on their weight or the weight of a 150 lb person. So I don't always trust the database. I would go with the machine, because it asks for your weight and age and it can keep track of your heart rate. It's more personalized.

    I actually just ordered a Heart Rate Monitor because it will also count calories and I'd rather take the guesswork/mathematics out of it and go with one machine that will give me a consistent read.

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