Little machine on elliptical is not accurate, how can I calcuate calories burned myself?

Barneslifer
Barneslifer Posts: 6 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I do not have a fit bit or anything on me at this point that can more accurately track calories burned, I do not think the little machine on my elliptical bike combo is very accurate as it says I'm burning 800+ calories in 20ish minutes. I can't seem to find very helpful information to calculate it with myself with my height, weight, sex, age, time exercised and type of workout. Does anyone have any recommendations? While I don't think 800+ calories burned is accurate I'm assuming that the speed I'm going is,?

Replies

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited February 2016
    By adjusting your caloric setting according to your weight change while logging accurately you can bypass all the guessing machines or HRMs estimate for you. It's more simple and way more accurate to your body specifically.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited February 2016
    Barneslifer wrote: »
    I do not have a fit bit or anything on me at this point that can more accurately track calories burned, I do not think the little machine on my elliptical bike combo is very accurate as it says I'm burning 800+ calories in 20ish minutes. I can't seem to find very helpful information to calculate it with myself with my height, weight, sex, age, time exercised and type of workout. Does anyone have any recommendations? While I don't think 800+ calories burned is accurate I'm assuming that the speed I'm going is,?

    Most machines are inaccurate. Log your exercise in MFP and then adjust that number downward by 25%. Use that estimate for awhile. If your usual weight loss decreases then adjust that number down further.

    MFP tends to be generous also, most people eat back somewhere between 50-75% of exercise calories.

    As Chief pointed out, find your number by logging and using changes in your weight.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    Any machine that gives you that high of a calorie burn... well just disregard the machine completely.

    You can take heart rate manually, and if you can compare the effort and HR of the elliptical/bike machine to known other things such as running you might be able to narrow it down. There are fairly accurate calculations for running, and your HR for most steady state stuff is somewhat a "gauge" of how hard you are working.


    We own an elliptical, and 800 calories in 20 minutes is just out of the question. I don't think most people could reach 40 calories a minute output for a single minute. You might be able to find a MET calculator that would let you compare it to something else you can do, such as walking or running.
  • Barneslifer
    Barneslifer Posts: 6 Member
    What about these fit bit and other like devices, are those fairly accurate?
  • drachfit
    drachfit Posts: 217 Member
    Barneslifer wrote: »
    What about these fit bit and other like devices, are those fairly accurate?

    not really. probably better than the bike or the elliptical but not hugely accurate.

    you are better off doing what @Chieflrg says; adjust your calories according to your body weight change. rather than trying to guess at how much you are burning, adjusting after the fact based on actual weight is much more accurate.
  • Barneslifer
    Barneslifer Posts: 6 Member
    thank yall

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