Exercise calories tracking

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an0nemus
an0nemus Posts: 149 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm sure this has been asked 100's of times....but my search-fu is weak...

Yesterday I walked 10 minutes on my elliptical and then did a 2 minute cool down. Since the cool down is a slow pace, I didn't enter it into MFP, just the 10 minutes.

My machine says I burned just shy of 100 calories (including the 2 minute cool down)
MFP says just the 10 minutes burned 154 calories...I left the 154 in MFP as I didn't eat any of them back..but what number to trust?

Replies

  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    The lower of the two (and that still seems high). I would use the lower of the two and still eat back only 50%.
  • Grammytryingtogetfit
    Grammytryingtogetfit Posts: 672 Member
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    I think that, from what I have read....that MFP is a little high in their calories burned. I would go by the machine, however, I have found those to be inaccurate as well. Until I got a tracker, I thought I was burning all kinds of calories.......not necessarily the case. Bahumbug:( Best of luck trying to figure it all out!!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Probably neither. Even 100 calories for ten minutes is high. I agree with taking 50% of the lower value and logging 50 calories burned.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
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    That's about the average calorie burn per minute on the elliptical unless you are really exerting yourself. But your weight also makes a difference in calorie burn. If you entered your weight into the elliptical, I'd be more inclined to trust it.
  • AmberSpamber
    AmberSpamber Posts: 391 Member
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    I invested in a heart rate monitor, and was shocked at how inaccurate MFP pal is on it's calories. They are very generous, so i would always go for the lower amount and know that it is still probably inaccurate.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    I'd always use the lower number, but I have to agree with the others 100 calories for 10 minutes seems extremely inflated.
  • an0nemus
    an0nemus Posts: 149 Member
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    yeah...I ended up ignoring the calories from the elliptical. I'll probably keep doing it, but then ignoring the calories until I'm sure they're right.

    (also, I am morbidly obese (again) so it could be a bit more accurate)
  • jennyi27
    jennyi27 Posts: 114 Member
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    I usually do about 30-40 minutes on the elliptical, and I always enter my weight and age onto the machine when I do it. I find that the machine tells me I burn about 100 calories/10 minutes...roughly. So 30 minutes is usually around 300 calories. However, if I put 30 minutes into mfp it gives me a really big number of calories burned (600+). Since that is such a huge discrepancy, I ALWAYS go with the lower number. I am losing weight, so I must be doing something correctly. :-)
  • an0nemus
    an0nemus Posts: 149 Member
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    jennyi27 wrote: »
    I usually do about 30-40 minutes on the elliptical, and I always enter my weight and age onto the machine when I do it. I find that the machine tells me I burn about 100 calories/10 minutes...roughly. So 30 minutes is usually around 300 calories. However, if I put 30 minutes into mfp it gives me a really big number of calories burned (600+). Since that is such a huge discrepancy, I ALWAYS go with the lower number. I am losing weight, so I must be doing something correctly. :-)

    So..what do you do to entertain yourself for the 30-40 minutes? Listen to music/podcasts/watch something?

    At the end of 10 minutes I'm partly bored....

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