Is the calories burned that the exercise machine gives me ac

candistyx
candistyx Posts: 547 Member
edited September 29 in Fitness and Exercise
I actually have a hrm but I am way too embarrassed to use it at the gym because I am not doing anything I feel is really hardcore enough for me to feel comfortable looking like someone who cares about my exercising (I do care but I don't want to look like I care in case someone thinks I am being a pathetic failure... yeah I know that's ridiculously neurotic but oh well).

Given the inaccuracies involved in calories anyway is the inaccuracy of the exercise machine readings likely to be significant enough to damage my weightloss?

The machines do take account of my weight and have their own (probably v. inaccurate) heart rate sensors (although I dunno if they use that in the calories because if I don't hold the sensors it still usually ends up at very similar values) stuff.

Replies

  • CrazyAdventure
    CrazyAdventure Posts: 113 Member
    Bump. I am interested to see if anyone knows this as well as I always use what the treadmill tells me after entering my weight (which is a lot less than the activities on MFP, so I assumed, more accurate)
  • sculptandtone
    sculptandtone Posts: 300 Member
    They are generally WAY inaccurate. First of all, they almost always overestimate the actual calories burned (often by 30 or even 40%). Then to add insult to injury, they don't deduct the calories you would have burned even if you weren't exercising. I just got an HRM and my calories burned according to my HRM is only about 50 or 60% of what MFP and or the machines tells me. I am not eating my exercise calories for the most part, so technically it doesn't make a difference. But, I prefer things to be accurate and I do wonder how many people are beating themselves up for no or slow weight loss because they're basing their net calories on a number of calories burned that is WAY too high. Use your HRM. It won't tell you what you WANT to see. But, at least it's accurate (or so i'm told).
  • erinkeely4
    erinkeely4 Posts: 408 Member
    I don't have a heart rate monitor, so I just use what the machine says (an elliptical). You can enter in your weight and age on this one, but the heart rate sensors on it don't really work anymore. With other exercise I just search MFP for the exercise and input my minutes. Probably not very accurate, but oh well... I seem to be doing ok. Something good to do, I think, is when in doubt, guesstimate lower. Like, I do hour long Tai Chi classes, but I doubt I burn as much as MFP says you burn with Tai Chi since I'm a beginner and going through things in a less intense manner.

    Maybe I should just bite the cost and get a heart rate monitor... haha.
  • leslturn8
    leslturn8 Posts: 505 Member
    what is bump? Id so use mine if i had one! Im one of those new runners that look massively queer doing it hahahaha I run next to those stick figures who do it so gracefully and I would so wear the HRM because it shows I am working at it!
  • wilmaln
    wilmaln Posts: 36 Member
    I am not sure about the accuracy of the machines in a gym, but if the calorie count doesn't vary whether you are holding the sensors or not... it can't be too accurate. I would try and overcome the uncomfortable feelings and use the HRM. The strap that goes around your rib cage is easily hidden under your clothes, and you don't have to wear the "watch" on your wrist, keep it in a pocket so nobody is aware that you are using it.
    Since using my HRM I feel more confident with my calorie count. AT times it is higher than MFP, other times it's lower... and I use it also when I clean the house!
    Good luck.
  • candistyx
    candistyx Posts: 547 Member
    Well I did decide to subtract the calories I'd be burning anyway from the values at least.

    But I really do feel way ashamed by the idea of people thinking "oh my GAWD look at that lardball with her little heart rate monitor, doesn't she realise she'll need to work a lot harder than THAT to deal with all that blubber!!"
  • ceejay000
    ceejay000 Posts: 402 Member
    I think it totally depends on the machine. I wear my HRM at the gym, and it consistently tells me I've burned 20-50 MORE calories than the machine says. I'll look at the watch/receiver sometimes and my heart rate on there will be slightly higher than what the machine is reading (my HRM syncs up with the machine), so I figure that accounts for the difference?
  • glypta
    glypta Posts: 440 Member
    The machines at my gym almost double my expenditure. I've worn at HRM on the treadmill and gotten almost half of what the machine has said for the same workout. Ir's depressing. But I think the closer you are to goal, the fewer calories you're burning as your body's giving you less resistance. So I'm only a few lbs away, I'll burn less than someone who's 100lbs away. MFP overestimates for me too, though not by as much, so I log less than I do and/or amend/guess the cals (can't be bothered with the HRM these days).
  • dreamtoned10
    dreamtoned10 Posts: 163 Member
    Oh I'm delighted at his topic, I was coming online to ask the same thing.... Basically I'm in a hotel for the weekend and brought my HRM for the gym ( I usually exercise outdoors at home not on machines) and last night the machines picked up my heart rate 100% from the HRM strap I was wearing, but my watch was displaying way less cals than machine!! While the machines picked up my heart rate and asked my weight,there was no option for height, so I could be any height weighing 144 pounds!! So from now on I'm going with my HRM!!!

    Xx
  • tonilizzy88
    tonilizzy88 Posts: 920 Member
    well i havent got a heart rate monitor and i go by what the machines tell me as we have keys that we put into the machines with our details on it.... as for MFP they overestimate big time... so id rather go with whats on the machines at the gym that MFP.
    dont be embaressed chick it shows your making the ffort to shift the pounds :) at the end of the day your doing it for yourself not them x
  • sculptandtone
    sculptandtone Posts: 300 Member
    Also, This is a subject that's been widely documented and you can read up more on it just by searching Google. Most of what I have read (and it's not just a little bit because I absolutely could not believe the high calorie burns I was seeing on MFP or my elliptical and spent a few hours looking it up), says the average machine OVERESTIMATES by about 30%. Then they don't deduct what you would have burned anyway if you were sedentary. that's the average and it may not be everyone's experience. But, everyone should know about it before they accept the ridiculously high number of calorie burns they're seeing at the gym or on MFP for that matter. It doesn't do anyone any good to believe you're burning more calories than you really are.
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