How accurate is this treadmill calculator for calories burned?

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dadams312
dadams312 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
https://42.195km.net/e/treadsim/

I do a 30 minute workout 3 times a week at an incline.

20 minutes at 3.2 @ 2% incline
10 minutes at 3.2 @ 7% incline

That site suggests that I burn ~400 calories at my current weight of 252lbs.

Just wondering if that would be anywhere close to reality.

Replies

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    My treadmill has a calorie counter and the figure is usually completely different to the MFP amount. I enter the actual amount from the treadmill meter.
  • dadams312
    dadams312 Posts: 3 Member
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    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    My treadmill has a calorie counter and the figure is usually completely different to the MFP amount. I enter the actual amount from the treadmill meter.

    My treadmill is a little older and while it does track calories, I’m not sure it accounts for incline and doesn’t take current weight in to consideration.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Treadmill workouts are fairly straightforward to calculate. My educated estimate of the workout you describe is about 230-250 calories. Not sure why that calculated number is so high.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    400 calories is about what this calculator says also. They probably use the same formulae.

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/walking-calorie-burn-calculator.shtml

    The number might be higher than expected because of the 252 lb weight. That said, you need to take the "at rest" calories out of this number, which at 250 lbs may be as high as 3 kcal/min. That leaves you with ~310 kcal.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited November 2017
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    Good for you for keeping active!
    400 cals per 30 min is unlikely. That's more than 13 cals per minute. Even when at 300 lbs I never estimated more than 10 cals per minute for very intense activity. That was based on MFP estimates of certain classes I took. Consider that elite Olympic athletes figure 15 cals per minute for an intense workout, and most of us aren't close to the kind of workouts they do.

    A standard walking formula puts 150 lb person at 50 cals per mile. (IIRC .33 cals per lb of body weight x miles). Of course you would burn a bit more. You covered about 1.6 miles in 30 min, so its' about 125 cals rounded. I'm not criticizing or judging you or your workout in any way. Just trying to share a more realistic perspective.

    PS Remember, the makers of treadmills are in business to sell more treadmills, and that's easier to do with promises of huge calorie burns.
  • dadams312
    dadams312 Posts: 3 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    Good for you for keeping active!
    400 cals per 30 min is unlikely. That's more than 13 cals per minute. Even when at 300 lbs I never estimated more than 10 cals per minute for very intense activity. That was based on MFP estimates of certain classes I took. Consider that elite Olympic athletes figure 15 cals per minute for an intense workout, and most of us aren't close to the kind of workouts they do.

    A standard walking formula puts 150 lb person at 50 cals per mile. (IIRC .33 cals per lb of body weight x miles). Of course you would burn a bit more. You covered about 1.6 miles in 30 min, so its' about 125 cals rounded. I'm not criticizing or judging you or your workout in any way. Just trying to share a more realistic perspective.

    PS Remember, the makers of treadmills are in business to sell more treadmills, and that's easier to do with promises of huge calorie burns.

    I was under the impression that walking at an incline increased the amount of calories burned over just walking on a flat surface.

    And I don’t recall what the treadmill said I burned in that time period, this was just the numbers I plugged into the site I linked.

    I know my treadmill doesn’t take weight into consideration for calories burned and I’m unsure if it accounts for incline?

    Thanks for your reply.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    That "calculator" you linked is giving ridiculously high numbers.
    A common net calorie formula for walking at normal speed on the flat is.....
    Net Walking calories Spent = (Body weight in pounds) x (0.30) x (Distance in miles)

    A 252lb person walking a mile gives 76 cals using that formula.
    "Your" calculator with a 0% gradient gave a ludicrous 224.


    If your treadmill doesn't take your weight into account then hard to see what it is basing any estimate on.

    Yes walking at an incline (without holding on to the rails of course) would increase the calorie burn compared to walking on the flat. If your treadmill does try to account for the incline it's still adding a variable to a random number.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    dadams312 wrote: »
    https://42.195km.net/e/treadsim/

    I do a 30 minute workout 3 times a week at an incline.

    20 minutes at 3.2 @ 2% incline
    10 minutes at 3.2 @ 7% incline

    That site suggests that I burn ~400 calories at my current weight of 252lbs.

    Just wondering if that would be anywhere close to reality.

    I'd half that. You're between 75 and 100 calories per mile, and at that pace you're walking about a mile and a half, so 150-200 calories at best.

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