Garmin says les calories burned than treadmill says

lizzymay1990
lizzymay1990 Posts: 17 Member
edited January 2019 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, today on the treadmill I did moderate pace uphill walk for an hour. By the end it said I burnt 750 calories. However when I sync my Garmin connect it says 8366 steps and only 263 calories burnt today. What should I believe? Have I really only burnt what the Garmin says even though the treadmill said something much higher?

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
    Did you input your stats into the treadmill? That is a huge discrepancy.
  • DeLaCruxXx
    DeLaCruxXx Posts: 4 Member
    Input my stats, Always.
  • naomi8888
    naomi8888 Posts: 519 Member
    Does the Garmin have a heart rate monitor? That would be more accurate especially if you programmed it with your stats. Also depends how steep the incline is, how much you weigh and your pace. If I walked on a minimal incline at a moderate pace I think I would burn closer to the 263. By comparison, if I run at 10 - 11 kph for an hour I would burn close to 500.
  • sarahthes
    sarahthes Posts: 3,252 Member
    Unless you have a foot pod Garmin doesn't seem to calculate treadmill distance (and therefore calories) very well.

    To get a ballpark of which is correct, multiply your weight in lbs x distance in miles x 0.63. This formula can be used for a rough approximation of running calories.
  • erjones11
    erjones11 Posts: 422 Member
    I would go with the lower estimate. But that’s just me I don’t really know what’s right in these situations.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    Walking calories on flat ground ~= 1/3 your weight in pounds, times miles walked. Uphill requires more energy, but not that much more.

    I'm about 240 pounds and to burn 750 calories per hour on a bike is something I would NOT use the word moderate to describe.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited January 2019
    "Hi, today on the treadmill I did moderate pace uphill walk for an hour. By the end it said I burnt 750 calories."
    Very, very, very unlikely. 750cals/hr would be in the ballpark of what Tour de France riders do during a stage. And before people chime in about heavier people burning more calories - that's true for comparisons between two people doing the same exercise but you would still need truly elite levels of fitness whatever your weight to burn that much and feel it's a moderate pace.

    "However when I sync my Garmin connect it says 8366 steps and only 263 calories burnt today. "
    But is that an estimate for your exercise or an overall daily adjustment in which case what you did the rest of the day is more significant that what you did in one hour.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,818 Member
    lizzymay1990 wrote: »
    Hi, today on the treadmill I did moderate pace uphill walk for an hour. By the end it said I burnt 750 calories. However when I sync my Garmin connect it says 8366 steps and only 263 calories burnt today. What should I believe? Have I really only burnt what the Garmin says even though the treadmill said something much higher?

    You were walking for an hour?

    Believe the Garmin.

  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    I've discovered there needs to be adjustment for each persons weight. Maybe you told Garmin your weight, but I don't think there's a way to tell the treadmill your weight, so the adjustment isn't accounted for.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,675 Member
    My TM seems to think I weigh 300 pounds, since it gives wildly inflated calorie burns. Don't trust it. As stated above, your weight times .3 times distance is more accurate. I look at the extra calories from going uphill as bonus, to make up for inaccuracies in my logging.
  • erjones11
    erjones11 Posts: 422 Member
    Hi- Both my treadmill and bike have my age and weight. But I am not sure how it is used if at all.
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    I've discovered there needs to be adjustment for each persons weight. Maybe you told Garmin your weight, but I don't think there's a way to tell the treadmill your weight, so the adjustment isn't accounted for.

  • Pet_Ski
    Pet_Ski Posts: 5 Member
    edited April 2019
    I’ve been also pressed on calories burnt by Garmin fenix 5 Plus.

    However with the hrm strap it gives greater numbers in activities like ice hockey and tennis.

    I did a comparision with Sports-Tracker strap measuring agains Garmin wrist sensor and there was about one third to half less burnt on the watch than Sports-Tracker in 90 min tennis.

    With Garmin strap there is still a difference, but not as big. And I did not measure the same excercise both straps on.

    Since Garmin is an activity device and considered to be on the wrist all the time, the excercise calories may be only by the active minutes, basal metabolic rate subtracted.

    That would make sense to me, and I am having a conversation with Garmin people on the numbers, which I thought of being way off. Now I’m not quite so sure anymore. I’ve supplied them with my numbers from both systems.

    MFP and Garmin sync is mostly on the negative addjustment due to lower numbers on the wrist device. There has only been a couple of days last 30 days, when I’ve gained some burnt calories monitored by the watch.

    Keeping in mind, that MFP is estimating the calories by its wast database, they could also be wrong for each individual.

    What really bothers me in MFP excercise log is the name of sport (fixed), when you use a golf watch walking with a push/pull trolley, there is a synced excercise from your watch saying ”Golf, using power cart”, yet no engine nor motor on the trolley. They seem to get an idea of powered help, when you have a GPS logger and distance measuring device in use.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,249 Member
    A 200lb person walking 4 mph would burn and additional 240 cal walking for an hour (.30 x weight in lbs x distance in miles). The treadmill is on drugs, the Garmin is probably closer to reality.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
    There is no way you burned 750 KCal walking for an hour.

    That is unless you walked 4 mph and weigh 650 lbs
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    lizzymay1990 wrote: »
    Hi, today on the treadmill I did moderate pace uphill walk for an hour. By the end it said I burnt 750 calories. However when I sync my Garmin connect it says 8366 steps and only 263 calories burnt today. What should I believe? Have I really only burnt what the Garmin says even though the treadmill said something much higher?

    Moderate for uphill, or moderate pace for level which could have been difficult uphill?

    Still high though.

    Garmin though - did it have the distance correct?

    Contrary to thought that HRM would have been more accurate, if distance was correct, then step-based would have been.

    And contrary to thought Garmin isn't including BMR - it is - it's a report of the estimated calories burned during this chunk of time - which obviously includes some BMR level stuff going on.

    @Pet_Ski - the negative numbers with you doing active stuff is because you have the MFP activity level set high.

    That's it - Garmin reported daily burn minus MFP estimated daily burn no exercise = adjustment

    If there's a workout that Garmin synced over or you manually entered on MFP - that is subtracted out too.

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