Accuracy of Cardio Machine Calorie Burn?
Replies
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BrianSharpe wrote: »I would suggest you mix in some weight lifting as well and build a little bit of muscle. You have to remember, if you are doing the same thing over and over, your body will adjust and your metabolism will change. You could hit a treadmill hard for the first time for weeks and lose a lot of weight, then your body will adjust and burn less calories.
Sounds like it's time to mix it up, do some weight lifting, crossfit, or something else to change up your routine. Doing ONLY cardio, will not get you to your goals normally.
The only reason one might burn fewer calories would be the result of weight loss. It's physics....mass over distance. Having said that one's HRM may suggest you're burning fewer calories as you become fitter but that's only a result of them erroneously correlating calorie expenditure and heart rate.
Sounds like you've fallen for the crossfit "gotta confuse the body" mantra.
OP typically cardio machines significantly overstate caloric expenditure (my own treadmill will tell me I've burned close to 500 cal after an easy paced 35 minute run whereas my Garmin gives me a bit more than 300 (using a foot pod)
You are 100% missing my point. You body will adjust if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over gain. I have seem people do cardio for hours at gyms and it barely does anything for them, because that is ALL they do every singe week. It's possible over a few hours they may have been burning 900+ calories, but they are not switching anything up, and your body adjusts and burns less calories.
Unless you change the difficulty or mix in different programs, you are going to slow down your metabolism since your body is become more efficient at what you are doing.
Twaddle.
Usually as people get fitter they burn more calories as they can exercise at a higher intensity and/or longer duration.
Again missing the complete point, and since you don't read and understand the point, I'm done. I get so sick of people highjacking posts and ripping on people that give advice, instead of just replying to the original poster.0 -
You are 100% missing my point. You body will adjust if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over gain. I have seem people do cardio for hours at gyms and it barely does anything for them, because that is ALL they do every singe week. It's possible over a few hours they may have been burning 900+ calories, but they are not switching anything up, and your body adjusts and burns less calories.
Unless you change the difficulty or mix in different programs, you are going to slow down your metabolism since your body is become more efficient at what you are doing.
I'm not missing your point I'm telling you that you're wrong.
If I run 8 km as a newbie and the same 8km 6 months later assuming that my weight is the same my body burns the same number of calories. If you want to get stronger, yes you need a progressive program but in terms of calorie burn if you do the same routine using the same weights forever you still burn the same number of calories - it's physics pure and simple.
When your body becomes more efficient, as you put it, it means you can run faster, jump higher etc etc etc but it doesn't mean you burn fewer calories for the same amount of work.
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I would suggest you mix in some weight lifting as well and build a little bit of muscle. You have to remember, if you are doing the same thing over and over, your body will adjust and your metabolism will change. You could hit a treadmill hard for the first time for weeks and lose a lot of weight, then your body will adjust and burn less calories.
Sounds like it's time to mix it up, do some weight lifting, crossfit, or something else to change up your routine. Doing ONLY cardio, will not get you to your goals normally.
You are 100% missing my point. You body will adjust if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over gain. I have seem people do cardio for hours at gyms and it barely does anything for them, because that is ALL they do every singe week. It's possible over a few hours they may have been burning 900+ calories, but they are not switching anything up, and your body adjusts and burns less calories.
Unless you change the difficulty or mix in different programs, you are going to slow down your metabolism since your body is become more efficient at what you are doing.
Everyone that is telling you a point of yours was wrong is going off your comment. Which your later comments backed up your belief.
The advice about adding lifting is not bad - the reason behind doing so is not bad.
The one singular point about changing the difficulty was correct.
The other reasons given to do with burning less calories is wrong though.
If you think we are wrong - one research study is all it would take.
And your metabolism is pretty efficient already - it's been doing it's thing since before you were born.
Perhaps you are mistaking metabolism with higher level things like moving and exercising.
The fact you see people at the gym perhaps doing the exact same pace/speed/intensity and not making visual progress, has so many factors behind it to think your observations are telling the whole story is rather naive.5 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »I would suggest you mix in some weight lifting as well and build a little bit of muscle. You have to remember, if you are doing the same thing over and over, your body will adjust and your metabolism will change. You could hit a treadmill hard for the first time for weeks and lose a lot of weight, then your body will adjust and burn less calories.
Sounds like it's time to mix it up, do some weight lifting, crossfit, or something else to change up your routine. Doing ONLY cardio, will not get you to your goals normally.
The only reason one might burn fewer calories would be the result of weight loss. It's physics....mass over distance. Having said that one's HRM may suggest you're burning fewer calories as you become fitter but that's only a result of them erroneously correlating calorie expenditure and heart rate.
Sounds like you've fallen for the crossfit "gotta confuse the body" mantra.
OP typically cardio machines significantly overstate caloric expenditure (my own treadmill will tell me I've burned close to 500 cal after an easy paced 35 minute run whereas my Garmin gives me a bit more than 300 (using a foot pod)
You are 100% missing my point. You body will adjust if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over gain. I have seem people do cardio for hours at gyms and it barely does anything for them, because that is ALL they do every singe week. It's possible over a few hours they may have been burning 900+ calories, but they are not switching anything up, and your body adjusts and burns less calories.
Unless you change the difficulty or mix in different programs, you are going to slow down your metabolism since your body is become more efficient at what you are doing.
Twaddle.
Usually as people get fitter they burn more calories as they can exercise at a higher intensity and/or longer duration.
Again missing the complete point, and since you don't read and understand the point, I'm done. I get so sick of people highjacking posts and ripping on people that give advice, instead of just replying to the original poster.
I've read your point and it's simply wrong.
Please educate yourself as you are trying to mislead people with your bro science nonsense.3 -
cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »Well, weight loss is very easy and it's hard to screw it up when you have a lot of weight to lose. First, your body will use your body fat as fuel even when you are undereating. Second, any deficit at all will lead to loss, and you don't even have to be close, number-wise.
Now that you are close to goal, you really need to nail this down. Don't continue to under-eat, with little body fat it is going to blow up in your face. Weight loss is easy with a lot of weight to lose. It becomes a much tighter range as you get close, like you are now.
Pick a number for the exercise and use it consistently for a month. See what happens. 300 is a good number.
This isn't an exact science. I figure even with my food scale and making most of my own food from home I still make a couple hundred calories of errors a day, probably. I decided to nail down that Exercise variable in the way I did it so that I could know where to adjust if needed.
I still have 36% body fat, per the measurement from my scale, which I would like to see decrease to the mid 20s eventually. I'm not sure I could qualify as having 'little body fat' right now?
I do not have a food scale, but the longer I'm on these forums the more I'm getting convinced I should start using one. I'm going to assume the closer I am to a healthy range, and to stay in maintenance, a scale is going to be crucial.
At 5'5" 155, your BMI is 25.8. You are 5 pounds outside the healthy weight range for your height. Your scale is nuts. Those bioimpedence scales are notoriously inaccurate.
Congratulations on almost Normal Weight.
And yeah, I bought my food scale at about the point you are at, too. It's necessary - for me. I want to make sure I eat enough, not just make sure I don't eat too much. It's a delicate balance with not much weight to lose.
I have no idea if the scale is accurate or not, or if the OP is measuring under consistent conditions...but, 36% body fat at 155 lbs indicates a lean mass of 99lbs. At 5’5” that is not really that low (it’s maybe slightly lower than average).
Again, I don’t know the specifics about the OPs frame, muscle mass, or anything else. But, even if the scale reading is just random coincidence, it would not be that unusual if that was indeed close to the OP’s body fat.
The point I am trying to make is that you can’t use BMI to dismiss the OP’s concerns about lowering her body fat. Using only BMI to try to assess an individual’s body composition is as inaccurate a method as any out there.
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BrianSharpe wrote: »I would suggest you mix in some weight lifting as well and build a little bit of muscle. You have to remember, if you are doing the same thing over and over, your body will adjust and your metabolism will change. You could hit a treadmill hard for the first time for weeks and lose a lot of weight, then your body will adjust and burn less calories.
Sounds like it's time to mix it up, do some weight lifting, crossfit, or something else to change up your routine. Doing ONLY cardio, will not get you to your goals normally.
The only reason one might burn fewer calories would be the result of weight loss. It's physics....mass over distance. Having said that one's HRM may suggest you're burning fewer calories as you become fitter but that's only a result of them erroneously correlating calorie expenditure and heart rate.
Sounds like you've fallen for the crossfit "gotta confuse the body" mantra.
OP typically cardio machines significantly overstate caloric expenditure (my own treadmill will tell me I've burned close to 500 cal after an easy paced 35 minute run whereas my Garmin gives me a bit more than 300 (using a foot pod)
You are 100% missing my point. You body will adjust if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over gain. I have seem people do cardio for hours at gyms and it barely does anything for them, because that is ALL they do every singe week. It's possible over a few hours they may have been burning 900+ calories, but they are not switching anything up, and your body adjusts and burns less calories.
Unless you change the difficulty or mix in different programs, you are going to slow down your metabolism since your body is become more efficient at what you are doing.
No, he understood your point quite well. But your point is 100% wrong—that’s why he disagreed.
When people “do the same thing over and over again”, and it “barely does anything for them”, it’s because, over time, we tend to make subtle lifestyle changes to restore an energy balance, NOT because the “body adjusts and burns fewer calories”.
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