How to record treadmill in exercise diary?

StaceG1986
StaceG1986 Posts: 350
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

I'm going to start working out on the treadmill tomorrow, I was just wondering what do I record it under in my exercise diary?

Dumb question I know, it will probably be really obvious! lol

:drinker:

Replies

  • meganwojo
    meganwojo Posts: 221 Member
    go to exercise...cardiovascular and type treadmill...it comes up treadmill-stair, or general....it is pretty much accurate to a tee if your walking at 4.0 mph. My treadmill calorie reading and the cals on the treadmill-stair, general on the site match up give or take 5 calories. Hope this helps!
  • JayAlexander
    JayAlexander Posts: 268 Member
    I enter it as running/jogging but I found that the mph settings were too high for me (I ran a mile in about 20mins.) so I usually put it under fast paced walking. You can really put it under whatever you want and just enter in the calories burned that it says on the machine. Hope this helps! Good luck with the workouts!
  • nlagrone
    nlagrone Posts: 8 Member
    Hi Pink: I personally record as walking since there isn't treadmill in the database. There are different speeds you can choose from including if you do it on an incline. Hope this help! Have fun!
  • meganwojo
    meganwojo Posts: 221 Member
    Hi Pink: I personally record as walking since there isn't treadmill in the database. There are different speeds you can choose from including if you do it on an incline. Hope this help! Have fun!

    I was confused with the whole treadmill not being in the database too. However, if you walk 4 mph or more...the treadmill-stair, general choice under cardiovascular is almost 99.9% accurate as to what my treadmill reads.
  • StaceG1986
    StaceG1986 Posts: 350
    Thanks guys!! :flowerforyou:
  • ziananm
    ziananm Posts: 1 Member
    For new people who were wondering about the same thing, treadmill is in the exercise database now (2020) to find it:
    Add exercise
    Select cardiovascular
    Select browse all
    Type in "treadmill" in the search bar
    Tab treadmill (it's the only option available)
    Then put in your time and calories burn (most new treadmills will display this info)
    Done
  • spyro88
    spyro88 Posts: 472 Member
    I record it as an uphill walk (I always do a fast uphill walk on the treadmill) then I enter the calories manually. I often vary incline/speed on the machine so MFP can’t calculate accurately for me.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    spyro88 wrote: »
    I record it as an uphill walk (I always do a fast uphill walk on the treadmill) then I enter the calories manually. I often vary incline/speed on the machine so MFP can’t calculate accurately for me.

    Same. I do intervals of hills and flat and varying degrees of incline on the hills, so MFP does not accurately record my calories. My treadmill (life fitness 95t) also allows me to enter my weight for a more accurate guesstimate as to what I’m burning.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    meganwojo wrote: »
    go to exercise...cardiovascular and type treadmill...it comes up treadmill-stair, or general....it is pretty much accurate to a tee if your walking at 4.0 mph. My treadmill calorie reading and the cals on the treadmill-stair, general on the site match up give or take 5 calories. Hope this helps!

    That's coincidence as every machine uses a different algorithm. Plus it's very possible that both are in fact wrong but there's no way of knowing. Those machines generally also measure gross calories compared to net. Gross includes the energy your body burns just by existing (running your organs, etc) and the movement. Net is what you want as MFP already accounts for the base calories.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,749 Member
    ziananm wrote: »
    For new people who were wondering about the same thing, treadmill is in the exercise database now (2020) to find it:
    Add exercise
    Select cardiovascular
    Select browse all
    Type in "treadmill" in the search bar
    Tab treadmill (it's the only option available)
    Then put in your time and calories burn (most new treadmills will display this info)
    Done

    I would be wary of using the calories given by the TM. Some may include your stats to make the calories more accurate, but mine has ridiculously inflated numbers. I can't input my weight, so it seems to assume I weigh 200 or more pounds, saying I burn 1000 calories an hour with a 6 mph run. Reality is I burn half that.

    I use MFPs numbers for regular walking and running. If I burn a few more calories because I use the incline on the TM, that's bonus.
  • BritmaninNZ
    BritmaninNZ Posts: 49 Member
    I normally use the calorie burn that is shown on the treadmills I use at the gym I go to, they are usually lower than what MFP calculates, so I am hopefully burning more than I am logging.
  • swkhalsa
    swkhalsa Posts: 1 Member
    if you record a treadmill workout are you in effect double counting because your steps are also being tracked? or am i missing something?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,635 Member
    swkhalsa wrote: »
    if you record a treadmill workout are you in effect double counting because your steps are also being tracked? or am i missing something?

    There are some exceptions, but as a generality you would either sync a fitness tracker, or log exercise manually, not both.

    A sync-ed tracker worn nearly 24x7 will bring over calorie estimates that include all activity, including exercise like walking, treadmill or otherwise. It's not necessary to manually log the exercise, and it could be double-counting. (I believe some trackers' sync will adjust for exercise explicitly logged in MFP, but I think not all - not sure.)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    I would think that most cardio equipment in gyms display gross calories and not net. Gross includes the calories your body would burn anyway to keep you alive, brain function, organs, pumping your blood around, etc. This 'keeping you alive' think is already part of the calories MFP gives you. You want net calories which is the exercise minus the being alive calories. Also, holding onto anything, either because it's easier or to see some HR data will also reduce calories, because you don't need to keep yourself upright and balance.

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