Treadmill calories burned vs. MFP calories

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GeneaCindy
GeneaCindy Posts: 148 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Today was the first day that I entered my weight into the treadmill as I walked. It showed that I burned 500 calories for an hour of walking at 3.5mph. I did about 20 minutes of walking with no incline, then went 3 minutes no incline, 2 minutes at 5, and 1-2 minutes at 10 for the remaining 40 minutes. When I use the MFP walking at 3.5mph it shows me burning about 320 calories. MFP does take my weight into account, but not the intervals. Does it seem reasonable to log the exercise at 500 calories?

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  • shortjules
    shortjules Posts: 111 Member
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    That's a huge difference in calories burned. I honestly do not ever go by what the treadmill says. Maybe it's just me, but I think it seems llike it overestimates your calorie burn.
  • tbhoover
    tbhoover Posts: 402 Member
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    That's why I love my heart rate monitor
  • Crewchief516
    Crewchief516 Posts: 5
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    I would not trust the Treadmill. I like to just keep track of speed and incline and the just calculate the cals my self. I hope you find something to help you.
  • TWrecks1968
    TWrecks1968 Posts: 138 Member
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    Treadmills are known to be horrible inaccurate. They have to be periodically calibrated and their formula is based on a standard individual. Heart Rate Monitors are much more accurate and take your age and weight into consideration. You can create a specific exercise, and reuse it with different time periods. Hope that helps.
  • donnam40
    donnam40 Posts: 246 Member
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    Don't trust the treadmill or MFP! MFP was grossly overstating my running calories. HRM is the best investment I made for accuracy.
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,360 Member
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    Don't trust the treadmill or MFP! MFP was grossly overstating my running calories. HRM is the best investment I made for accuracy.
    When I did a workout on the elliptical the machine said 200 calories, MFP said 400 and my HRM said only 97! I log the 97. If i had logged the 400 and eaten it back I be wondering why I can't lose weight.....:grumble:
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    Interesting. My elliptical always says I burn less than what MFP says, but I use what the machine says. Use the machine info.
  • Lary_babe
    Lary_babe Posts: 47 Member
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    I had the same question and now i'm really disheartened, cuz I feel like there is no way to know for sure and HRM are so complicated and expensive!! I like to mix up my routines all the time based on boredom, stamina and availability... so i don't think programming in a set workout would help in the least! :(
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I wouldn't trust the machine. In my experience with my bodybugg they usually overestimate. In the case where you did a lot of incline, maybe just adjust and say a 4.0 MPH pace. Either way, it's better to underestimate rather than overestimate. So far, MFP has been fairly accurate in my calorie burn, except for Turbo Fire.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,157 Member
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    I had the same question and now i'm really disheartened, cuz I feel like there is no way to know for sure and HRM are so complicated and expensive!! I like to mix up my routines all the time based on boredom, stamina and availability... so i don't think programming in a set workout would help in the least! :(

    HRM are not complicated. You need one with a chest strap, Polar's are a good choice, you enter your physical attributes and you are on your way. No complication. Put the chest strap and HRM on, start it, workout, finish workout, stop and record the information.
  • sheshe32
    sheshe32 Posts: 195 Member
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    Interesting. My elliptical always says I burn less than what MFP says, but I use what the machine says. Use the machine info.

    HAHA I was thinking the EXACT same thing. When I use elliptical it says 330cals burned (half hour) but MFT puts it somewhere about 850cals?? So I use the elliptacal cals burned each time.
  • wonca
    wonca Posts: 81
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    I would take the lesser of the 2 and if you burned more, congratulations.. you'll see the results on the scale later.
  • MisterDubs303
    MisterDubs303 Posts: 1,216 Member
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    I'm actually having a hard time deciphering how many minutes you did what, but if you know, use this tool for each incline and add it up. I spent the first half of the year walking on the incline treadmill, and my ticker indicates the value of that exercise to me.

    http://42.195km.net/e/treadsim/
  • GeneaCindy
    GeneaCindy Posts: 148 Member
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    Thanks for all the feedback. I was a bit nervous logging in so many calories burned. I think I will stick with the MFP (lower) estimates for now. I put a heart rate monitor on my Christmas list.....hope Santa is good to me and I get one :)
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    my treadmill always shows a bit more then the mft does. not a huge difference but it is a bit more. eg) mine will say 420 and the mft will log it as 370 but the elliptical will always be very close.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    my treadmill always shows a bit more then the mfp does. not a huge difference but it is a bit more. eg) mine will say 420 and the mfp will log it as 370 but the elliptical will always be very close.

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