treadmill and burning calories

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I'm new to all of this so excuse the lack of knowledge. I want to be able to log my exercise accurately. I've noticed that no matter how fast or slow I do a mile on my nordictrack treadmill it still says I only burn like 105ish calories. Does that seem accurate? Also, I try to find stuff as close to what I'm doing for logging purposes but there's just not a lot to choose from. So even though I just did an 18m mile both walking and running (3.0 and at times 5.0) I just logged that I did 20 minutes of walking at 3.0 (and it says I burned 148 cals.... so who's right?

Tips? Thoughts?

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    I'm new to all of this so excuse the lack of knowledge. I want to be able to log my exercise accurately. I've noticed that no matter how fast or slow I do a mile on my nordictrack treadmill it still says I only burn like 105ish calories. Does that seem accurate? Also, I try to find stuff as close to what I'm doing for logging purposes but there's just not a lot to choose from. So even though I just did an 18m mile both walking and running (3.0 and at times 5.0) I just logged that I did 20 minutes of walking at 3.0 (and it says I burned 148 cals.... so who's right?

    Tips? Thoughts?
    The difference for most people will be about 50 calories difference per mile when you run or walk. You burn more running than walking. Your treadmill is only accounting for distance traveled regardless if you run or walk. So for every mile you run, it should be about 50 calories more.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • carliekitty
    carliekitty Posts: 303 Member
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    I don't know about noridtracks at all so i don't know if this apply's, your weight chances how many calories you burn. The heavier you are the more calories you burn. I think most machines are set at 150 lbs, so if you weigh more then that you burned more calories then the machine is saying. I always do manual so i can set my weight in the machine and get a more accurate calorie burn.
  • amberjschmidt
    amberjschmidt Posts: 18 Member
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    I don't know about noridtracks at all so i don't know if this apply's, your weight chances how many calories you burn. The heavier you are the more calories you burn. I think most machines are set at 150 lbs, so if you weigh more then that you burned more calories then the machine is saying. I always do manual so i can set my weight in the machine and get a more accurate calorie burn.

    I wondered if weight mattered, I'm just under 300 lbs so I figured I HAD to be burning more than 100 calories! This is a very nice and expensive treadmill so i bet I can add my weight, just need to figure out how! lol
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    I'm new to all of this so excuse the lack of knowledge. I want to be able to log my exercise accurately. I've noticed that no matter how fast or slow I do a mile on my nordictrack treadmill it still says I only burn like 105ish calories. Does that seem accurate? Also, I try to find stuff as close to what I'm doing for logging purposes but there's just not a lot to choose from. So even though I just did an 18m mile both walking and running (3.0 and at times 5.0) I just logged that I did 20 minutes of walking at 3.0 (and it says I burned 148 cals.... so who's right?

    Tips? Thoughts?
    The difference for most people will be about 50 calories difference per mile when you run or walk. You burn more running than walking. Your treadmill is only accounting for distance traveled regardless if you run or walk. So for every mile you run, it should be about 50 calories more.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    If the treadmill is programmed correctly (and there is no reason why it shouldn't be, since the equations are quite simple), it will account for the differences in speed and apply the correct equation.

    Traditionally, the common equations used (ACSM) use 4.2 mph as the upper limit for walking, and 5.0 mph as the lower limit for running. I have no idea what they do with speeds of 4.3.-4.9 mph.

    So someone doing a walk/jog program should receive the correct calories per mile--the "walking" equation is used for walking speeds and the "running" equation is used for running speeds. (Assuming that body weight has been entered). There is no need to make a correction.

    Unless you were referring to the MFP database numbers (just thought of that). In that case, never mind.
  • helenkayj
    helenkayj Posts: 22 Member
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    Heart rate matters too! I stopped using the machine's calculations and started using a heart rate monitor...
  • amberjschmidt
    amberjschmidt Posts: 18 Member
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    Yeah I haven't input my weight yet... so MFP might be a bit more accurate at this point but it's just not taking into consideration the little time I did actually spend "running"... but let me tell ya it wasn't much! :)