Exercise database accurate??

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mukamom
mukamom Posts: 207 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    MFP and machines are usually quite a bit off, usually over estimate the burn. The best estimate you can get would be one from a heat rate monitor (HRM). If you don't have that I would suggest just eating back 75% of the lower of the machine or MFP.
  • kmanwant2
    kmanwant2 Posts: 5 Member
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    Please dont rely on the exercise equipment to show how many calories you burned it is not and accurate depiction of your true calories burned. Most "Good" gym equipment has and average herat rate monitoring system or do what most do and get a heart rate monitor system and go to this site and it will calculate correctly based on your average heart rate http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx ,
    you will notice a huge difference in what the machine says to what actually was lost.
  • oneIT
    oneIT Posts: 388 Member
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    MFP has been off by alot for me, just depends ont he person. Get a HRM.
  • maru84
    maru84 Posts: 128
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    I honestly think that the calories on MFP are overestimated, so when I get a chance I'm going to figure out how many calories I actually burn at an activity, compare it to MFP, and I'll repost with the results.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks
    167 for 10 minutes sounds high.

    You must take a few weeks to tweak your numbers of both calories burned and setting the correct BMR.

    It's never an exact science.
    And once you discover your zone, that's when the fun begins.
    You are now in control!
  • whtlatina1214
    whtlatina1214 Posts: 765 Member
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    I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks



    cool pf there is a group for us lol
    and well i do the elliptical BUT you do have to choose a setting i do either weight loss/ intervals/fat burn
    and then it does show you ...
    and yes the first time i stepped on that and an arc trainer lasted about 2 mins now im up to 45 on both machines
    love love love it now lol and congrats on your join
  • ScarlettVamp
    ScarlettVamp Posts: 828 Member
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    Honestly, it depends on how much effort you are putting into your workout. I have been doing low impact aerobics and the MFP database had me burning 232 calories in 32 minutes. I am now wearing an HRM and that same workout is actually burning 271 calories. Not a huge difference, but still a difference. I think MFP gives you a really good ballpark figure, especially considering that it can't tell if you are giving 110% in your workout. That being said, I would use the MFP database as an estimate and don't eat back all of your exercise calories. That way you know you aren't going over your daily calorie goal. :flowerforyou:
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,041 Member
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    It is only an estimate, but so are the number of calories in lots of foods. But if I eat approximately "x" calories and burn approximately "y" calories, I will lose approximately 1 pound a week! That is approximately AWESOME!
  • scott091501
    scott091501 Posts: 1,260 Member
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    MFP has been off by alot for me, just depends ont he person. Get a HRM.

    All fitness equipment and sites vastly over estimate calories burned. As far as HRMs, even Garmin will vastly overestimate.

    For instance here is the scientific info pulled from Runner's World:

    Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile ...........................Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
    Running .75 x your weight (in lbs.)________ .63 x your weight
    Walking .53 x your weight _______________.30 x your weight

    Adapted from "Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running," Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise, Cameron et al, Dec. 2004.
  • badgerbadger1
    badgerbadger1 Posts: 954 Member
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    I use this:

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    Since my HR is at or near MHR most of the time I'm on a treadmill or ARC.
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
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    I use a lower end HRM that only gives average BPM and duration. Then use this formula in an excel spreadsheet to tell me calories burned.

    For me MFP has been WAY over what this formula says. Today for example I used the elliptical for 30 mins. MFP said 400+, this formula said 264.

    If you aren't good with math, don't let the formula scare you. Just enter it into Excel and it will do the work.

    Formula

    The Journal of Sports Sciences provides a calorie expenditure formula for each gender. Men use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) -- (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x Time / 4.184. Women use the following formula: Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) -- (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) -- 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.
    Calculation

    Let your age be 32 years and let your weight be 173 lbs. for this example. You're male and your average heart rate during a 37-minute exercise session was 133 bpm. Your calorie expenditure during this exercise session was [(32 x 0.2017) -- (173 x 0.09036) + (133 x 0.6309) -- 55.0969] x 37 / 4.184 = 174 calories.

    Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/221621-formula-for-calories-burned-during-exercise/#ixzz1je7nJSx1
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
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    PS: Livestrong is a great website. Lots of good reading there and they provide scientific references.
  • mukamom
    mukamom Posts: 207 Member
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    Thanks to all....

    @kman I went to that site to figure out a better estimate of what I am burning, and it was wayyyy over-estimated. Thanks, I am going to that site for getting a more accurate number
    @erickirb..That 75% was a damn good estimate of how many calories to eat back. I was really concerned I was eating too much back for the exercise I was doing.
    @scott..the formula was very close to what the estimate was at the website that kman listed. Will keep that handy.

    Thanks again for all of your input. Happy Monday!
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    I have just started excerising last week..joined planet fitness. I used the treadmill last week, This morning, after treadmill, I tried out an elliptical. I lasted 10 minutes :ohwell: It didn't give me a calorie count as I just used the quick start. When I entered it in my exercise for the day, it listed 167 calories. Does that sound right? Thanks
    i usually burn about 100 calories every 10 minutes on the elliptical, according to my heart rate monitor. its awesome since i usually spend about an hour on it!
    *edit* just saw you got a lot of great answers

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