We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

HRM Watch Calorie Count VS. Ellipitcal Calorie Count

shocktastic
shocktastic Posts: 106 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
This may be a silly question but should I be logging the calories burned my ellipitical shows or what my HRM watch shows? I don't enter weight or give a heart rate with my ellipitcal, but it does show a calorie burn.

It just now seem like I am burning a ton of calories according to my HRM watch compared to the count from my machine?? Any ideas?

Replies

  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Go with your HRM. It should be basing your burn off of YOUR data (height, age, weight, gender, etc), so it's more accurate. The elliptical knows nothing about you. There is no way it could be accurate. Even when you put in your weight, how does it know how hard your heart is working?

    Does your HRM have a chest strap? The chest strap models are much more accurate than just the watch.
  • Fausttt
    Fausttt Posts: 101
    Go with your HRM. It should be basing your burn off of YOUR data (height, age, weight, gender, etc), so it's more accurate. The elliptical knows nothing about you. There is no way it could be accurate. Even when you put in your weight, how does it know how hard your heart is working?

    Does your HRM have a chest strap? The chest strap models are much more accurate than just the watch.

    what about ellipticals that read your HRM? I don't wear the watch, but I wear the chest strap when I'm at the gym, the machine seems to read my chest sensor just fine. Can I trust the calories then?
  • lauren28178
    lauren28178 Posts: 22 Member
    Great question!!!!!!! I don't have a HRM yet, but the elliptical machine sure shows a diff amount of calories burned than MFP does... I guess I need to go ahead and invest in an HRM!!
  • shocktastic
    shocktastic Posts: 106 Member
    Yes I wear the chest strap .. Thanks
  • Coolhand1969
    Coolhand1969 Posts: 821 Member
    Go with your HRM. It should be basing your burn off of YOUR data (height, age, weight, gender, etc), so it's more accurate. The elliptical knows nothing about you. There is no way it could be accurate. Even when you put in your weight, how does it know how hard your heart is working?

    Does your HRM have a chest strap? The chest strap models are much more accurate than just the watch.

    Some machines have you input the same data that is in a HRM watch. Some machines also read the same data from your heart rate strap as the watch gets (and seem to actually pick it up better). The machines at my gym do this. If I'm using one of those types of machines, I tend to average the calories between the two counts - they usually aren't too far off anyway. Otherwise, I use my HRM watch's count.
This discussion has been closed.