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ROBOWINGER
2/24/06 10:14 P
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| if you burn more calories through exercise and go over what you're suppose to take in and your calories burned is still higher does it make a difference
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| Oh, and I see the 'Fast Break' goal SPoints are gone too. Again, very disappointing as it's not as fun to track those any more.
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Great information thank you all. I really want to make sure I am burning the right amount of calories that SP tells me to so I have been putting in quite a bit more cardio than is said just to make sure.
This working out is getting adicting!
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I'm not too worried about it, as I'm just using it all as a guide, and I'd rather under estimate than over estimate. It's just funny how different some of the numbers are. I've searched other websites (who knows how accurate their data is anyhow), and theirs always seemed higher at my weight than what SP says. But like I said, that way I know if I use SP and meet my goal, I'm meeting my goal. If I use the higher number, who knows.
Can you help me understand how they figure out how many calories you burn doing some exercise? Is there some way I can figure out how many calories I actually burn? Just the engineer in me coming out!
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SP_COACH_DEAN
2/16/06 11:50 P
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Hi, ROADMOYER
If you're 6'7" and 300 lbs., I think you can pretty much say you're burning as many calories as you want, and no one's gonna argue with you about it, lol.
Seriously, though, I don't know how the treadmill came up with 220 calories if it doesn't know your weight--the cheap models like that are generally calibrated for an average size person of 150 pounds.
I checked my exercise physiology textbook, and according to the standard walking chart in there, you should burn 227 calories in 20 minutes at 4mph. That's just an estimate too, but it's based on a lot of reliable data (though probably not too many people your (or my) size in the samples).
Coach Dean
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Unfortuantely the machines often give high numbers. My gym treadmill allows me to input my age, weight, etc. but it still gives a high number of calories. I ran two miles on it the other day and it said I burned 340 calories, my heart rate monitor said I burned 300 calories.
I can't give you much of a true answer other than you're probably some where in between that 200-220 range. On of these days maybe you'll be able to try out a heart rate monitor and find out which is most accurate.
matt
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I have problems with that, though. I can walk for 20 minutes at a 15-16 minute mile pace. The treadmill may say 220 calories or so (I have the basic, no weight/heigh info). SP if I put in 15 minute mile for 20 minutes, it will say 200 calories.
Now, I would think that the treadmill isn't set up for 300 lb 6'7" guys, so it would likely read less than my actual calories burned. But that would mean that SP is low.
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When it comes to equipment vs SP readings for calories burned, there's a couple things look at. If your equipment has you enter your height, weight, and age, then it's probably somewhat close. If it's basic equipment that doesn't allow you to enter your personal info then you're probably better off using SP numbers.
I just bought a heart rate monitor this week and found that both the gym numbers and SP numbers were off. Though, SP was closer than the gym equipment. If you can afford a basic heart rate monitor I can say it's one of the best investments you'll make for your exercise routine.
matt
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| This is a great topic because I dont know if I should use the excersise equipment colories or what they have in SP. I have been using what is in SP because it shows I burn more calories than my treadmill. I just hope I am not cheating myself.
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I know SparkGuy (the SparkPeople CEO) mentioned they are re-tooling the SparkPoints and there will be some changes to it in the near future. Unfortunately there were some majore complaints about people abusing the current system so they made some quick adjustments.
I'll pass along the wishes and maybe they can make the 1000 minute goal work some how. You guys are all doing great, keep up the hard work!
matt
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ROADMOYER
2/15/06 10:18 P
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That sucks. I understand why... it's similar to the 'posts'... make tons of posts and get more points.
It was a goal for me, and something to work towards. I would sit there and think '12 more minutes!!' I think they should get rid of the SP leaderboards, then there won't be the competition. I don't really care what anyone else is doing, I just enjoy seeing how I'm doing!
So here's my suggestion:
Put back the 1000 min/50 pt, but limit it to once/3 weeks or something (every 20 days would be 50 minutes/day).
It truly was a great goal for me to reach towards. And it got messed up because of a few losers.
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CHRISSMITH
2/15/06 7:52 P
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Unfortunately, I don't believe the answer to your first question can be accurately given. I tested my treadmill's calorie counter against a heart rate monitor/calorie counter. My treadmill was generally off by as much as 30% (low side). I just ran a 4.2 mile 60 minute walk/run at varying inclines and collected 774 calories on my heart rate monitor. The treadmill display was showing 494.
I'm glad to hear that they canned the 1000 minute points. When I asked the question last month, my feeling was that some might get discouraged believing that there were people actually working so many minutes when 30 minutes can be difficult to accomplish every day.
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Can't help you on the first one, it sounds like a data error on SP part, I'll forward it to the tech guys. The 50 points for 1000 minutes got removed because people were "abusing" it. They would post thousands of minutes to get more points. Even though points don't get you anything, it caused concern from other members about how some people could be getting 1000 points in one day.
matt
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| Ok, and one other question - what happened to the '50 spark points for 1000 cardio minutes'?
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ROADMOYER
2/15/06 12:34 A
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Ok, I'm really confused.... I was trying to put in some treadmill work tonight. I was trying to find a good average of what I did and how many calories I burned... please explain this to me:
15 min/mile, 5% incline, 22 minutes = 220 calories
20 min/mile, 5% incline, 22 minutes = 247 calories
15 min/mile = 4 mile/hr and 20 min/mile = 3 mile/hr... so walking on the same incline at a slower pace, I burn more calories?
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