How do i find out...

Posts: 773
6/5/12 9:51 P

Alexieee:

As others have mentioned, there are a variety of factors that need to be taken into account when you figure out how many calories you burn. When you were on the treadmill did you enter your weight and age? Is your weight listed correctly on your SparkPeople account? And when you looked at the SP tracker did you select the right exercise? i.e. for walking/jogging/running there are several options, distinguished by how fast you are walking (i.e. 21 minute mile) -- and then you have to enter the number of minutes you did this for.

Myself, I typically find that the SP tracker says roughly the same thing as the treadmill at the gym, provided I enter things correctly. So my guess is that you've entered something incorrectly at one location or the other.

Posts: 12,537
6/5/12 8:39 P

I agree with Unident - either figure is possible on a treadmill, depending on how intensely you were working out.

The major variables are your weight, how fast you were going (or alternately, how far you went), and the incline (if any).

If you could post these details, then we could probably come up with a better estimate for you.

M@L

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6/5/12 3:42 P

Count 100 calories for each mile.

Posts: 33,346
6/5/12 3:33 P

You don't give enough info.

I can plan you a treadmill workout to burn 180 calories in 45 minutes. I can plan you one to burn 400 in 45 minutes. I can plan you one to burn 600 in 45 minutes.

What are you DOING on the treadmill for those 45 minutes? And what do you weigh currently? Weight is a huge factor in how much you burn.

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6/5/12 12:37 P

That is rather low for 45 minutes. Is that just walking or is that actually jogging? I think the accuracy of things like treadmills gets worse at the slower speeds. The more I read on these things, the more I find that 300 calories per hour is a good rule of thumb for most moderate cardio exercises. So if you are just doing a moderate jog for 45 minutes, 250 may be a closer value. Again, it depends on many factors.

My treadmills seems to match fairly closely to SP values and I average 4 mph for 3 miles. I don't worry too much about the total accuracy of any of these approximations now since I am doing more interval running and that is much harder to figure out. I just focus on my nutrition, changing up exercises and such as things get easier and watching my weight go down, inches melt away and fitness go up. Keep the faith.

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6/5/12 12:22 P

the most accurate is a chest strap heart rate monitor.

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6/5/12 12:11 P

My treadmill tells me i burned about 400 calories in 45 mins but Spark People tells me i lost about 180.. what do i listen to?? how can i accurately count the calories i burned??

Edited by: ALEXIEEE at: 6/5/2012 (12:16)