November 26, 2010-present weight loss




2012 weight loss



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Trusting The Calorie Counter

Do any of you actually trust the calorie counters (or more specifically the calories burned counter) on cardio equipment?  I was working out on my newest favorite machine today, the Technogym Wave, and got to thinking about the calorie counter. 
  
   
Yes, I enter in my information, but do I really trust that the number of calories this machine says I have burned is anywhere close to the number of calories I am actually burning (especially given some of the articles that say these numbers can be very inaccurate)?  Is it really possible that I burned 945 calories in 70 minutes?
    
  
I complete at least 60 minutes of cardio a day, 5 days a week.  I like it, and it certainly isn't going to harm me in any way.  I don't plan my eating based on the calories the machines tell me I have burned, so I suppose it really doesn't matter all that much.  Still, I'd like to know whether most of you rely on these counters.
   
After my workout I threw on my sweats and went to the market.  Before even leaving the locker room, I had stopped sweating and my body had come down to a normal temperature.  This is the first time I noticed how much easier it is for me to cool down after a workout now.  When I started working out, I would sweat all the way home and would even hold off on showering (not for long, I promise) until my body had normalized.  Now I step off of the equipment, get dressed and feel cool almost immediately... and that, my friends, is very cool!

9 comments:

Beth Ann said...

I don't trust the calorie counters on machines like that or the info you get from the internet (or whatever.) But in the absence of anything else, I use it. I found with my BodyBugg, that it would overestimate what I was burning on the elliptical, but would underestimate on the treadmill.

You are rocking the workouts, girl!!

Andrea said...

Yeah I don't really trust the machine calorie counters either. I have a polar watch with a heart rate monitor strap and I use that to track my calories burned. I don't wear it all the time, but every so often to see how I am doing. It's great to start seeing changes in your body like not sweating the whole way home!

vickyd said...

I don't trust the calories on the machine at all. I wear a Bodybugg every day and base my calories burned on that - it has been very eye opening to see just how different the number actually is from the machine.

Alison said...

I have no idea about the calories on the machines but do use it as a guide. I use the wave machine too, it's taking some getting used to!

Melissa Wolf said...

Nora, very interesting post, never really thought about it but I bet it's off. By the way (on a different note) your TripAdvisor profile and reviews are terrific, really informative and fun to read too! I'll certainly know who to ask next time I'm looking for recommendations!

Cece said...

Feeling cool immediately IS cool ... love it :)

trishajo said...

nope i don't even bother to look at what the machines say bc they're SOOOO off! like others have mentioned that have body buggs, i love my bugg bc it's straight up - no guessing needed!

Amanda said...

I don't trust the calories on the machines. But I honestly don't pay much attention to them any more. As long as I get a good work out in then I am pretty happy with the results!

MandaPanda said...

I don't trust the calorie counter on the machines. I mean how can a calorie counter possibly be accurate if it's not tracking your heart rate? However, I don't have a bodybugg or anything else either. I figure as long as I'm working up a sweat, that's all that matters.