Is your gym machine’s calorie counter wrong?

December 20, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

“YES. 500 calories!”

I get so proud of myself when I hop off my boyfriend’s treadmill.

I mean, here I’ve done insane, high intensity sprint intervals for 20 minutes straight. I feel awesome. Drenched in sweat and pride, my prize is a braggadocio snapshot of my hard work, ready to be uploaded to social media, accessorized with a “fitspo” hashtag. (So humble. *Eyeroll*) The only problem? As usual, the truth. The truth is my only problem. And that’s that those 500 calories might be accurate for some runner. But it’s not likely me.

(“Siri: which button do I press to make the ‘calories burned’ number go up?”)

See, the problem is that I do high intensity workouts every day. (Usually two to three times a day ’cause I’m addicted.) So, while someone my age and height and gender who works out just a few times a week might be burning that much, I probably wouldn’t. Why? Because my body’s become more efficient at exercising than someone who does it less. And while that’s great, it sucks if I – or any’ve you who workout a helluva lot – decide to try and shed a few extra pounds.

So, how can we get an accurate calorie count?

Well, unfortunately, most machines are a bit off when it comes to these estimates. In fact, in a study done at University of California, San Francisco, the elliptical allegedly overestimated… by up to 42%. Next worse? The treadmill, stair climbers, and stationary bikes – which respectively overestimated by 13, 12, and seven percent. (I suddenly feel markedly less awesome about my “three a days”…)

It’s a humbling moment, to be sure.

That said, there is a (pricey) solution. And, if you’ve got anyone who’s still lost on what to get you for Christmas, this might just be the perfect last minute gift: a heart rate monitor based calorie counter. See, according to the pros, these badboys are far more accurate at logging calories burned because they go based off your specific heart rate. But not just any kind. For a truly legitimate reading, what you’re going to need is something to track the relationship between your heart rate and your oxygen uptake – because when that relationship changes, it can alter how much you’re actually burning and throw off that count significantly from what a heart monitor can show alone. (Complicated, I know…)

(Not to mention expensive.)

Holy cough drops. Half a grand for a calorie counter?

I mean if you want an on point calorie calculator, nab yourself one of these things you’ve gotta rob the local Wells Fargo to afford. As for me? I’m already thinking: if we know how much the machines are lying to us and by what percent… why not just do the math – and go the extra mile(s) instead? Or ingest less? Honestly, that number might be wrong. But you know what? It motivates me to come back and do more later. In that way, I think I’d rather just get honest with myself so the treadmill doesn’t need to be – and set the fork down instead’ve forking out a small loan to see a smaller number on a gadget that’ll make me wanna work out less.

(That said: I won’t be mad atchya if this knickknack ends up in my stocking, Santa.)