Never Trust the Treadmill

Or any cardio machine, for that matter, when it comes to the calories the machine is telling you have burned. It's not accurate, and here's why:

Body Size- If the machine does not ask for your body weight, most likely the calorie count will not be accurate. A 110lb person will burn less calories than a 150lb person, assuming they run on the same pace with the same duration.

Body Composition- Also consider that a person who has a high percentage of lean muscle will burn more calories than a person with less muscle- lean tissue is more metabolically active.

Workout Intensity- The higher the intensity, the more calories you will burn.

Technique- Your workout will be more effective if you swing your arms at your sides, instead of holding the bar. Handing onto the handrails will reduce the  number of calories burned by 40 to 50% if you are on a treadmill.

Familiarity- The more familiar you are with an exercise, the fewer calories you use at the same level of effort. Your body may have gotten used to the cardio exercise and therefore, less challenge your body has to work and fewer calories you will burn. This is why it is good to do different cardio on different days and on different machines.

The Machine- Without good maintenance, machines may get out of calibration. So, the figures you see on the screen can be way out of the real range.

The Manufacturer- Even if everything stays the same, the amount may still be different depending on the manufacturer of the equipment. This different is possible because companies use their own formulas to calculate what an average person of a given size will burn at a given level of intensity.


THE BEST way to calculate your calories burned is by wearing a heart rate monitor with a chest strap while working out.