Why You May Not Be Burning What You Think You're Burning

Since we all know that in the end, weight loss comes down to calories in versus calories out. Eat fewer calories than you burn. In fact, 3,500 calorie equals a pound. So, burn 500 calories more than you eat each day for seven days and voila -- a pound is gone.

But what if that pound isn't gone? You tracked your food and ate 1500 calories each day for a week. You tracked your exercise and your treadmill/elliptical/stationary bike game you a number and when added to your resting metabolic rate, you burned 2000 calories a day for seven days. A pound should be gone, right?

In theory, yes. But if you walked on the treadmill for an hour and got a calorie burn total, are you confident in that total?

My husband has been telling me for years that the calorie burn totals the machines give you aren't accurate. When I got my Bodybugg 3 1/2 years ago, I started testing all sorts of different workouts and machines to compare what they said I was burning with what the Bodybugg said. Bodybugg claims it is 90% acccurate, and I'm going to have to say it's at least that. When I started using it, I lost weight. Before, when I'd workout on a machine or DVD, those numbers were clearly off.

Why is this? When you plug your info into a machine (hey, my treadmill is actually so old, you don't even input any info! It just goes by speed and distance, so it's WAY off!), it then makes calculations and gives you data based on averages. I will say that newer machines are closer to the Bodybugg. I did a workout on a very new hotel treadmill last weekend and it was within 50 calories of my Bodybugg. But something else to remember, is that these machines don't take into account that your body has to "get up to speed." If you plug in your height, weight and age and start trotting along at 5 - 6 mile per hour, the machine immediately starts calculating your calories per minute at 6 or 7. But your body has to warm up and get in fat burning mode. That's why you hear fitness instructors say things like, "It's how you finish the workout that counts!" Or "The last few reps are where you get the results!"

Really, it's so true. When I walk at a consistent pace for one hour, the calorie burn really picks up in the second half of my walk as my metabolism kicks into gear.

So, if you're not seeing results on the scale and you're using machines to calculate your burn, you may need to take a closer look!

Here are a few examples of differences I've noticed:

Hotel treadmill (new machine), 30 min. run: overestimated my burn by 50 calories.

Home treadmill (circa 1997), 30 min. run: overestimated my burn by a whopping 200 calories.

Home treadmill, 30 min. walk: overestimated by burn by 105 calories.

Home elliptical (also circa 1997, but is programmable with weight/age): consistently overestimates a one hour session by 200+ calories! That's huge, especially if you're down to those last few pounds and they're coming off just tenths at a time.

You can get there! Let me know if you need help!