I am that girl—the one who leaves the gym, t-shirt drenched in sweat, hair piled on top of head–bird nest style–previously light blue shorts now almost dark blue, and mascara smudges beneath her eyes–warrior style–who hopes that no ones gets too close or else their nose will NOT be thanking them. Yup—I have left the gym and overheard people (yes, people—not person) say, “Oh my god … gross … that girl is so sweaty!”
I happen to take great pride in my sweating abilities. Once or twice I have been embarrassed, but nothing feels better than the completion of a kick-ass workout accompanied by those “I feel so good neurotransmitters,” otherwise known as endorphins.
With all my heart pumping and sweat drenching, I wonder how many calories I’m torching. I know the gym machines always exaggerate, but by how much? Then—I received my belated birthday present from my dad—a Mio Motiva Petite Pink Watch! Can we say … exciting?!?
My Mio Experiment
The Mio is a watch that provides electrocardiogram (ECG) readings of your heart. All this means
is that it has built-in sensors, allowing it to measure the electrical activity of your heart’s contractions. Simply put, the watch allows a pretty accurate reading of your heart rate.
What’s even more exciting is that my Mio can track how many calories I burn during my sweat sessions.
With this knowledge I set out on a calorie burning experiment. I strapped on my Mio Motiva Petite Pink watch—what a name, huh?—and chronicled my workouts over the last few days. Note—I only used it when doing cardio.
Below are my results:
| Machine Causing Me to Sweat Buckets | Time On Machine (minutes) | Calories Burned According to Machine | Calories Burned According to Mio |
 |
60 | 7oo | 500 |
 |
30 | 292 | 242 |
 |
20 | 232 | 215 |
 |
60 | 612 | 696 |
 |
60 | 915 | 597 |
As you can see, my Mio results were all lower than the machines’ estimate of calories burned. The elliptical-type machines were most “off.” Now, I know what you’re all thinking … “Well, how do you know your Mio is right?” To answer your question—I don’t. BUT, I do know that it is more accurate than the gym machines and that the results more closely match the rule of thumb for calorie burn—approximately 100 calories per every 10 minutes of heart-pumping, sweat-dripping exercise.
Just as the machines do, the watch asks for your age, gender, and weight and times the length of your workout. But, it also continuously assesses your heart rate, measuring your level of exertion. It then takes into account of all these factors, does some calculations, and finally, displays your “torched” number. Oh, how I wish it matched the machine’s number, that would mean a lot more chocolate covered raisins for me, but nop … maybe next time…
Now, my goal is NOT to parade my Mio—though I do adore the watch. But, rather to simply show that the machines in the gyms, particularly the “ski-like” ones, overestimate the number of calories torched. To more closely examine this point, I turn to one of my all-time favorite New York Times pieces by Ms. Gina Kolata, Putting Very Little Weight in Calorie Counting Methods. Kolata writes,
Claude Bouchard, an obesity and exercise researcher who directs the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., found that if, for example, the average number of calories burned with an exercise is 100, individuals will burn anywhere from 70 to 130 calories.
What Determines Your Exercise Burn?
- Level of exertion (aka are you barely blushing OR are you creating the next Niagara Falls?)
- Time exercising
- Calories burned per day, regardless of exercise (aka resting metabolic rate)
- Age
- Sex
- Size
- Body weight
- Body composition
What you do while on the machine also matters. William Haskell, an exercise physiologist at Stanford, explains this in Kolata’s article,
…with treadmills, the calories are not accurate if you hang on the bars. Hanging onto the rails reduced the number of calories burned by 40 to 50 percent. The same thing happened with stair-climbing machines.“I’ve seen people hanging on stair climbers who think they are doing 1,200 calories an hour,” Dr. Haskell said. “They probably are doing 600 calories an hour.”
A Message From Me to You
Ladies and gents—keep up those sweat sessions, just don’t take the calorie counts on the machines number for number—they’re not accurate. However, I must note that out of any machine, the treadmill is most accurate in terms of calorie counts. BUT, keep in mind that not one “calorie counting tool” is dead-on, since there are MANY factors that determine how many calories your muscles are burning, and they just can’t be measured precisely by the average Joe or Jane in the gym. But, hey—if you have a device that can do this, ya better get on that … you’ll make a lot of moola.
Also—exercise to keep you feeling good and healthy. This is SO Important! (you know it is because I put it in red). Time and time again, it’s shown that those who exercise are happier, healthier, and more energized. Remember—we’re in this to be Healthy Inside and Out!
Lastly, the nutrition in me must tell you this–just because you worked out, doesn’t mean you are entitled to a double serving of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream . I hate to be the wind that ruffles your feathers, but it’s true. Think about it, if you run for 30 minutes, you torch about 300 calories—which equals about 25 wheat thins (yes, even the Multi-Grain kind) and a slice of cheese. Hence, it is important to still keep your nutrition basics in your mind’s forefront. To nab some workout fuel tips, read my post—Fooding the Fire.
Til next time, I will leave you with the words of Jillian Michaels (yea, I know she “sold out” with her line of “diet” pills, BUT you can’t deny that the woman knows how to work you out!),
Don’t forget you have to be smart about what you eat. Don’t erase all the work [you] did … by eating badly. Make sure that you’re eating healthy, staying focused on your workouts, and remember that this is about … being strong, being healthy and making time for you…
Want to get a better idea of how many calories you’re burning during your sweat sessions? Click HERE for a “Calories Burned Calculator.”
Happy Healthifying!
What are your thoughts on gym machine calorie counters?
I say goodbye to fad diets, bogus “fat-burning” pills, and processed, non-food food. And, I smile hello to a healthifying lifestyle full of fruits, veggies, and whole grains, sweaty workouts, the occasional "chocolate fix," sleep, family and friend time, quality “me time,” and a focus on health NOT weight. I look forward to your comments and thoughts as the posts healthify on by! Thanks for reading!
This is so true! I always wondered why my elliptical machines were saying I was burning twice as much as the treadmill, when I was working twice as hard on the treadmill. Thanks for putting an end to my suspicions.
Thanks for the comment Lexi
Yes, it’s CRAZY by how much some of the machines overestimate!
xxoo Corinne
Great blog post Corrine!! Its so true, especially when the machines do not even let you enter in a weight!
When I took a personal training class we had to check the person we were trainings heart rate etc when they were on those types of machines, and even in comparison to the heart rate monitors on the machine- they were so off.
The Mio is a really good idea to use– and not gonna lie, its pretty adorable.
Thanks for the comment Jamie! Personal training class? Sounds fun! Good for you! And, glad you like the watch! I LOVE it … was worried it’d be too pink, but it’s perfectly pink! Talk soon xx Corinne
Great post. I won’t enter my weight on the machine anymore. It used to be a huge trigger for me and I would only eat as many calories that the machine said I burned that day. It was part of binge/purge cycle and was very destructive. I wish those machines didn’t have them at all. I know they’re useful for some people, but the calorie burn shouldn’t matter. All that matters is your fitting activity into your day.
Good for you! Glad you overcame your obstacles. I agree– fitting activity into your day is all that matters!
Yes! Amen! Actually, though, the machines didn’t over-estimate as much as I thought. A girl in my master’s classes did her thesis on this very topic and found that some machines over-estimate up for FORTY (yes, 4-0) percent. Wowza!
I never trust those machines and I, too, wear a heart rate monitor. Wonderful post!
P.S. I sweat like a MONSTER!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading! You made me laugh! Guess we both need massive towels to mop up the sweat! Blog soon
love your blog! this is SO true..great post
Thanks for stopping by! Glad you enjoyed! Happy blogging
Fantastic post!!
I know the machines are not accurate, which is why I never look at them. I will look at them for time and to enter my stats, etc., but not to determine my calories burned or heart rate. I used to though, and then I learned the truth!
I also used to use the Stairmaster and lean up against the rails…haha, which made it so much easier! I was cheating, clearly, and so many people do that.
It’s true that many people will eat and compensate (overly) for their workouts sessions. That’s something that I always try to hit hard when I am consulting with people about exercise. You simply can’t exercise and then go out and eat a large pizza, it doesn’t work that way!
I completely agree! Mindful healthy eating is ALWAYS KEY … even when you exercise! Thanks for the comment
I’m definitely always “that sweaty girl”. My head seems to always be drenched, while the girl next to me on the treadmill looks perfectly in tact. Haha, at least I can say I’m working hard.
This is good to know. I’ve always wondered if the machines aren’t totally accurate. However, like you say, I also question the watch…but yeah, working out for me isn’t all about burning calories, but more about increasing overall health.
I couldn’t agree more!
Wonderful post! Like you I am drenched in sweat when I leave the gym. I don’t understand how some people leave the gym completely dry??
Thanks for the comment on my Myth Busters page!
Great post! I normally don’t even enter in my weight and age just assuming it probably isn’t that accurate. I have thought about purchasing something like your Mio watch so I have a more accurate way to track what I’m burning.
Like so many people have mentioned, for example, people will work out for 30 minutes and think they can now eat whatever they want. It is really all about the balance.
I remember when I first realized this years ago. Having a HRM now is great. I always know, how hard I’m working.
I’m also the one at the gym covered in sweat. It’s a hard earned sweat so I’m proud of it!
So very true!! I don’t even pay attention to those things because they are always way off. I wear a HR monitor on occasion and they are pretty accurate, although the one I have is ancient & has been giving me some funky reading lately lol I generally burn about 450-500 kcals per hour at the most. That’s not all that much in terms of food intake, but when I go for a 4 hour bike ride I can burn upwards of 2,000kcals so I like to fit in a little sumthin’ sumthin’ after I fuel properly of course
Great post!
such an excellent post!!!!
first of all, i am that girl too-soo sweaty after a workout. I feel so bad if i ever have to take public transit after a session!!
and i also love the point you make about exercise and health. we really need to uncouple the association between wt loss and exercise. There are so many additional benefits that exercise brings, and most people will abandon an exercise routine if they do not see instant wt loss.
keep up the quality posts! you rock!