The Treadmill Lies! (and I can prove it)

  • I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but today I walked for an hour on my treadmill (programmed to my current weight of 166 on a varying incline program designated for weight loss) while wearing my Bodybugg armband. At the end of the hour's workout, the calories burned according to the treadmill were 365. According to my Bodybugg, it was only 266. I know exercise equiptment is notorious for being overly generous on calories burned, but there it was in black and white...sigh
  • And like you know for sure that your bodybugg is accurate? (And I do have a similar gizmo - a bodymedia fit, so I'm not hating such a gizmo).

    Reality is, it's all a guess. Some guess better than others. Even calorie counting is a guess as not every apple has the same calories - every single slice of cheese, etc.

    My suggestion is to just get in the ballpark and see what happens and not worry about every single calorie eaten and burned as they are estimates and estimates only.
  • BodyBuggs sure as heck arent gospel truth either... best they can do is give you a good estimate of how much you MOVE in a day.. it has no idea how many cals you really burn. Every body is different (and yes, ive haqd a bodybugg). Its based on an algorithm, exactly like the treadmill calculation is based on. Its guessing, based on an AVERAGE woman, of your height/weight/age, moving X amount, that you are burning Y amount of calories. Its still just a mathmatical guess
  • I have a HRM watch and a cal counter on my Dreadmill, they always say something different!
  • My HRM syncs up with my treadmill. So they are the same.

    Never used Bodybugg, but I go with the Polar HRM. I'm on my third, never let me down! But all these tools have a margin of error -- estimates are estimates.

    And what do I care if I lose 1 lb or 0.5 lbs? I'm not going to fuss at the discrepancy between my bathroom scale and my Wii. Just move it on down is all I care. LOL.

    A.