THE ACCURACY OF CALORIE COUNTERS ON CARDIO EQUIPMENT

Many fitness enthusiasts want to know how accurate are the calorie counters on their ellipticals, elliptical cross trainers, treadmills, or stationary bikes, Well, they are not accurate. but in most cases, the calorie readouts are reasonable approximations.

The fitness equipment manufacturers utilize patent protected algorithms to compute the number of calories being burned. The formulas usually take several factors into consideration, such as, the a treadmill's speed and elevation, the RPM of a bike's pedals, the number of strides per minute on an elliptical, the user's weight , the user's age, resistance levels and sometimes other factors. They design their algorithms based on data derived from field studies, most of which are performed by other entities.

Since the cardio equipment manufacturers frequently base their formulas on different studies and have to estimate some parameters, such as the room temperature and humidity and realizing that everyone's metabolism is different, there is no way that the calorie readout could be accurate. The manufacturers also change their algorithms from time to time in an effort to improve them. So, even two pieces of equipment, being of the same make and model, but being made two years apart, may not use the same formula and may generate slightly different calorie readouts.

While calorie counters may not be exactly accurate, they should be consistent on the same unit. For example, if you are on the same treadmill, use it at the same speed and elevation, enter the same age and weight and use it for the same duration, the calories burned readout should be the same every time. Because of this constancy, the calorie count can be used as a relative measurement your workout session.