Why you Can't Trust Calorie Burn in Your Cardio Equipment

You may be like 42 million Americans and belong to a gym. If you are using your gym’s treadmill or elliptical machine to burn calories to keep your waistline in line, know that the accuracy of cardio equipment is appalling. And if you are one of the 127 million Americans, one-third of the adult population, that are overweight, your efforts may be wasted if you expect weight loss results using the calorie burn from your cardio machine.

Why? There is a gross exaggeration of the number of calories that are burned because calories are estimated – not measured. The potential risk is to assume that if you burn calories off exercising that you can eat the same number of calories to stay in balance. According to Colleen Magana, Heart Zones Testing Center’s certified metabolic specialist, “At the end of your workout, the cardio display shows you the number of calories burned – it is totally inaccurate so don’t use it as a measurement of energy expenditure.” Caloric expenditure is unique to you, your age, sex, size, fitness level, metabolic efficiency and cannot be estimated any other way than by taking a metabolic fitness test.

A metabolic test gives you your caloric burn rate, your maximum heart rate, and your current level of fitness – three personal and essential numbers about your metabolism. According to Magana, “you may as well just guess at your calories burned on the machine or in your heart rate monitor because they can’t be accurate unless you take a metabolic fitness test.” If you take the resting or exercise test you get a report on your metabolism. If you know your blood pressure, your cholesterol levels, it is time to know your metabolism, says the Director of Sacramento’s Heart Zones Testing Center.

Why you Can't Trust Calorie Burn in Your Cardio Equipment

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