How Accurate Are Those Calorie Loss Counters On Fitness Machines?

Every time we wonder this question we immediately forget to ask someone about it as soon as we get off the machine!
We’re glad someone thought to ask it, though, and to our Mike Donavanik no less!
The question:

I was wondering when using cardio machines in the gym how close is my actual calorie loss compared to how many calories the machines show I’m burning? Thank you!

Mike’s answer:

Unfortunately, the number of calories a cardio machine shows you burning is usually off by 10-15%! It can be off by even more if you don’t input your age and weight. For a more accurate calorie burn reading, I highly recommend using a Polar Heart Rate Monitor, Garmin Heart Rate Monitor or dotFIT’s Exerspy. If those are not available to you, when you do cardio make sure you enter your details (age and weight) into the machine and take 10% off the final number of calories the machine says you’ve burned.

Thanks Mike! We were actually guessing that it’d be a little worse off than that, so that’s good news!
And if U have a question you’d like answered, write [email protected] or tweet @MikeDonavanik! We’d love to hear from you!