Calorie expenditure calculations – True Fitness Z7 Series User Manual

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Z 7 Tr e a d m i l l O w n e r ' s G u i d e

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Calorie Expenditure Calculations

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True treadmills use the calorie expenditure formula as described in

Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription from the American

College of Sports Medicine. This is the most widely

accepted formula for running and walking.

The ACSM guide says that running burns calories

twice as fast as walking, e.g., a 150-pound person

jogging at 5 mph requires 548 calories per hour, while

walking at 5 mph requires 274 per hour. See Appendix

C for more details.

(Other respected researchers such as David Costill think the ACSM

overstates the energy difference between running and walking.

Costill believes running requires 60% more energy than walking, not

100% as calculated by the ACSM. Using the same example, Costill's

calculations result in 496 cal/hour for running 5 mph, with 313 cal/

hour for walking 5 mph.)

One potential source of calorie estimate

error is that the treadmill doesn't know

if you are running or walking, so it has

to make some assumptions. It assumes

you are walking at 3 mph and slower,

and running at 5 mph and faster. Between those two speeds, the

treadmill combines the walking and running formulas to make its

best guess.

Variations in human exercise efficiency are another potential source

of error, with differences of plus or minus 10% common in the

population

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