Calorie counters on cardio machines, such as treadmills and stairclimbers, base their numbers on your weight, the intensity of your workout and how long you do it. In order for the calorie count to be anywhere near accurate, you have to tell the machine how much you weigh. If the machine doesn't prompt you to enter your weight, the calorie display is wrong.

Fortunately, most health-club equipment asks users to enter their weight. Be aware, however, many home-use cardio machines use an arbitrary body weight set at the factory. If you weigh less than that, you're burning fewer calories than the display says. If you weigh more, you're burning more. Sadly, there is no standard for the preset body weight, so that's up to the manufacturer. It's probably a safe bet to assume most chose a high body weight so that you'll think you're burning a lot more calories on their machine than on any other one.

Still, even high-end health club machines can't take your arm movement into account. When a machine has your body weight and is figuring calorie burn, it assumes you're moving your arms normally without holding onto the handrails. If you do hold the handrails, the display will be inaccurately high. If you swing your arms vigorously, it'll be too low.

So if you like watching those calories burn away, make sure you're getting the most accurate information possible. If the machine doesn't know how much you weigh, ignore the calorie display. When you can, always enter your body weight as accurately as possible. And if you are thinking about buying home equipment, it may be worth the extra money to upgrade to the next model and get better electronics and a more accurate readout.

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