Elliptical for weight loss and calories burned.

mandietippets · March 2016

So I've been using the elliptical 5-6 days a week on a fairly high resistance and slope. I exercise anywhere from 25-40 minutes and it says that I'm burning between 350-550 calories. Anyone know how accurate these are? It's a newer Nordic track. Also, has anyone had success with weight loss on ellipticals? I'm definitely losing and toning but would love to hear others stories.

RespectTheKitty · March 2016

I use the elliptical a lot for my workouts. Since you're moving both your arms and legs, it's a few more calories burned, but I'm not sure how accurate the machines are. So far I've lost 16.5 pounds since mid-January so it's definitely working for me. I use the "Random" program on mine, to keep things interesting and to get some interval training.

mandietippets · March 2016

That's great!! I'm right about where you are I've lost 17 since January 20th but were also eating really clean. (Mostly...I still cheat sometimes lol.) I really enjoy and will often not hold the bars at all to try and up the workout a bit but know I need to diversify my work out. I despise running and need to find something else to do.

scubakat67 · March 2016

I have an elliptical (ProForm) that I've used on/off for years. The calorie count on the machine itself is NEVER correct. I wear a heart rate monitor which tells me a more accurate calorie burn. For 30 minutes, I'll burn about 200-250 calories, whereas the machine (and MFP for that matter) will tell me I've burned 350-400.

smcrimmon84 · March 2016

The elliptical at the gym shows WAY more calories burned than my heart rate monitor - over 100 calories off. I used to think I was getting a great burn on the elliptical until I started using a heart rate monitor! I switched to the arc trainer and burn way more (though still not as many as the arc trainer shows!). If you arent eating back all of your exercise calories - I wouldnt worry about it either way.

lthames0810 · March 2016

I found that the total calorie burn on the elliptical was way too high, but the average heart rate was spot on. I take that average heart rate and plug it into ShapeSense.com and get the net calorie burn.