elliptical vs. treadmill for calorie burn

autumn_skye

So, I have a question. When I use the elliptical, I burn approx 9 calories/minute (according to its monitor). I am hardly working up a sweat. However, when I jog on the treadmill, it says I am burning significantly less calories, yet I am sweating bullets and heart rate is consistantly higher. How can this be?....Does the treadmill just assume I am in better shape?..lol!

law1558

Jogging on a treadmill (or on the street) puts significantly more stress on your body, which will spike your heart rate faster...and probably be harder to maintain for the same time spent on an eliptical. I found this breakdown on a another website:

For a 160-lb. person, jogging at five miles per hour burns about 584 calories per hour. Running at eight miles per hour burns about 986 calories per hour.

On the elliptical, a 160-lb. person can burn about 400 to 500 calories in an hour during moderate exercise, and 600 to 700 calories per hour during vigorous exercise

hill8570

My personal opinion is that the monitor on the elliptical is too optimistic -- most people have trouble carrying on a conversation at a 10 cal / min burn rate. If you're barely breaking a sweat, you're probably way closer to 5 cal /min than 9 cal / min.