Elliptical ~ calories burned

cashmore

I have a hard time believing this, but my average calories burned in a 50 minute cardio class is around 1000 (using an elliptical). Are these machines / cal counts accurate at all?

Mindful_Trent

I use a BodyMedia Fit (like a bodybugg) and it gives me a MUCH lower calorie count than the elliptical machine. You really can't put much stock in the generic estimations that the machines (or MFP!) gives you for exercise calories. You'd be much better off buying a HRM or Bodybugg type device to use.

ashlee954

I typically burn 8-10 cals/minute on an elliptical. Investing in a HRM is your best bet. We all burn cals at different rates based on our personal statistics.

Sharonbed4d

I use a HRM and my calories burned are always lower than what the machine says even when I program my age and weight. I prefer using a HRM since I know I can use it for all my activities and get a consistent calories burned.

Aimee_PD

yep like everyone else said get a HRM!! best bet for more accuracy. I have been overestimating calories burned for 6 months by not having one! my treadmill is a good 100 calories more than what my hrm reads..and mfp seems to be more in line with the treadmill, so its been wrong!!

stephensgirl

but you also have to keep in mind the more you weigh the faster the calories come off....

cardbucfan

Agree with everything posted so far but just to give you an example, I did the elliptical this morning. Intervals for 30 minutes with 8 being the low resistance at a pace of 160 or above and 10 being the higher resistance with pace of 140 or above (so it was a workout!). The machine said I burned 450 calories for that 30 minutes and it knew I weighed 138 lbs. and am 47 years old. It didn't know my height or my gender (female). To contrast that, my HRM (with strap) said I burned 307 calories for that 30 minutes and it does know my height and that I am a female.

fasttrack27

Ditto all the other comments. That 1000 # was way high. A good HRM should be more realistic (albeit not perfect). Not to burst your bubble, but I'd bet it was closer to half that amount. Still a great workout though! Keep at it!

Azdak

The problem with elliptical calorie counts is that there is no "standard" elliptical movement. So there is no way to develop a standard equation for calorie expenditure that is valid for different models and brands. For example: for the most part, a treadmill is a treadmill is a treadmill. Take away the bells and whistles and you still have a moving belt on rollers and an incline. There is also decades of research on the energy cost of walking and running, with well-developed equations for calculating energy expenditure. These equations are simple and well-known. So, any treadmill manufacturer, from the cheapies to the most expensive, can easily program the display to give you a reasonably accurate calorie estimate, especially for walking or walking at incline (running overestimates a little because of the lack of wind resistance and the more "bounding" type movement of the treadmill.

The only way for an elliptical manufacturer to give a correct calorie display is to develop their own algorithms for every model of machine they make. Then they must validate those algorithms using a large and diverse sample size. Given that the average exerciser cannot independently verify the accuracy of the calorie counts, there is no incentive to go to the trouble and expense of making them accurate. Only one company I know even tries and that is Life Fitness. And even they can only afford to do it on select new models.

Actually, given the fact that most people will gravitate towards machines that they think burn more calories, the incentive is to "pad" the numbers.

heathersmilez

Get a HRM. The machine usually says 600 for 50 min for me, MFP says 528 but my HRM says 450.