The Elliptical Conspiracy: a Question

lookinggreat

On Monday I went to the Y and did 30 min. on the elliptical. The machine said 300 calories.
I entered my 30 minutes in the exercise section of MFP. It said 349 calories or so.
Today the Y was closed so I used the elliptical we have it the basement. I did also 30 minutes. That machine said 190 calories.
So what counts?
I kind of hope 349 but that would be too good to be true right?:noway:
If it does not count, is it 300 or 190.
I must add that my home elliptical felt much harder than the one at the Y.
Can anyone has the explanation and tell me which number to count?
I'd be eternally grateful.

daybyday

I do the elliptical regularly. I would go with 300. That's usually what I burn in 30 minutes unless I go really fast and I will burn more. Maybe you had the resistance on the one at home turned up pretty high and so you moved slower? 190 seems pretty low. Hope this helps!

alphasigalum

I would either go by what MFP says or by a Heart Rate Monitor. The machines think you are a male. Typically my calorie burn is less than what the machines say except the stairmill. I always burn more on my HRM on the stairmill.

alphasigalum

I typically burn about 200-225 calories doing 30 mins of the elliptical.

xarrium

I usually burn about 300 in a 30-min elliptical workout, although I've noticed that some ellipticals are harder to use than others (it seems like they have a higher "starting" resistance), so it follows that you might burn more on some models than others.

lookinggreat

Thanks! I think I used about the same resistance (gradually adding, up to 6 then down). Both ellipticals were set at the same incline (10) but it's true that at the Y I added some incline, but only up to 12 and only for 10 minutes, so I don't know if that made such a huge difference.

sunsetwest

Mine fluctuates daily, even though I usually do 30 minutes. I've found that the only variable is how hard I push myself. Check your distance on two sessions that you think should be exactly the same and see how different that cal counts are.

Now I try to change it up a bit from the standard program settings so I get a bigger burn, so they are even more varied day-to-day.

dragonbug300

Agh, I wish I had a solid answer. I've been trying to figure this out, too. Not just for the elliptical, but for all exercise machines. Here are some things that I take into account when deciding what would be most accurate:

1) How hard did I work? Was I so hot and sweaty by the end that raindrops would've turned to steam on my skin? Then aim for the higher number.

2) What intensity level did I use? If I'm on level 1, then I aim for lower. If I'm on level 10 or higher (and pedaling hard!) then I aim higher.

3) Did the machine ask me for my weight? There are some that do, some that don't. I've been on one that asked for my weight, age, and height. The more data the machine knows about you, the more accurate its calculation will be.

4) When all else fails, aim low. I'm on the small side, and most estimates for me are around 200-270 calories for 30 minutes on an elliptical. I don't know how accurate those are, but if you were working hard on your home machine, it's probably higher than 190. (If I were you, I'd round to between 250 and 300 for safety)

RippaRita54

The only way you will know what your really burnt is with a heart rate monitor.... Im sorry to tell you this but the calorie calculations on the machine and the MFP calculations can be grossly inacurate! More often than not inacurate in the bad way not good! Meaning you probably really burnt less than what they tell you!
I used to go by what the machines would say on the treadmill and elliptical even put my weight in however once I started using the HRM i found i was burning less than one third to a half of what the machines said!
The best thing i ever did was get a HRM, mine tells me calories as i go so now i dont exercise by time frames rather calories burnt!!
In saying this everyone is different, i have a low resting heart rate of 47 and am relatively fit so for me to get my heart rate above 150 i need to be really working hard such as running into my 3rd or 4th mile before my heart rate to reach this. Therefor i burn less calories in my output than the average.
Cant stress enough how important a HRM is for accurate calorie burning

stephanielynn76

Those machines are famous for overestimating your actual calorie burn. I usually put in about half the amount of calories it tells me. I agree about considering your level of exertion and the amount you are sweating as well. I usually do 30min + on the step mill every day. The machine does ask my weight and all... and it tells me I've burned 300calories in 30min... but I only log in 150-200cal depending on my perceived exertion. I would rather underestimate my actual burn and eat to compensate for that lower estimate than overestimate and eat more than I should...

drad81

I'm having the same issues.

The elliptical machine I used yesterday said I burnt 200cal in 30 mins. but mfp said approx 350cal.

As a comparison when I bike ride for 30mins I use about 430cal (cycle at a min of 22km/h) and I swear I was sweating a lot more on the elliptical machine. Just to be sure I burnt more calories yesterday I went for 7km walk

My view is that it's always better to over estimate your food calories and under estimate you exercise calories.

Can anyone confirm that you'll lose more caloriesdepending on ones size i.e hight/weight?

happy_vegan

i guess my question is..are the heart rate monitors on the machines also inaccurate? i try to follow my heart rate when i exercise and i assume that the cal output from that would be more specific, especially since it asks for weight and age. has anyone compared their personal hrm to a machine one? also, how do you know your hrm is perfect?

daybyday

I do the elliptical regularly. I would go with 300. That's usually what I burn in 30 minutes unless I go really fast and I will burn more. Maybe you had the resistance on the one at home turned up pretty high and so you moved slower? 190 seems pretty low. Hope this helps!

EDIT: Haven't done in a couple days. This is when I do high intensity intervals for 30 seconds, rest for 1 min, etc.

backinthenines

A lot of ellipticals are calibrated differently. Even in one gym you can find that resistance on the same level can vary from machine to machine.

I would go by what my HRM says rather than rely on the machine or MFP guesstimates.