Elliptical trainer

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Hi everyone!! I have been working out at the gym since April and my main machines are the elliptical and the treadmill. I usually do 15 minutes of intervals on the elliptical and then I do 30 minutes of hills on the treadmill. Afterward, I do 2 sets of 12 on all major muscle groups (about 9). I do this 4 times a week. Is this sufficient for weight loss? When I log my exercise on MFP, I'm always over my goal in time and calories burned, but I dont' know how accurate the calories burned number is. I try and shuffle it up sometimes and change what I'm doing so I don't get in a rut, but some of the machines at the gym I just can't handle. My knees can't take it.

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  • simplysara9
    simplysara9 Posts: 521
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    I recently started going to the gym again. I have noticed that the machines in the gym under estimate the calories I burn while MFP over estimates the calories I burned. I wear a heart rate monitor and track it myself.
  • korygilliam
    korygilliam Posts: 594 Member
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    That should be great for weight loss! I have a home (high quality) elliptical w/ a chest strap heart monitor for calories burned and it is typically quite a bit lower than the 'auto-calc' of the MFP total (what auto-populates when you enter the time)...BUT I am not pushing myself extremely hard on it, it is more of jogging/speed walking.

    If it does have an auto calc on the elliptical, use that total. If you aren't sure, try using a stand alone heart monitor in addition to the one on the machine and see how close they are. When I got my new HR monitor watch for running outside, I did this and it was actually pretty close to each other.
  • jillica
    jillica Posts: 554 Member
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    I'm no expert but I would say if you are under calories and over your goal in time, you are doing it right! I have heard that you should really aim to workout 5 times a week for weight loss but 4 is a great! I trust the machine calculations when I do them but I mostly do group dance (jazzercise) so I just depend on MFP's calories burned number to be close. I hope to get a heart rate monitor soon to double check the machine and MFP numbers. Good Luck!
    - Jill
    SW 186
    CW 177
    GW 150