What?? Well no Wonder!

thirtyby40

So I have a Nordic Track Elliptical. I love it. I have used it to take off my initial weight. I have been stuck though for about 3 months now. I see people put in their calories on an elliptical that are much lower than mine all the time. I knew mine probably overestimated my burn but since I managed to lose 40 pounds and eat my exercise calories I figured it was close. Especially since I was under-eating before I started here last June so i had to up my calories significantly and eat my exercise calories according to my machines reading..

Boy was I wrong. I just bought a HRM which I used for the first time tonight with the elliptical. Well my machine said I burned 624 calories, my HRM says 286. :noway: That is less than half. I knew it would be bad when my husband did his workout earlier and it said about half for him too on his HRM.

Well no wonder I stalled. I am amazed I lost as much as I have in the first place. So either I need to kick up my workouts or curb my eating. I am going to ponder it over a glass of wine... Maybe I can fit in another workout tonight.

kenlc

I also bought a HRM this weekend, and am seeing the same thing. I am not burning as many calories as I thought I was. Luckily, I am not eating my exercise calories, so it didnt slow my weight loss, but it was a surprise. I will use my HRM all the time now...

Dom_m

I think that's exactly what happened to me. After I injured my knee and couldn't run I started using the eliptical for half of my cardio. Since I'm already fairly fit, I think it massively overestimated the burn.

You probably got results earlier because you weren't as fit or lean before, so the same output took more effort. I don't know, you may still think you aren't fit or lean (although after loosing 40lb you're certainly a lot closer than you were), but at the least, you're more efficient at using the elliptical.

Try going for a run or swim or cycle. Do something else and don't touch the elliptical for a month. Then go back to it.

daniellevargas

I am in the same boat. I got my HRM for Mother's Day! I was so excited to use it at the gym and see how many calories I burn the whole time (including my strength training). Well lets just say it wasnt as many calories as I had been guessing. I guess the good news is that I will have better control over my worksouts now.!!! I do love my HRM

salter3321

What is HRM?

kenlc

HRM = heart rate monitor

selbyhutch

So I have a Nordic Track Elliptical. I love it. I have used it to take off my initial weight. I have been stuck though for about 3 months now. I see people put in their calories on an elliptical that are much lower than mine all the time. I knew mine probably overestimated my burn but since I managed to lose 40 pounds and eat my exercise calories I figured it was close. Especially since I was under-eating before I started here last June so i had to up my calories significantly and eat my exercise calories according to my machines reading..

Boy was I wrong. I just bought a HRM which I used for the first time tonight with the elliptical. Well my machine said I burned 624 calories, my HRM says 286. :noway: That is less than half. I knew it would be bad when my husband did his workout earlier and it said about half for him too on his HRM.

Well no wonder I stalled. I am amazed I lost as much as I have in the first place. So either I need to kick up my workouts or curb my eating. I am going to ponder it over a glass of wine... Maybe I can fit in another workout tonight.

Oh no!! What Nordic Track Elliptical do you have? LOL - my husband & I just turned a spare bedroom into a workout room & I bought one. I've been debating on buying a HRM... but guess I should. What HRM did you buy?

mommyhof3

That is what happened to me. I stopped losing. Then I bought a HRM and went by that. What an eye opener. I love my HRM and won't rely on anything else ever again lol

FireRox21

Totally the same thing here. I stalled out on my weight loss and in fact have gained. I was completely going off of what MFP said were my calories burned and I have been eating those calories. With how much I work out, my exercise calories alone are over 1000 a day. I bought a HRM, and OMG, what a shock!!! I almost cried when I saw the difference in what the HRM said and what MFP said. Basically, I have been overeating by 300-400 calories a day!!! No wonder I haven't lost any weight!

Now, I enter in all of my foods and exercise then break out the handy calculator and subtract the HRM calories from MFP calories and try not to go over that.

I love, love, love my HRM and will in fact start wearing it when I'm working around the house or gardening. Every calorie counts!

aunienue

What can I say...BUMMER!

zoink66

Total bummer! I'm always anxious about eating all of my exercise calories for that exact reason!

SimonLondon

Now, I enter in all of my foods and exercise then break out the handy calculator and subtract the HRM calories from MFP calories and try not to go over that.

You can manually enter the HRM calories to replace the MFP ones. MFP was double what my HRM said so I inputted the HRM instead so I can a realistic total.

This why I never eat more than half of my exercise calories because I never know for sure how accurate it is.

kdiamond

Yep, I generally tell everyone the same thing...eat half of your exercise calories back because as a "general" guide those counters are off by 1/2.

FireRox21

[/quote]

You can manually enter the HRM calories to replace the MFP ones. MFP was double what my HRM said so I inputted the HRM instead so I can a realistic total.

This why I never eat more than half of my exercise calories because I never know for sure how accurate it is.
[/quote]

I probably should know this, but where can I do that?

SimonLondon

When you enter the time for the exercise you can delete the calories beside it with your own results.

kellyd23

What kind of HRM does everyone have? I've heard good things about the Polar F6 I believe... wasn't sure if there was a benefit of getting one over the other or a cheap over expensive one....I definitely need one since I decided to hold off on the almost $300 Bodybugg..... I'm assuming this is the next best thing!

BADGIRLstl

This is scary!

alisonengland

I have a Polar F4 as it only cost $60. It works fine and again the calories burned is way lower than those claimed on the elliptical or the treadmill. I wore it the other day to see what I burned whilst sitting on the sofa watching CSI with a glass of wine. It said 65 calories for an hour which I reckon is spot on as my maintenance weight is 1800 for a day and have a relatively sedentary job.

daniellevargas

I have the Polar FT7, I love, love, love it!!! The best part is how it breaks down your total workout, and tells your how much time you spent in each of the target heart rate zones. Trust me I can almost guarantee that you are over working. Its an amazing tool!!!

Johnnyswife

See now, my hRM watch will sometimes be lower than the machine, but most of the time its higher. The watch takes my age, where the machine just guesses based on how fast your moving.
Plus, the bigger you are, the more calories you burn. As you lose weight, you burn less calories. Your calories burned were probably closer to 6oo when you first started. :flowerforyou:

LittleSpy

Well yeah, the more you do an exercise, the more efficient you become at it. You have to push yourself and increase your intensity or change up your exercise otherwise you'll be burning fewer and fewer calories each time you do it! You can still use your elliptical -- but PUSH yourself hard. Make it as hard as it was the very first time you got on.

That's why I love interval work. I can run 30 minutes at a time. Or I can absolutely kick my butt by sprinting as fast as I can for a minute & then recovering & then sprinting again & so on. Same on my stationary bike -- I could bike 15-16mph all day. But I do the intervals instead and burn a ton more calories.