? elipitical

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tiangelah
tiangelah Posts: 144
in Fitness and Exercise
I was told by a trainer that the elipitical machine over estimates calories burned. So I dont do it. Has anyone else been told this?

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  • tiangelah
    tiangelah Posts: 144
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    I was told by a trainer that the elipitical machine over estimates calories burned. So I dont do it. Has anyone else been told this?
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    I've been told to take off at least 10% of every machine in the gym as far as calorie counts go.

    I don't think that the bad estimate is unique to the elliptical, which I love. The only way to be sure is to invest in a HRM.
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,783 Member
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    I tested it against my HRM and yes, it was over. That doesn't mean don't do it though. Some machines are worse than others, but it's still a great workout.

    I'm still waiting to test it against these classes that say "You'll burn 700+ calories" in this class or during this video. I would imagine those are a little high too.
  • eyescatchfire
    eyescatchfire Posts: 257 Member
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    Ok, if I do 45 minutes on the elliptical, the calculator on MFP says I burn over 500 calories. The machine says I burn between 300-350. I don't do the max resistance level or anything, do the random hill setting (so I'm constantly at a different level) and I'm still very far from my goal weight, so I'll burn more. I don't know if this information is helpful to you, but I figured I'd thrown it in. I'm hoping to get a heartrate monitor sometime soon--I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about!
  • Mireille
    Mireille Posts: 5,134 Member
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    My elliptical has been pretty good. I always wear my HRM when I do it and my elliptical has only been off by 30 calories. :flowerforyou:
  • DevilDog
    DevilDog Posts: 37
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    +1
    My elliptical has been pretty good. I always wear my HRM when I do it and my elliptical has only been off by 30 calories. :flowerforyou:
  • vramage
    vramage Posts: 28
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    my elipitical says a lot less cals have been burned that what this site says im pretty sure my machine is dead on so i will stick with that its not crazy amout it seems to make sence
  • lizard9800
    lizard9800 Posts: 474 Member
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    I have a cheap elliptical and not one of the nicer gym ones. I find that compared to my HRM the elliptical does overestimate quite a bit, especially when I am going very fast. I actually burn about half the calories that the machine claims. I would assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the nicer models are closer than that.
  • SGFlyinHi
    SGFlyinHi Posts: 469 Member
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    My HRM usually shows about 50 to 150 cals less than the machine, depending on how long I do & the level, so I go by my HRM.

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