How many calories does an eliptical really burn????

I just checked the elliptical on here and it says just over 600 calories for 30 minutes.

I use an elliptical at my gym and I work out for about 45 minutes. I really work hard and lose about 400 calories.

I consistently use an elliptical at my gym for an hour each day and it says I burn 700 calories in that hour. However, by the time I'm finished, I'm pouring sweat so I know my heartrate is up there. My goal is to burn 100 calories or more every 10 minutes.

Also what your weight and fitness level are can affect how much you burn. My husband is about a foot taller and 100lbs more than me and he burns more calories doing the same exercises that I do. As you get closer to your goal and more fit you body doesn't have to work as hard to do the same stuff. So if the woman at the gym was in really good shape she may burn way less than you.

the machines don't have your heart rate, your height, or your gender, so they're rarely right.

the best indication is a heart rate monitor. aside form that, when your entering your weight, always enter 10 pounds lighter than you actually are, and then subtract 20-25% of the calories from the final number,

Another thing to remember that even if the 700 is right, that in that hour you would have burn calories at rest. Even if the machine was right that you burned 700, you have to minus off the cals you would have burned anyway or you are double counting those calories. As an example if you burn 2 calories per minute at rest then the cardio machine says 700 you only burned 580 extra that you would not have burned otherwise so in this example you wold enter 580 not 700 in MFP.
580 comes from (700 - 120(2*60min)). Hope this helps. This applies even when you calculate using your HRM.

I usually try to estimate my calorie burn on the elliptical because I find the machine count is usually way off. For a person around my weight ... FAST running burns around 10 cal per minute and walking is about 5 or 6 per minute so it depends on how hard I work on the elliptical. I usually do at least a level 5 resistance and wind up sweating a TON. If my heart rate is up the whole time and I'm sweating like crazy and feel like I'm working hard then I estimate between 8 and 9 calories per minute. When it comes to entering my calories on mfp.com I always UNDER-estimate my calories by a little so that I don't go over my food calorie allowance for the day.

oh and try this website for calorie counts ... it's pretty acurate. www.caloriesperhour.com
It's pretty acurate and they wouldn't even put the elliptical on their website for the longest time because they were having research done ont he calorie count and wanted to finish the study before they added it as an exercise to the site.

I went on one at the gym today that has a built in heart monitor. I also entered my weight.
It said I burnt 275 in 45 mins. It is such a struggle. Ugh.

the machines don't have your heart rate, your height, or your gender, so they're rarely right.

the best indication is a heart rate monitor. aside form that, when your entering your weight, always enter 10 pounds lighter than you actually are, and then subtract 20-25% of the calories from the final number,

My machine has a heart rate monitor on it...but not every one does I am sure.

I am on my elliptical everyday for 45-60 minutes. Today I was on for 60 and it said I burned 1400 calories, I use the imput here on when I log in the workout and for 60 min, it says 676 calories. I am more apt to believe the latter.

get a HRM & get one with a chest strap. I have a Polar F6 & it's great. Good luck.

I have the same one & I LOVE IT!!!!!

I've been looking for a job for the last three months and my only way out everyday is to hit the gym hard. I am a male, weigh198 pounds and have had bad stomach fat which I gained at my previous company where we ordered lunch and dinner from our restaurant of choice in New Orleans. Anyways, the last three months were my time to redeem myself from this sinful eating.

I hit the gym everyday religiously for the last three months. One of the things I used to do all the time was the eliptical (in the past). In the last three months, I reduced the eliptical to 1 to 2 days to not burn my muscle. So here are the stats.... again... dont know if this is accurate: I try to match my distance and the calories burnt. For example, today I burned 805 calories after covering a distance of 8.2 miles in 60 minutes plus the 5 minutes of cool down period. Almost everytime, I try to cover 400 calories/4 miles in 30 minute increments. I dont know how many calories i am really burning (and cant really afford a heart rate monitor right now) but I do know that I push myself to the limit. My heartrate is usually over 170. I try to spend 2 hours a day at the gym and on a cardio day, after an hour of cardio, I spend 30 minutes on abs and 10-20 minutes in the Sauna to top it off. My brother is a marathon runner and he says that typically, we burn about 100 calories for every mile we run/exercise. Hope this helps.

My heart rate monitor, along with a good pair of sneakers, is my most valuable fitness tool. Calories burned are different for everybody. It depends on your age, current weight, gender and level of fitness. A gym machine (and calorie burning charts) don't take those things into account. On average, I burn up to a third less than my treadmill estimates. Since I eat back most of my exercise calories, I don't want to use a calorie estimate. I need to have an accurate number.

If I ate back the number of calories the gym machines tell me that I burned, I could eat at McDonald's everyday. Or have a giant ice cream sundae. Sadly, the treadmill lies.

I don't think that's right buddy... Yes, you are a fit (as I can see from your profile picture), however, your thinking is quite flawed. The 2 calories that your body uses at rest are there regardless of what you do. So even if you are a couch potato, you are burning 2 calories (not necessarily a fact; a couch potato could be burning more or less) per minute. Those calories are for maintenance of your body (heat, respiratory functions, etc.). That said, gym equipment don't calculate your BMR (measure in kJ/kg or calories / kg). Gym equipment that have the option to enter your weight and age are more or less reading a simple interpolated chart or following an empirical correlation for those of your age and weight. No two humans are the same (even identical twins), so the amount of calories burned between two people of the same age and weight will NEVER be the same. We can only estimate.

In fact, you are counting your BMR twice anyways. When you don't eat the same amount of calories you work out.
example: daily calories = 2500 - 500 exercise - 500 not eaten = 1500 cal / day
The not eaten calories are calories that your body needs that you didn't consume. They were still used however.

Since energy must be conserved, the calories come from your fat reserves and muscle breakdown.

- JR, scientist