Eliptical? yay or nay for weight loss

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  • jynxxxed
    jynxxxed Posts: 1,010 Member
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    It makes me feel like I'm going to die, but it is an effective form of cardio for sure. As others said, it's lower impact which is nice as well.

    I prefer walking on a treadmill at around a 4.0 with a little bit of incline though.. just personal preference based on whatever you enjoy doing more.
  • Thena81
    Thena81 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    we have both too and before i got my polar i swore that my ellip was better but the polar says i burn more on the treadmill so i gave up the ellip!! get a fit bit or a polar and see which burns more!
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,411 Member
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    I like elliptical over treadmill, but like them both. Best is doing my walking outside, but not practical many months of the year where I live.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Almost all of my loss is due to my elliptical. I LOVE IT! Just make sure and mix it up, doing HIIT somedays and continuous level others. My downfall was that I didn't include strength training early in my journey, so now close to goal weight, but still a lot of fluff that I need to do strength training to get rid of.

    I loved that I could watch TV or read a book while doing the elliptical. It didn't realy do any abnormal loss/build to my legs, but I have big hips/thighs anyways, so probably wouldn't be able to tell. I think you would have to really up the resistance to cause building of leg muscles.

    No, your weight loss was due to a caloric deficit. The tool you used to create the deficit was the elliptical, but you could have created the deficit with any machine, or with no cardio at all (just cutting calories). Everyone seems to get tools to getting a deficit with the cause of the weight loss, they are not the same.
  • alison0511
    alison0511 Posts: 32
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    i found that mixing up the type of cardios i do brings better results. today i will be mixing up my cardio with ten minutes of each on elyptical, rower , stationary bike and then a half hour of up and down hill on the treadmill.

    Agree. I think a mix of cardio activities keeps things fresh and your body doesn't get so used to it... and you don't get bored! :smile: When I had a gym membership, I enjoyed using the elliptical, stairclimber, hillclimber, bike, treadmill, etc... Now I have an elliptical at home and use that frequently, as well as walking/jogging outdoors, and sometimes throwing a workout dvd in the mix. I DEFINITELY got my endurance back up on the elliptical this time around though.. because it was easy on my knees/shins (low impact), and I liked that mine has resistance and incline settings for a challenge, not to mention you can go forwards or backwards! That's hard to do on a treadmill. I also like how with the option of moving your arms with the moving handles, it really gets the whole body involved more than the treadmill does. And now my knees definitely don't hurt so bad anymore, and I am actually able to start jogging again, and I am in the first week of C25K!

    This is all in addition to strength training a couple times a week, and sticking to my calorie deficit.
  • JMFresh
    JMFresh Posts: 76 Member
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    Yay fo'sho!

    Love the elliptical! Easy on the knees which is awesome. Great for weight loss. I used it last year to get in shape for ski season. Built up endurance and strengthened my legs and abs.

    I use the treadmill as well - did week 3 workout 2 last night of C25K. I do this in conjunction with 30DS (on L2D8). I feel like it's a little much to be doing both... I think something with less impact would have been a wiser choice on my part. I've used the elliptical and done the 30DS before without knee issues. With C25K and 30DS, my knees kill.

    Ok... I'm rambling.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    A calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. How you create that deficit is up to you (diet only or a combination of diet and exercise). But don't be one of htose people who don't pay enough attention to diet. It's easy to out-eat a good exercise program, but it's almost impossible to out-lazy a good diet.
  • babyglock1
    babyglock1 Posts: 8
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    I love the eliptical. I burn an average of 600-700 calories on it per hour versus the treadmill where I might burn 200 (I don't run on treadmill as my knees can't handle the running yet). I love the fact that I burn so much more on the eliptical. As far as the knees - there are a lot of different elipticals with different stride types. Some types I like and some I don't due to the stride. I've actually lost about 50 pounds (not included on here as I didn't start on this journal until about 2 weeks ago) and I've done about 95% of my cardio training on the eliptical.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I love the eliptical. I burn an average of 600-700 calories on it per hour versus the treadmill where I might burn 200 (I don't run on treadmill as my knees can't handle the running yet). I love the fact that I burn so much more on the eliptical. As far as the knees - there are a lot of different elipticals with different stride types. Some types I like and some I don't due to the stride. I've actually lost about 50 pounds (not included on here as I didn't start on this journal until about 2 weeks ago) and I've done about 95% of my cardio training on the eliptical.

    How are you measuring those caloric burns? If you rely on the machine the elliptical are well known for over estimating burns.
  • kfdunn
    kfdunn Posts: 14
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    The BEST exercise is one you'll actually do! Arguing the merits of a perfect exercise you don't actually do vs. an imperfect one that you regularly perform is no argument at all.

    If you're trying to decide the most time efficient exercise, it's hard to beat running (counting travel time, changing time & workout time). You can change in the nearest bathroom & leave your workplace by the nearest door.

    If you're trying to decide the best all around exercise, I'm going to suggest triathlons (but who has the time?).

    Personally, I think working out in the gym is cruel & unusual punishment; an elliptical is positively torture... so, for me, the answer is elliptical is BAD (because I'd either be miserable doing it or rationalize not doing it). If YOU will actually use the machine & not go stir crazy staring at a spot on the gym wall, then it's GOOD.

    I happen to like running & I LOVE being outside, so running down the road at lunch is awesome. For a person intimidated by traffic or dogs or encountering random people, running outside at lunch would be terrible.

    So... try elliptical (or a bunch of things) for youself & YOU decide!
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Do those of you with Fitbits rely on that for elliptical burns or the machine? If you enter it on Fitbit's site as elliptical does it overwrite properly or double count? Should we take the Fitbit off if using the machine's rates? Sorry if this is a little off-topic.
  • TimN1974
    TimN1974 Posts: 32
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    I really like mine. I have severe spinal stenosis, so i cannot do any exercise that involves impacting the spine. So - biking (the real deal - but I also use a statinalry for a diversion now and then) and the eliptical are what I can do (besides walking).
  • BPayton27
    BPayton27 Posts: 626 Member
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    I love the eliptical. I burn an average of 600-700 calories on it per hour versus the treadmill where I might burn 200 (I don't run on treadmill as my knees can't handle the running yet). I love the fact that I burn so much more on the eliptical. As far as the knees - there are a lot of different elipticals with different stride types. Some types I like and some I don't due to the stride. I've actually lost about 50 pounds (not included on here as I didn't start on this journal until about 2 weeks ago) and I've done about 95% of my cardio training on the eliptical.

    How are you measuring those caloric burns? If you rely on the machine the elliptical are well known for over estimating burns.

    I think that depends on the reliability of the brand. My gym uses only cybex equipment. My HRM estimates within 10 of what the machine says...which is also 600-700 per hr. Cybex has great HRM handlebars though, and calculates your gender, weight, etc.
  • Sweetsugar0424
    Sweetsugar0424 Posts: 451 Member
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    I constantly hear people say that the elliptical is low impact so it's good for bad knees, but I have bad knees, used it for quite awhile without issue and then one day I ended up in a knee brace, on crutches and couldn't go back to the gym for a year because of the injury I caused to my knee on the elliptical. 6 years later I'm finally getting back to where I was so long ago, but I now refuse to step on one. IF I do any cardio machines (most of my cardio is fitness classes), it's the arc trainer or treadmill and I've had no issues with those.
  • sunnymel126
    sunnymel126 Posts: 359 Member
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    bump
  • tlctrace
    tlctrace Posts: 138 Member
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    I have an elliptical at home. Love, love, love it!!!
  • derfregal
    derfregal Posts: 32 Member
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    the elliptical really has helped my wife and I gain endurance and has helped get our cardio off the floor! When we started we could barely do 10 minutes and now we do 30 minutes easily...on rainy days we usually pic a 30-45 minute show on netflix and do our workouts while watching tv to break up the monotony!
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 Member
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    All exercise is good exercise! An elliptical can be easier on the knees.
  • Lesley2901
    Lesley2901 Posts: 372 Member
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    I like both the elliptical and the treadmill. I find the elliptical easier on my knees but I don't get such a good calorie burn unless I increase my workout time (probably because my pace tends to vary). I used the treadmill for both the C25K and B210K.
  • TheNewDodge
    TheNewDodge Posts: 607 Member
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    No. It is terrible. You do not want to burn calories.

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