I actually have the opposite situation. This morning, my machine said I burned 525 cals in approximately 40 minutes. According to MFP, I would have burned 399.

I generally estimate that I burn about 75% of what my machine says. Before I use my elliptical, I do about 25 minutes of strength training. So I end up recording in MFP 75% of what my elliptical reads because it should be pretty close between the two exercise types. Just to error on the side of too many cals burned recorded into MFP, I do not eat all of my cals back unless I am hungry.

I go with what my machine says which is a lot less than what the MFP database says. I guess maybe it's because the MFP database will factor in your weight and some machines (including my own) do not. Even though my machine does not factor my weight, I go with that number because it's the lower number and because it will factor in my speed and intensity which the MFP database can not account for so it's kind of like an extra incentive to go harder.

I go with what my machine says which is a lot less than what the MFP database says. I guess maybe it's because the MFP database will factor in your weight and some machines (including my own) do not. Even though my machine does not factor my weight, I go with that number because it's the lower number and because it will factor in my speed and intensity which the MFP database can not account for so it's kind of like an extra incentive to go harder.

I may be wrong, but I would intuitively say that your own weight only matters for activities which require moving your body from A to B (e.g. running, biking, etc.). Particularly when B is located at a higher altitude than A! For stationary things (elliptical, stationary bike, etc.), I do not see how your own weight would affect the caloric expenditure of your workout. But please, by all means correct me if I am wrong!

I go with what my machine says which is a lot less than what the MFP database says. I guess maybe it's because the MFP database will factor in your weight and some machines (including my own) do not. Even though my machine does not factor my weight, I go with that number because it's the lower number and because it will factor in my speed and intensity which the MFP database can not account for so it's kind of like an extra incentive to go harder.

I may be wrong, but I would intuitively say that your own weight only matters for activities which require moving your body from A to B (e.g. running, biking, etc.). Particularly when B is located at a higher altitude than A! For stationary things (elliptical, stationary bike, etc.), I do not see how your own weight would affect the caloric expenditure of your workout. But please, by all means correct me if I am wrong!

Try draping an extra 100 pounds--or even 20--over your body and then do your workout on the elliptical, stationary bike, treadmill, etc. and see if you think that weight doesn't make a difference "stationary things." It doesn't matter if the "thing" moves, your body does. The more you weigh the more calories you burn doing the same workout. As your weight goes down you burn less calories moving your body which is why you have to up the intensity of the workout to burn the same calories you burned at a higher weight. Weight does affect calorie expenditure of any kind of workout.

Point well-taken and accepted. However, as somebody who has lost >11kg over the past 2 months, I continue to suspect that the impact of one's weight is smaller on "stationary things" than when one's body is being moved from A to B. Particularly on recliner stationary bikes, where the only body parts that are moving are the legs. On the elliptical, the body does go up and down a bit, hence you are certainly right on that issue.

I base mine on the machine and in 65 minutes can burn 600 calories , is that possible or even realistic or are the stats on the machine wrong? on some machines at my gym it says my heart rate is always 75bpm and then on another it says my heart rates 145bpm so I;m never sure whether to trust the machines...

I base mine on the machine and in 65 minutes can burn 600 calories , is that possible or even realistic or are the stats on the machine wrong? on some machines at my gym it says my heart rate is always 75bpm and then on another it says my heart rates 145bpm so I;m never sure whether to trust the machines...

that seems reasonable. today i burned 406 calories in 41 minutes going by my polar ft4 hrm. my heart rate doesn't sync with the elliptical for some reason, and shows crazy numbers like 200 bpm when it's actually 161 or something. however, the calorie count comes out pretty similar to my hrm (usually under)

I go by what the machine says because I input my weight and age in and it calculates it that way. I do the weight loss option on it and in 30 min. I burn around 350-400 calories depending on how much I push myself. Sometimes I do this for an hour and it gives me a great burn. I absolutely love the elliptical it doesn't hurt my body like running does.

I use a LifeFitness elliptical X5. For me, I can generally count on 360 calories per 30 minute session if I am doing a reasonable workout (between level 10 and 14), and upto 420 calories (levels 15+) if it is a relatively intense workout (as read by the machine after input weight, age, intensity). I generally do it between 60 minutes and 90 minutes in the a.m. before the family starts to wake up. Since my machine has a warm up and cool down for 3 minutes - I get a bonus of about 60 calories.

I would go with what the machine says if it has the option of personalizing your data (i.e. your weight and age). This way the machine can track your intensity and speed. I push myself on my elliptical until I feel like I'm dying and my legs are falling off. I'll stay on there for 1000 calories usually and will get back on at least one more time through the day. I always put it on the highest resistance and go my fastest and hardest. Remember that the machine calculates calories based on the assumption that you have good posture. Correct posture can be the difference between 100 calories burned or 300 calories burned.