How many calories am I burning??

Buy a HRM (heart rate monitor)

I have the Polar FT4, it takes your age, weight, height and gender. You have a watch with your data on, and you get a chest strap with a transmitter on it to strap to your chest. Based on the stats you put into it, it gives you a very accurate reading on the calories you burn.

Also, just to add, if you use MFP to estimate your calorie burn, it grossly overestimates, so if you're one of the people who likes to eat their exercise calories back, this can be a problem.

Also, just to add, if you use MFP to estimate your calorie burn, it grossly overestimates, so if you're one of the people who likes to eat their exercise calories back, this can be a problem.

lol. conflicting opinions abound.

Also, just to add, if you use MFP to estimate your calorie burn, it grossly overestimates, so if you're one of the people who likes to eat their exercise calories back, this can be a problem.

lol. conflicting opinions abound.

Lol. I decided on a HRM, due to people telling me MFP overestimated, so I spent £50 on a Polar HRM (about $75) and after using it, I noticed BIG differences.

Like with swimming for example. I usually do between 60 - 90 minutes in the swimming pool. My HRM will give me a reading of between 650 - 950, depending on how hard I go. MFP estimates it at 1300+! So to be on the safe side, I go with my HRM, as I do often eat back a lot of my exercise calories!

My HRM usually says I burn way more than any of my other trackers do, including MFP. Worries me a little bit...

There are also good and bad HRMs out there. The ones with a chest strap are definitely better than the ones that you stop and take your heart rate periodically.

MFP, cardio machines, etc are all estimates. Every person is going to have a different calorie burn with each workout or anything. I could do the same workout every day and I would get different burns each day.

If you're wanting a good number to go with then I highly recommend getting a heart rate monitor, preferably with a chest strap.
I have a Polar FT4 from amazon ($60) and it is everything that I need. It gives me calories burned and also considers my age, sex, height, & weight. They have other brands cheaper at walmart if you aren't ready to invest that much yet.

I love having one because I can create my own exercises on here and put in my own info for my exercise diary. It's also a good motivator because it helps me keep my heart rate in a good range and it sometimes encourages me to workout a little longer if I'm unhappy with the calorie burn.

The eliptical is going to account for all aspects of your workout. Pressure exerted, speed, ect. So for the most accurate go with the reading on the eliptical.

You should take a look at my HRM blog post. I was having the same issue, not really knowing and having to go by the machines at the gym, thinking since they have HR sensors and I can input my weight they would be somewhat close to being accurate. Nope. When I got my HRM since I was not losing nothing, I realized one 60 min elliptical workout according to the machine was around 650-750 depending on how hard I pushed. HR monitor, my Polar FT7 said about 350is. HUGE difference.

i didn't lose weight for a while and i learned MFP was overestimating my exercise - i got a fitbit and that's when I realized how over estimated the exercise burns were. Then the weight started coming off again easily after that.

If you put anything other than sedentary in and then count your activity and exercise you are counting it twice. Most people don't get that. If you work as a waitress and put Active in your setup then use a you a fitbit and count your steps you are entering your activity twice.

( That is if you enter the steps in manually. I am not sure if it is synced if it corrects the calories burned and allows for the adjustment)

An HRM is going to cause problems as well, unless it's either calibrated properly or until the user achieves a certain level of fitness. It is not the panacea it is made out to be on MFP.

A reasonable estimate, for your situation, would be roughly...

calories burned = 2 * body weight in pounds * hours on the machine

So if you are 150 pounds and go 30 minutes, you're looking at somewhere around 150 calories burned. If you aren't in poor physical shape (i.e., you could actually jog for 30 minutes), then that will be a conservative number.

I don't know........ been using my Polar FT60 and have managed to lose a few hundred pounds with it.... Meh.. OP in my opinion I would invest in one and use it for your steady state cardio... If you eat back your exercise calories you will still have to work the percentages until you find what works for you... I have established that I can eat back 85% of those calories burned and still lose or maintain or gain depending on what I am doing.... I use the NEAT method for my weight loss.... Best of Luck

I don't know........ been using my Polar FT60 and have managed to lose a few hundred pounds with it.... Meh..

There is a lot more wiggle room when someone is in the "few hundred pounds to lose" camp. The errors are still there, they're just not as important because of the overall caloric context.

The number of HRMers on MFP getting stalled out because of calorie burn overestimates is....huge. Especially for those on machines, as running/cycling out in the wild comes with a well understood calorie burn profile, so there is a "reality backstop".

So I established a base line over the course of the first 8 weeks when I began this journey back and figured 85% was the number of calories I could eat back from my calories burned per my Polar FT60 along with my base calories to lose on average 2 lbs. a week and that is still the approach I use today after 1 year in maintenance.... I still eat back those same 85% of my calories burned..... then where is this wiggle room I needed.....