calories burned on elliptical correct?

sswift76
sswift76 Posts: 37 Member
edited September 27 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi. Currently I am doing 40 minutes on the eliiptical machine doing a program of hills and valleys....at the end of the workout, the machine says I have burned about 700 calories. When I enter in my excersize on mfp, it says I burned 460 calories. Also, why when you enter strength training into your daily excersize on your excersize log, does it not tell you calories burned for them? I do 40 minutes on the elliptical, then do aobut 15-20 minutes strength training, but it only shows calories burned for the cardiovascular part of the workout?? Thanks for any info you may have!!! :) Still learning about excersize and strength trainign :)

Replies

  • codexavellum
    codexavellum Posts: 112
    I'd get a Heart-Rate Monitor. Only way to truly figure out your calories burned.
  • Dnsnyder
    Dnsnyder Posts: 263 Member
    You can log strength training under cardio as well if you want to include calories burned during strength training. The strength training log is mainly for tracking reps/progress. However, MFP warns that calories burned by strength training are highly variable and the database estimate may not be accurate. A HRM with calorie burn feature would be your best bet.
  • texasrebel83
    texasrebel83 Posts: 40 Member
    I also recommend a heart rate monitor. I've noticed that the treadmill does get with 20 calories or so of my HRM, but the elliptical is hit and miss. Also the machines don't take a constant heart rate so it doesn't know how hard you are having to work to move the pedals so the machines typically average the HRs it did read.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
    These machines are often WAY wrong. I use running as my reality check. I weigh ~ 175 lbs and I burn ~ 125 calories per mile.

    40 minutes of running might be 500 to 650 calories (depending on my pace). To reach the high end, I'd have to really be flying. Some runners mights go 3 miles in 40 minutes, so more in the 400 range.
  • VictorinoDennis
    VictorinoDennis Posts: 100
    here is a websit I use

    http://www.healthdiscovery.net/links/calculators/calorie_calculator.htm
    or you can use livestrong.com
  • Agglaki
    Agglaki Posts: 105
    Today I did the elliptical

    For 35min I got the following

    HRM - 400

    MFP - 421 (if i recall correctly)

    Machine - approx 600

    I found that for every 10min the machine was almost 100 cal out.

    I can always do another test tomorrow to see if I can replicate these results.
  • Lovemydounts
    Lovemydounts Posts: 199 Member
    when i do 30 min it reads about 400 calories and i pretty sure its right that why the machines have it on there so u no .
  • Agglaki
    Agglaki Posts: 105
    when i do 30 min it reads about 400 calories and i pretty sure its right that why the machines have it on there so u no .

    The machines are only accurate if you enter all your details, weight, height, age into them and hold onto the handles the whole time.

    Even then, accuracy is not 100% as they measure heart rate not calories burnt, they simply assume that at a certain heart rate for the info you've entered you will burn a certain amount of calories. Admittedly most heart rate monitors do the same, so I won't hold that against the machines.

    But for them to be even close to accurate you need to be able to enter all your details.
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