Calories Burned on Elliptical

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sanjay_says
sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all. My most common form of gym workout is to do an hour on the elliptical machine (I have chronic knee issues, so I find the elliptical is the best way for me to do cardio while keeping me interested). I typically do one of the cross-training programs, which varies resistance and incline throughout the workout. I also typically turn up the default resistance.

After 1 hour, I usually have a very good sweat, and my heart rate is in a good cardio zone throughout. But I'm not huffing and puffing and could hold a conversation if I needed to while working out.

I've noticed that the estimates for calories burned for this sort of workout can vary a lot:

540 cals - this is the estimate that I get straight from the machine
730 cals - this is the estimate that I get from the machine after I enter in my age/weight at the beginning of the workout
1150 cals - this is the estimate that MFP gives me for a 60 min elliptical work out

Obviously, there's a lot of variability in the calories burned measurements. I clearly think that MFP is way overestimating, but I'm not sure if I should reasonably use the low end (540 cals) or the mid range (730 cals) when I enter it into MFP. I'd like to try eating back exercise calories, but I fear that I will be overestimating my calories burned and will undue the progress that I'm making by watching my meal intake.

Any suggestions for what a reasonable calorie range would be?

For context, I'm male, 5'10", around 275lbs, and age 34.

Thanks!

Replies

  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,717 Member
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    540 cals - this is the estimate that I get straight from the machine - this one is based on generic stats, so I'd ignore it
    730 cals - this is the estimate that I get from the machine after I enter in my age/weight at the beginning of the workout - inputting your own stats helps, but machine read outs are notoriously inflated; I'd say your actual burn is closer to half of this number
    1150 cals - this is the estimate that MFP gives me for a 60 min elliptical work out - these numbers are also inflated and I don't trust them at all

    Lots of people on here that use HRM's are much more knowledgeable about this than I am so I'm sure you'll get better responses, but personally I consider my actual calorie burn to be about half of what the machine says when inputting my own info.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    If you want a variety of guesses/opinions/experience to compare and get to a ball park figure....

    Context - I'm very fit and do tons of various cardio activities.

    My maximum for an hour (flat out to exhaustion) is about 900 measured on a power meter. 1150 would take you into realms of a fairly elite athlete.

    Your description of "not huffing and puffing, able to hold a conversation" is about 600 - 650 for me.

    So 1150 from MFP sounds comical.
    730 from machine with your weight input sounds too generous.
    540 sounds reasonable and believable.

    In the end consistency beats accuracy anyway as long as you adjust based on results over time.

    @BZAH10
    Unfortunately you can't lump all machines together - they vary enormously and will vary from accurate (the most accurate you will get outside of a Sports Science Lab) to ludicrously inaccurate.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    With the obvious "inaccuracy of cardio machines" disclaimer, what equivalent distance does the machine say you've covered over that hour?

    On the rare occasions I use an elliptical, it usually tells me I burn around 500 calories in an hour, but my experience and results say it's actually just slightly over 1/2 that.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,717 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    If you want a variety of guesses/opinions/experience to compare and get to a ball park figure....

    Context - I'm very fit and do tons of various cardio activities.

    My maximum for an hour (flat out to exhaustion) is about 900 measured on a power meter. 1150 would take you into realms of a fairly elite athlete.

    Your description of "not huffing and puffing, able to hold a conversation" is about 600 - 650 for me.

    So 1150 from MFP sounds comical.
    730 from machine with your weight input sounds too generous.
    540 sounds reasonable and believable.

    In the end consistency beats accuracy anyway as long as you adjust based on results over time.

    @BZAH10
    Unfortunately you can't lump all machines together - they vary enormously and will vary from accurate (the most accurate you will get outside of a Sports Science Lab) to ludicrously inaccurate.

    I didn't "lump all machines together". OP was asking specifically about the elliptical and that is the only machine I was referring to.
  • sanjay_says
    sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
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    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    With the obvious "inaccuracy of cardio machines" disclaimer, what equivalent distance does the machine say you've covered over that hour?

    On the rare occasions I use an elliptical, it usually tells me I burn around 500 calories in an hour, but my experience and results say it's actually just slightly over 1/2 that.

    Thanks. I haven't paid attention to the distance, but will be sure to note it and include it in this thread when I get to the gym on Friday of this week.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
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    Variables also include the incline and resistance and the length of time at the various levels. At 5'5" and 118 pounds, I just did a 45 minute cross trainer workout this morning where I went from an incline of 3 and 15 resistance and built up to the max incline of 10 and max resistance of 100. I maintained the max of both for 10 minutes and then slowly made my way back down. After 45 minutes, the machine told me I burned 545 calories. I automatically subtract 100 calories from most elliptical workouts and use that number. I have found that over the 1.5 years I have been doing this, that it is pretty accurate - at least for me.
  • Fit4LifeAR
    Fit4LifeAR Posts: 233 Member
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    The couple of times I compared calories with my HRM, the HRM read 50% of what the elliptical said, based on my height and weight. So, I take the calories on the elliptical and cut them in half.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    edited November 2015
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    At your weight, 730 isn't unreasonable for 60 minutes of elliptical at a pace where you're sweating but still able to converse. I'm 5'10" and 148 lb., and I burn around 750 calories an hour running at the limit of conversational pace (7:45-8:00/mile, or 7.50-7.75 mph). That's measured by my Garmin FR620, and it agrees with my experience in losing and then maintaining weight over the last few years.

    In any case, whatever estimates you use, check them against your progress after 3-4 weeks, and adjust as necessary.
  • steuartcj
    steuartcj Posts: 132 Member
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    Of the three choices, I'd go with the machine values based on age and weight. Choices 1 and 3 seem to be more guesses than anything else.
  • jimskelton
    jimskelton Posts: 13 Member
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    Calorie burn is best calculated by measuring power output and multiplying it by a body efficiency factor (22-25%). Measuring power is expensive, so most use heart rate to estimate power output. It's not as accurate as measuring raw power, but it's the easier and more accessible method. The most important heart rate stat to know is your max, which is not very fun to determine, but will act as a guide for calorie burn. Generally speaking, males will burn around 800 calories an hour when working at 80% of their max heart rate. You could add around 1 calorie/hr for every pound you are overweight. You can also subtract around 1/2 calorie/hr for every year you are over 20, since your heart rate slows down as you get older.

    My experience on an elliptical trainer is limited, but I can't get my heart rate to go over 80% unless I work it unnaturally hard. And max heart rates vary widely. Don't use the 220-age formula. It's a wild guess at best. I'm 54 and my max heart rate is 190, and the formula calculates it should be 166--a huge difference!

    Also, there is a difference between gross and net calorie burn. You will want to calculate your net burn, which is total calories burned minus your resting metabolic rate calorie burn, estimated around 150 calories/hr for your age/weight.

    So, If I was working at 80% of my max for one hour, I would calculate 800-38 (for age) - 100 (resting metabolic rate burn) = 662 calories. Increase your heart rate to 90% (very difficult to maintain for an hour!), and I can add around 175 calories to that, but you'll have the added benefit of raising your resting metabolic rate by 30-50 calories/hr for a few hours--free calories burned while resting!

    As you can see, this gets complex in a hurry, and each body has a different heart rate/burn curve. So, find your heart rate max, determine your average heart rate during the 60 minutes, (target 80%), and do the calculations to get to your net burn. Then, avoid eating back all those calories! That's where you really lose weight.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    If it's a higher end machine, most likely it's not going to get any more accurate using another formula, but that will vary with brand. If you use the heart rate function (many have them on the grips or you can use a chest strap) that will also influence the calorie burn rate for many of them. As with anything else, it will also vary greatly depending on how hard you are working.

    From the digging I have done, most machines will report gross calorie burn as noted above. For use on MFP you would want to subtract your appropriate BMR for that period of time. But I'll also note that many of the higher end ellipticals like you would find in a gym use an eddy current system to provide load and measure power, and it's probably a more accurate power measure than just about anything else on the market.

    I did quite a bit of digging into the forumlas used for the machine we own, and by all the respected calculators it's really close, with the exception of the BMR factor being added.
  • motivccess
    motivccess Posts: 201 Member
    edited November 2015
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    For context, 5'10", around 275lbs,

    [/quote]

    there's no "i" in denial.
  • sanjay_says
    sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
    edited November 2015
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    motivccess wrote: »
    there's no "i" in denial.

    What are you trying to say?
  • sanjay_says
    sanjay_says Posts: 22 Member
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    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    With the obvious "inaccuracy of cardio machines" disclaimer, what equivalent distance does the machine say you've covered over that hour?

    On the rare occasions I use an elliptical, it usually tells me I burn around 500 calories in an hour, but my experience and results say it's actually just slightly over 1/2 that.

    Thanks. I checked this weekend, and the elliptical was saying I covered around 4.1 miles in one hour.
  • TrickyDisco
    TrickyDisco Posts: 2,869 Member
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    My elliptical gives the lowest number of cals burned when I use it, also vastly underestimates my pulse rate (based on a reading from gripping handles on the machine) compared to the reading on my HRM which has a chest strap. MFP gives much higher cals for elliptical exercise so I always use the numbers from my HRM instead.
  • Fit4LifeAR
    Fit4LifeAR Posts: 233 Member
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    I am 197 pounds and 5'7". I am heavy but in pretty good shape, cardiovascularly because of jogging for so long, but I burn about 300 calories in an hour when on the elliptical.
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
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    I know this wasn't your question, but if you're truly concerned with accuracy, then you need to get a heart rate monitor with a chest strap. When I do about 30 on the elliptical, the machine usually says about 300 calories burned and my HRM usually reads around 180 calories. (I'm 4'11 and 115 lbs, so my burn will be much lower that yours... but the discrepancy is still there.)
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    sanjay_says wrote: »
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    With the obvious "inaccuracy of cardio machines" disclaimer, what equivalent distance does the machine say you've covered over that hour?

    On the rare occasions I use an elliptical, it usually tells me I burn around 500 calories in an hour, but my experience and results say it's actually just slightly over 1/2 that.

    Thanks. I checked this weekend, and the elliptical was saying I covered around 4.1 miles in one hour.

    Based on your stats and accepted formulas I'd say that elliptical is giving you a fairly solid and reliable reading.

    Just for future reference though, some brands of elliptical machines convert to MPH equivalent power use, so strides is not directly related to miles displayed. This played with my head a little bit until I figured it out. So if you say up the resistance at the same strides per minute pace, on those machines the distance reading will increase faster, just like the calorie burn does.

    What type of machine do you use, and does it have any heart rate inputs?

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