Cross trainer/Elliptical calories

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Wombat468
Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a cross trainer at home. It's very basic and doesn't even know my weight etc. It gives me 200 calories for a moderate 30min workout. MFP gives me 400. I'm inclined to think 200 calories might be reasonable. What do you think? I don't have a Garmin etc. Thanks!

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  • ellie117
    ellie117 Posts: 293 Member
    edited January 2020
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    I asked a similar question a last month in this thread (before it got derailed) and the general answer, without knowing your stats, is that both the machine and MFP most likely overestimate. For cautionary reasons to prevent over-eating, I switched to a ~300cal entry for a moderate 60 mins on the crosstrainer. The crosstrainer was tracking me at 800+ some days.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Wombat468 wrote: »
    I have a cross trainer at home. It's very basic and doesn't even know my weight etc. It gives me 200 calories for a moderate 30min workout. MFP gives me 400. I'm inclined to think 200 calories might be reasonable. What do you think? I don't have a Garmin etc. Thanks!

    200 would be more reasonable. 400 calories in 30 minutes of moderate work is quite a lot...that's slightly less than I burn in a pretty strenuous 50 minute spin class.
  • Wombat468
    Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
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    Thanks both. Yes I agree that 400 is too many, but the first reply seems to suggest that 150 might be better :(
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    As you have said nothing about your fitness level all the available information is that you are a female of an unknown fitness level and age and weight using an elliptical at a moderate (for you) intensity.....

    The range of what humans are capable of, and actually do, is a very wide range.
    Just from my recent Strava feed I've seen two females with hourly rates of 500 net cals and 223 net cals.

    If you want an opinion then I would say unless you are incredibly fit (to an professional/elite level for a female) then 400 net cals is well beyond the realms of being at all likely in just 30 mins for a "moderate" effort.

    Whether 200 or 150 is a better guess is just that - a guess based on no real data!

    200 cals in half an hour isn't terribly hard for someone with some basic fitness, I'd be inclined to go with your machine's estimate as even if not accurate it should be proportionate and repeatable.
  • Wombat468
    Wombat468 Posts: 191 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    As you have said nothing about your fitness level all the available information is that you are a female of an unknown fitness level and age and weight using an elliptical at a moderate (for you) intensity.....

    The range of what humans are capable of, and actually do, is a very wide range.
    Just from my recent Strava feed I've seen two females with hourly rates of 500 net cals and 223 net cals.

    If you want an opinion then I would say unless you are incredibly fit (to an professional/elite level for a female) then 400 net cals is well beyond the realms of being at all likely in just 30 mins for a "moderate" effort.

    Whether 200 or 150 is a better guess is just that - a guess based on no real data!

    200 cals in half an hour isn't terribly hard for someone with some basic fitness, I'd be inclined to go with your machine's estimate as even if not accurate it should be proportionate and repeatable.



    Thankyou - that's helpful!
  • runandbikeNick
    runandbikeNick Posts: 13 Member
    edited January 2020
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    A 30minutes for most people could easily run/jog 2 miles - which depending on weight is typically around 100cal/mi - can be equivlant to eliptical - so ~200cal. But realistically, could easily be 300-330 (if it would be intensity of a 3mile run @10:00/mi pace)

    As a runner, I use that as my general basis for calorie burn. Being that regardless of fitness (for the most part), if you cover a mile running... you burn X calories based on Weight. Running and walking cal burn has been studied pretty well it seems. If you are working at very high intensity (HR > 85% of max) you will have 'after burn' cal burn for recovery of 5-20% more possibly (EPOC). So for me I can run an easy mile in 8-9minutes and burn ~120cal - HR ~120-140bpm. So I know if I bike/eliptical/hike/kayak... 8-10minutes in that similar HR range... i call it around 120cal. I know I can run a mile at 7min and HR is 155-165bpm... so if I am biking/elipting for 7-8min at that HR... I know it again was around 120cal for that time duration.

    if working out Easy/aerobically ~40-50% of my calories are burned fat, so I typically don't shoot to refuel fully that portion of the calories, being that it didn't contribute to stored sugars/glycogen in muscle/liver.
  • panda4153
    panda4153 Posts: 417 Member
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    If this helps I use one almost everyday. I use my Apple Watch to log and for 30 minutes it gives me about 180 Active calories burned. I am F 5’5” and currently 171lbs. I am also what I would consider generally fit, I’m not an athlete but I workout daily, and can run or swim for over 30 minutes continuously, and I take regularl dance fitness classes. As others have said without your stats it’s hard to know for sure, but 200 is probably reasonable. You can adjust up or down if you are losing at a different pace then what you would expect.

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