what is a good amount of calories to try to burn a day?

Sounds really low unless you are a very petite person. I'm 5'8 and BMI 21.5 and I burn 550-580 cals in 55 minutes on the elliptical.

Any amount of calories is good. It is recommended you do 30 minutes of cardio exercise 3x a week (heart and stroke association) and if you have the time to do 1hour a day excellent. Just be sure to eat back at least ½ of your exercise calories to keep your metabolism from stalling out.

Whatever you are burning this week, strive to burn more next week. Keep pushing yourself harder.

Every week my goal is to have better sessions than the week before... Go harder on the weights, pedal faster on the bike, blast more flights on the stairmill, or just burn more calories in general.

I try to burn a minimum of 450 calories per workout. That being said. I started out just over a year ago on the elliptical and could barely do 10 minutes... Do the elliptical first and then add treadmill to finish out your 45 minutes (or whatever your tme that you're shooting for... ) Then every couple of workouts up the time on the elliptical by 5 minutes. Do it slow! You'll get there! I can now do 65 minutes on the elliptical on interval mode after barely handling 10 minutes on easy mode a year ago! You can do it!! Keep at it!

I lost 87 lbs last year from using the elliptical for workouts... you can do it too!

This is always where I stall...

I love cardio. I could play on the treadmill all day! Lol...but from what I understand, the big changes are in using weights. That helps your body to continue to burn calories well after you're done and showered! Cardio is good and should be done every day. It will make everything stronger!

You don't have to use heavy weights. Just hand weights to start. You got this!

yeah try out a zumba is a great workout and when you roughly know the moves the burn is great, i went to my 5th class on thursday and really felt like i was getting what i was doing and i racked up a decent 580cals.

i burn about 100cals per 10 mins on the cross trainer (elliptical) so i tend to go at it by myself for 10 mins then select the interval training/aerobics workout on there for another 10 mins.

Sounds really low unless you are a very petite person. I'm 5'8 and BMI 21.5 and I burn 550-580 cals in 55 minutes on the elliptical.

If she burned 100 calories in 10 minutes on the elliptical, wouldn't that be the same as burning 550 calories in 55 minutes? (I'm really not trying to be rude, I just want to make sure the OP considers the amount of time spent on the machine compared to her calories burned)

I think what would be most beneficial is 30-60 minutes of cardio with at least some moderate exertion. The amount of calories you'll burn will vary, but because you're petite, your burn will be lower than what larger people burn using the machine at the same pace. I would focus on the time and effort rather than the number unless you feel like you are hungry and need to earn as many calories to eat back as possible.
I think 10 calories a minute is actually kind of high for someone of average height (I'm assuming here), unless you are really going hard. You also have to consider that the machine and MFP don't subtract the calories you burn from your BMR either (meaning that if you had sat still for one hour and burned say 50 calories, or run for an hour and burned 300, you should only "earn" 250 extra calories). I usually estimate my burn to be between 1/2 and 3/4 of what the machine says, depending on how hard I feel I've worked. It's not super scientific, but it helps me make sure I don't eat back too much.

MFP Calc says almost 600 burned for 45 min on Elliptical--seems high amount.

Anyone else have a question of the accuracy of the Exercise tool?

many of MFP's estimates are over-stated. Either discount MFP's estimates by 30-50% or get a HRM so you know what you actually burn.

Thanks H--But how does a Heart Rate Monitor help? I do have one but I use it to keep an eye on my rate only--

To be honest, according to the calorie counters on the machines at the gym 300 calories is about what I burn. I am only 5 foot tall and very overweight so this may make a difference. I've just started a programme put together for me by one of the trainers at my gym and I'm doing intervals on the treadmill, bike, cross trainer and rowing machine- she says this is the best was for me to burn fat. I'm also doing weights (heavier than I expected to start with) and resistance exercises- apparently I need to build muscle to burn more fat, so you might want to think about that. Good luck!

Only as much as your diet can support. Creating an excessive deficit will eventually lead to a stall.

I try to workout 5 days a week and I love the elliptical. I push myself just a little harder each time. I usally do about 35-40 min on the elliptical, 15 on treadmill and at least 15 on weights. Several months ago I couldn't do 5 min on the elliptical so I have really improved.

Feels great, doesn't it?