Elliptical trainer question??

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Long2bslim
Long2bslim Posts: 34 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I never go to the gym but have an elliptical trainer at home. I've never know whether to 100% trust the computer readings it gives and was wondering if those of you who frequent the gym would know if the below stats seem accurate???

10 minutes covering 3.3km tells me I've burned 253 cals

Does this seem about right??

Thanks

Replies

  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
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    That seems pretty high. I think a decent burn is about 10-12 calories a minute. It also seems like 3.3 km in that amount of time is pretty high. I do an arc trainer at the gym every other day (it's like an elliptical, but burns more calories). I normally only get 2-2.5 miles in 45-50 minutes of working out and I keep it at 135-145 steps per minute. I generally burn around 500 calories during that time period.
  • Donnacoach
    Donnacoach Posts: 540 Member
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    A lot of it depends on your weight.
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
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    A rule of thumb that I heard before I got an HRM was one mile equals 100 calories burned. Does your elliptical keep track of mileage? My husband does it for about 2 miles (takes him 30 minutes)
  • T321
    T321 Posts: 5 Member
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    Typically, you burn 100-120 calories every ten minutes if you are doing cardio at a moderate effort/pace.
    Also, if you are working in miles, I find that you can multiply the number of miles time 10 to get a calorie burn.
    Ex. 1.4 miles is usually 140 calries.
    2 miles, 200 cal.
    etc.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
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    If I am using it on a HIGH setting and really working hard for an hour, my heart rate monitor registers a burn around 750 calories.

    Calorie burns go up as your weight does. So a heavier person gets a bigger burn, and a smaller one burns less.

    250 calories in ten minutes seems high, compared to myself, but I don't know your stats so I can't guess intelligently.
  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
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    A lot of it depends on your weight.

    For the calorie burn, I agree. But two miles in 10 minutes? It seems to me that the elliptical is likely way over estimating distance and calories burned.
  • celticmuse
    celticmuse Posts: 492 Member
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    Seems high to me. I usually burn about 10 cal/min on my elliptical. Get a HRM, then you will know for sure. It's a great investment in your health.
  • monicaroozo
    monicaroozo Posts: 200
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    Agreed - a lot has to do with your weight. Being 15 lbs lighter now, I had to increase my workout by 10 min to burn the same amount of calories from when I started. I am 120 lbs and only burn about 200 cals in 25 min. My HR is in the cardio zone during this period though and I am only doing a "lighter" workout.
  • Long2bslim
    Long2bslim Posts: 34 Member
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    Thanks for the replies, I'm 235lbs

    I have thought on occasion that it seemed a bit too good to be true, I did 25 mins on it the other day and it told me 622 cals?? If I cant rely on the computer whats the best way to estimate cals burned??
  • hope516
    hope516 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    A lot of it depends on your weight.

    Exactly!! And how physically fit you are!...A 120 pound physically fit woman is not going to burn nearly as many calories as I would. My best advice is to invest in an HRM (and even those are not totally acurrate) when I compare what MFP registers for me for a particular exercise vs my HRM...MFP overcalculates by almost double.
  • Long2bslim
    Long2bslim Posts: 34 Member
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    Thanks everyone...looks like I'll be picking up a HRM in the not too distant future!
  • mikemegscott
    mikemegscott Posts: 1
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    Is there a place on the elliptical trainer where you enter your weight? Most of those machines' computers are set for a 150lb male (at least thats what my trainer at the gym told me.)
  • emgett
    emgett Posts: 13
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    All of the ones at my university do (that is, let you enter height/ weight). Mine says I burn ~9 cal/min, using a resistance of 7 (incline alternating 4 and 10, then 6) and 150-160 steps/min. Based on the estimates I've seen here, that seems about right... although I'm pretty light, so it's probably an overestimate.... hmm. Frustrating.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I never go to the gym but have an elliptical trainer at home. I've never know whether to 100% trust the computer readings it gives and was wondering if those of you who frequent the gym would know if the below stats seem accurate???

    10 minutes covering 3.3km tells me I've burned 253 cals

    Does this seem about right??

    Thanks

    You didn't cover 3.3 km in 10 minutes. Thats a 5 minute per mile pace and if you were running that pace, you'd be out signing endorsement contracts.

    A quick calc for running cals is that cals = your body weight in pounds * 0.75 * miles. That's including BMR. Use a factor of 0.63 to get net burn. Of course, these are estimates.

    Check my calculations at runnersworld.com just to be sure.

    As a data point, my Garmin 305 estimates my calories at 147 per mile.

    Just for grins, plug your stats in here:

    http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

    The numbers differ yet again!

    I'm in maintenance now so calories and macros are more important to me now* than when I was in weight loss. It's VERY frustrating to not be able to have an accurate estimate of calorie burn.


    *When I was losing weight, calories in vs calories out weren't that important. I knew they would be inaccurate so I "removed all doubt" and are so few calories that the inaccuracies made no difference.
    If you're on a "regular diet", it's a different story! The inaccuracies can cause people to insist that they're in a calorie deficit even though they're eating maintenance level calories.
  • TiffanyDawn79
    TiffanyDawn79 Posts: 201 Member
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    I burn about 10 calories a minute
  • jmaffett
    jmaffett Posts: 68
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    Ellipticals are notorious for overestimating calorie burn. Our elliptical has a HRM and I wear a strap. I burn about 8 calories a minute if I'm working moderately hard. I have to really push it to get to 10 calories a minute (increased speed and resistence).

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