[JennaR]

Hi everyone!

I have a couple questions regarding elliptical workouts and figured that this would probably be the best place to ask!

So, I bought an elliptical machine recently and I'm absolutely loving it. I'm doing roughly 30 minutes a day right now and actually did 60 minutes today because I got so absorbed into a show I'd PVRed that I hadn't noticed the time fly by.

When I went to log my workout into my livestrong account it clocked my calories burned at around 700 where my machine told me it was closer to 300.

This seems like a HUGE discrepancy to me... any ideas as to how many calories I actually burned in that hour???

[ItsMyTurn]

Keep in mind that Livestrong has no idea how fast you were going, the incline of the ramp, or the resistance (or even if those are options for your machine). They estimate fairly high due to intensity of "average use" per your weight now. The elliptical bases it's caloric burn off of a 150lbs person and the settings you have on it being read. I have no idea how close you are to that in weight, but that's how they base it. The most accurate way to measure calorie burn is with a heart rate monitor. Without it, it's merely guess work honestly. So many things determine calorie burn. How much do you weigh, is it an exercise you have done enough your body has gotten used to it (then it will burn less), etc. Sorry it's not a direct answer, but it's true and can get real confusing

[tdiprincess]

Generally with the elliptical I figure out my average pace and then input it into a calorie site as running at that speed. For example, today I got 2 miles in 20 minutes on the elliptical. My average pace was 6mph for 20 minutes. I find that it's calculated differently and I feel like it is more accurate.
It's really up to your speed, weight and many other factors that we don't even think or know about!
Hope that helps!

[pattyhues]

the amount of calories on those machines is approximate - it's not entirely accurate. it's based on approximately the amount of calories someone of your weight would lose working out on the program that you choose but it's a bit too general to be exact or very accurate.

[JennaR]

Thanks for your input!

I just found 600+ calories to be slightly exaggerated!