Does anyone know how accurate Elipticals and Treadmills are?

I started running again at the end of last month and i'm doing about 2 miles in 22 minutes on the treadmill with intervals of running and walking.

But when I'm on the eliptical, I'm hitting it between 6.0-7.5 for 30 minutes straight... Tonight I ran 3.35 miles in 30 minutes on it... I'm 262 pounds of 21 year old man flesh..... My heart rate is getting up to about 155-165 when I'm doing this on the eliptical...

Does anyone know if the machines are calculating my calorie burn rate correctly?

cause for the eliptical, it said I only burnt like 401 calories.... And CC says It is anwhere from 450-700ish... lol

I'm doing it vigorously.. lol... i'm doing cardio for 30 mins straight increasing the resistance...

PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND

nobody is going to help?

nobody is going to help?

Hey...the elliptical always over estimates the HR and the calories burnt. Use a Polar HR monitor as its the most closest you can get. There are a lot of threads in regards to this. Give it a search.

There is a good article on this very subject in the New York Times today: Putting Very Little Weight in Calorie Counting Methods

I would say that the machines at the gym are probably pretty inaccurate. At least that's been my experience.

For a start, they don't take your gender or your age into consideration, and unless you hold the handles and the machine is getting a read-out of your HR, it probably isn't effectively measuring your effort.

I have a Polar HR monitor watch and can tell you my experience...

1. I get a "better" burn from the treadmill than I do from the elliptical (during an equal period of time).  My HR on the treadmill is usually about 10 - 15 bpm higher than I can get it on an elliptical I(no matter how much I adjust the incline and resistance).

2. When I workout on the treadmill, the machine readout can be about 20% higher than what my watch tells me.

3. When I workout on the elliptical trainer, the machine readout can be as much as 40% higher than what my watch tells me.

I sweat like a pig - no matter what I'm doing - but somehow, on the elliptical, I can't seem to elevate my HR beyond 140 bpm....so I just don't burn a ton of calories in a 45 to 60 minute period.

Hope this helps you out a little..... 

At my Gym the Eliptical asks age, and weight, but it doesn't ask fitness level... if you are in good shape you actually tend to burn slightly fewer calories per work out. However so long as the HR is acurate the burned tends to be on target.

I don't use the treadmill because it really hurts my knees and ankles.  I love the variations of elliptical machines, but I don't pay too much attention to the numbers.  I know it usually tells me my highest heart rate is in the 160's and that I've burn 400-500 calories during a 35-45 minute workout.  I go by feel.  You know how when you've worked out really hard and you just feel good?  Like, exhausted, but like you've purged your body of a ton of toxins?  That's the feeling I go for every time I hit the gym.  When my current work out stops doing it for me, I increase the time, resistance, and incline until I'm sweating like a maniac and feeling great again!