How many calories were really burned?? Elliptical verses Calorie Count??

Ok so today I stayed on my elliptical for 30 minutes. It says I burned 250 calories. Calorie count says for 30 minutes of light elliptical you burn 449 calories. I wasn't doing light effort. My heart rate was 179.

Who is right? Calorie count or my elliptical? Has anyone else come across this?

I'm not sure, but I always hear that elliptical machines are not great things for burning calories, but I'm not really sure either.  If anyone knows, I'd like to find out too. 

Hmm...I don't really have an answer either.  Did u enter you weight properly on the elliptical? because I know that can make a big diff.  I have also found that usually the # of cals burned on the equipment is higher because it doesn't factor out the calories u use just living, which CC does.....or so I have been told r read.

And the fact burn thing...to my understanding (please note I am new to this) anything that increases Ur heart rate and makes you sweet will burn fat.  Keeping Ur pulse around 130 (depending on age and fitness level) also increases fat burn.  Or at least that what my treadmill tells me....when I set it for fat burn it automatically adjust the incline and speed to keep my heart rate around the 130.

My elliptical doesnt let you put your weight in.

Original Post by aaalger:

My elliptical doesnt let you put your weight in.

Then it is assuming you are an average weight (I've heard 150lb, but I don't know that for sure) - and therefore isn't going to be very accurate. Logging it on CC, of course, requires you to rank your effort, which may over- or under-estimate your burn.

450 cals fo 30 min on the elliptical sounds really high (are you sure that wasn't for an hour??)...200-250 for 30 min is more realistic, even if your hr was around 179...

The calorie counting book I use says that a good estimate for burning during any kind of exercise is about 100 calories per mile. That means if you are running a 10 minute mile or walking two miles an hour, you are burning about 100 calories for that mile. The estimates CC uses seem to be similar to this. I know it's not perfect, and it will vary depending on how aggressively you are working out, but I think it is a fair estimate.

I just got off the elliptical like an hour ago and happend to come acroos this thread. I usually go for 45 minutes with a heart rate between 175 and 205.  I do interval training and mine say I burn around 600 to 700 cals.  Today I took it easy low intervals and didnt get my heart rate up to 170.  I went for 25 minutes with cool down and ended up 310 cals.  I am pretty sure that its pretty close.  I hope this helps.

Original Post by aaalger:

Ok so today I stayed on my elliptical for 30 minutes. It says I burned 250 calories. Calorie count says for 30 minutes of light elliptical you burn 449 calories. I wasn't doing light effort. My heart rate was 179.

Who is right? Calorie count or my elliptical? Has anyone else come across this?

This is what CC says (on my computer at any rate):

493 calories burned PER HOUR (ie, 60 minutes) for light effort - http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-burned -elliptical-trainer-a612

616 per hour for moderate effort; and

740 calories per hour for vigorous effort. 

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR EXERCISES.

The problem with ellipticals is that there is no standard movement or resistance and thus you cannot generate any standard prediction equations.

For comparison--there are standard prediction equations for workload intensity (VO2) for walking and running--both on level ground and at incline, cycling on an ergometer bike (one that accurately measures resistance), and stair climbing. The ones for treadmill walking and running are very simple and can easily be programmed into even a cheap machine.

Ellipticals are different. In order to get an accurate calorie count, research would have to be done for that particular machine and specific algorithms developed. I know that Life Fitness does this kind of testing for each of their machines, but most other mfrs do not. They extrapolate from other sources.

The fact that your machine does not allow you to enter weight makes the number basically little better than just picking a figure out of thin air. You can use that number for comparison purposes--e.g. comparing your total aerobic work from one session to another--but it is not very useful for tracking actual exercise calories. In this instance, a calorie-counting HRM, despite their limitations, would probably give you a closer estimate.

Original Post by agaac:

Original Post by aaalger:

Ok so today I stayed on my elliptical for 30 minutes. It says I burned 250 calories. Calorie count says for 30 minutes of light elliptical you burn 449 calories. I wasn't doing light effort. My heart rate was 179.

Who is right? Calorie count or my elliptical? Has anyone else come across this?

This is what CC says (on my computer at any rate):

493 calories burned PER HOUR (ie, 60 minutes) for light effort - http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-burned -elliptical-trainer-a612

616 per hour for moderate effort; and

740 calories per hour for vigorous effort. 

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR EXERCISES.

 

What is considered "Light effort" ? How many watts? I just LOOOOOVE how CC is so fantastic at specifying.

My elliptical says I burn 200 calories for every 10 mins, I don't think it's right though...