elliptical calories - HELP!!!

okay, so i am like, SERIOUSLY working out on the elliptical today.  i did the interval course (#7) at resistances of 2 and 7, for those of you who get this lingo.  anyways, by the end of 35 minutes, the machine read that i had burned 491 calories.  mind you, i entered in my weight (116) and age (22) prior to starting the course, so i feel like this number is SUPPOSED to be pretty accurate.  however, i go on caloriecount and say i did 35 minutes on the elliptical, "vigorous effort"....and it gave me a lousy 370 calories.  i mean....thats over 100 calories difference here!  what do you guys think....caloriecount, or the elliptical meter?
ps...i always burn about 450-490 according to the machine on these sessions, this isn't a one-time thing.

I got nothing... maybe try averaging the two? I actually have the same problem, but I never calculate all of my calories in and out EXACTLY so I figure it all sort of evens out.

My machine always says less than what is on here at CC. My machine doesn't allow me to enter in my height and weight though. I always use what my machine says because I figure that if I burn more than great but I always want to average on the lower side then the upper side when it comes to losing weight. If I was maintaining I am not sure what I would do.

I have the same problem on here. I just manipulate the number of minutes on here to find a close match to what the machine says at the gym.

same problem here too... CC always says less than my machine at the gym.. i put in my stats at the beginning of the workout so like vparker i will usually fiddle with the minutes on CC to get my calories correct.  I figure even if the machine at the gym isnt exact, if you're putting in your weight and age its gotta be more accurate then the generalization CC gives for calories

My doctor told me to always subtract about 15% from what the machine says because they are not that accurate.  I asked him if I should I do this even though it asks age and weight and he said I should  still subtract the percentage because the calorie burned number on all exercise equipment is a bit inflated.  Kind of sucks!

The recumbant bike at the gym says I burn  about ten calories a minute. My brand-new Schwinn recumbant at home says I burn  less than four calories a minute.  I really don't think you can trust  the calculators on the machines... except as a general gauge of how much and how hard/long you worked as opposed to previous workouts. Like at home, I cycle to "200 calories" how many calories that really is.

There are some problems in putting too much stock in how many calories you burn through exericise.

1 The machines are inaccurate.  If you use the CC number, well that is based on averages... you might work more intensely or less intensely than CC assumes.

2. When you burn calories when exercising, say you figure 400 calories in an hour, you didn't burn 400 calories over your sedentary level... you don't get to "eat back" 400 can call it even.  If your  sedentary calories rate is 1800, then that means you burn 75 calories an hour on average when sedentary.  Even this is low, because it factors in the hours when you sleep, when you burn way less.  So say 100 calories for hours you are awake and sedentary. So  you really have to subtract this 100 from your exercise number... so you really burned just  300 more than if you were sedentary.

3. I'm maintaining, and still track calories. This summer I went on a 16-day road trip, did no exercise, not even  walking. I left on the trip under my goal weight. I compensated for not exercising by eating 100 calories less per day, thinking I would probably gain slightly, back to my target weight. I lost more than a pound... and this weight has stayed off, so I am now intentionally eating more to gain it back.  So it seems that exercise matters less than I would think.  My theory is that when I work out, I am tired, and so burn less energy during the other "sedentary" hours of the day. Especially after my weight-lifting class, which often wipes me out, I intentionally give myself a break.  On days I don't work out, I might be more inclined to wash woodwork,  or weed a garden than days I am tired from an exercise class.

So it seems like factoring in for exercise is a murky world. When we count calories for food eaten... that is far more exacting. When I was losing weight, I just recorded the types of exercise I did and how many hours I worked out per week.

The numbers on the machines tend to be inaccurate, and CC is just coming up with an average which won't be accurate either. I had always heard to subtract 10% of the calories, but maybe 15% is better like kerriepie said since s/he heard it from a doctor. I suggest that you subtract 15% off your number from the machine and use that. It'll give you something in between the two, but just don't put TOO much sock into it. I tend to burn about 300 in a 30 minute period on the elliptical and I usually put 280 into CC.

I too got so frustrated at the lack of accuracy, that I went and bought a Heart Rate Monitor.  It tells me exactly how many calories MY BODY burns while exercising.  It's still based on an algorithm, but all the variable data comes from my specific stats...so it's bound to be the most accurate of all three. 

Just another chime in for heart rate monitors:

I usually go by my HRM. The HRM is going by how hard you are working, as opposed to the machine which is going by how hard it thinks you should be working to do the exersize.  So the HRM takes into account how fit you are, while the machine does not.

Well the eliptical that I use resistance 2 would notbe vigourous. I usually have to get up to 9-12 to feel comfortable saying vigourous, every machine is different so who knows! The most importaant tings is that you are activley buring additional calories. 

I always put in a lower weight than i actually weight and round off or go a few minutes longer and not count those calories burned