I usually workout on the elliptical for 60 minutes at a time. I'm unsure how to keep track of it though. On here I chose the "moderate" category of elliptical use, because I work hard, but since I go for an hour I'm definitely not going my hardest. This method says I burn about 580 calories in 60 minutes.
The elliptical at my gym though is really new and nice. I was able to enter my age and weight. The elliptical read that I burnt 670 calories in 60 minutes.
Which of the two methods of keeping track of the calories I burn? I know it's only about 100 calories different, but every little bit counts to me!
Wow, I actually have been having the same problem. It's really confusing.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat also. I usually gauge how I feel about my workout- if it was kind of a tired, I'm-slogging-through-this kind of day I'll go with whatever CC says I burned. But if I really felt like I was going hard and afterwards I'm tired, I'll go with the treadmill. That's just me though, so I don't know.
sometimes I divide the difference and log that.
I think it also depends on if you're gripping the handlebars. Without arm support, you're supposed to be burning more calories, so maybe the activities section only takes into consideration the fact that you're doing the full body, and not just the leg, workout.
An easy way to keep track of calories burned is to buy a heart rate monitor. It will track how long you worked out, how many calories you burned and the amount of time in certain heart rate zones. It is more accurate than the machines or guesstimating.
I have no faith in the elliptical's calorie calculations. I work my butt off on the StairMaster, my heart rate is high the whole time, I'm dripping in sweat and I burn about 385 for 45 minutes, which seems reasonable. If I go for 45 minutes on the elliptical, at a pretty high level it feels like less effort, but the machine tells me I burn over 500 calories. I ignore it and just figure I probably burned about what I do on the StairMaster.
I would say go with the lowest number to be safe, especially if you're calculating how many calories you plan to eat by the deficit. I don't have much faith in what those machines tell me...I've even gone for the same time/close to same distance/etc and its told me a different calorie readout even though it should be about the same. I say don't trust it. Moderate exercise (probably what you're doing) and depending on incline - I'd say it's safe to gauge 100 calories/mile??
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