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Why isn't Elliptical an Option?

Old 03-24-2011, 01:03 PM
  #41  
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Default Elliptical Estimations / activity calorie burn?

Hi Everyone. I've been a member of the site for about a year (give or take), but am finally getting serious about this and just joined a gym!

One question I have ... can anyone give suggestions on what to use for Activities for workouts on the Elliptical machine? I have done search after search on this site, but have yet to find an entry that works. I have been using "walking".

The other question I have is ... how come the calorie counts on the machines are showing differently than on this site? Can anyone provide suggestions on how to do this? Right now I have been adjusting the time -- usually adding time on the site until the calorie buring meets what the machine said. Is this correct? Can anyone offer suggestions?

The support on this site seems to be great. Looking forward to getting to know my fellow supporters.

Thank you. Regards, StevieLyn
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Old 03-25-2011, 03:47 AM
  #42  
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Hi!

I find that stair/treadmill ergonometer is REALLY close to my actual calorie burn (according to the machine, anywho - going to get a heart rate monitor this weekend!)

For instance, I burned 648 (according to the machine) in 60 minutes yesterday on the elliptical. Entering "stair-treadmill ergonometer" for 1:03 gives me 647. Pretty darn close, and only a few minutes off.
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Old 03-25-2011, 07:10 AM
  #43  
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First of all, congratulations for joining a gym! It can be really motivating and rewarding to get away to the gym for some "me" time.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those cardio machines are usually waaay off on their estimations of calories burned. A recent study by UCSF found that cardio machines on average overestimate calories burned by 12-19%. Elliptical trainers are the worst by a long shot -- the study found that they overestimated calories by 42%! Its kind of like "vanity sizing" in clothing -- if the consumer perceives that they burn more calories with Brand X, they're more likely to prefer that brand over others. Another reason for this overestimate is that health clubs rarely calibrate their machines, causing a skew in the outputs. A related issue is that, even for machines that ask for weight/sex/height information, cardio machines don't individualize metabolic information (for example, two women could be the same age, height and weight but be at completely different fitness levels). Most people are not going to be burning 10-12 calories a minute as some of these machines would seem to indicate. As a general rule, I'd say that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The best way to estimate your calorie burn is to wear a heart rate monitor during your work out. Barring that, all you have are really loose estimates. As far as logging these activities into FitDay, I would record elliptical as either walking or jogging. In my opinion it is always better to underestimate, especially if you're using exercise to reach a caloric deficit -- that way you'll be sure that you're not accidentally a couple hundred calories over your daily limit.

I think the bottom line is to not get discouraged by this roadblock and to concentrate on making your workout a habit. The inability to accurately track this information DOES NOT negate the work you put in. It took me a long time to come to terms with this and at one time I was obsessed with tracking how many calories I burned during a given work out -- if the readout disappeared before I could record it, I'd feel like it didn't count! Put in a solid effort, strive to improve every day and you can't go wrong.
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Old 03-25-2011, 08:04 AM
  #44  
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Default Thank you...

Hello again. Just wanted to say Thank You!! for your responses to my post. Very good information.
Best wishes to you all towards meeting your goals.
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Old 03-25-2011, 08:28 AM
  #45  
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I use jogging walking combination. Since I tend to fluctuate in my speed. It is usually accurate for me, sometimes I add or subtract a few minutes so the number matches what my ellyptical machine says.
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Old 04-08-2011, 07:34 AM
  #46  
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Default Elliptical/Cross-Trainer Calories Burned Question

Unfortunately I can't seem to find either elliptical or cross-trainer listed anywhere in the activities log. So my question is whether or not there is any other activity that would burn a similar amount of calories that I could enter as a substitute for time on the elliptical in my activity log??? I was thinking maybe the "ski machine" might work? I'm not all that concerned about accuracy, and I'm already aware that the estimates the exercise machines givve often over-estimate calories burned by as much as 15% (plus, it's dependent on height and age and metabolism and all that). I'm just looking for a general ballpark figure within 100-150 calories, not something that is perfectly accurate. Any suggestions as to an activity available in the log that would be a good stand in for 40 minutes on the elliptical?
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Old 04-08-2011, 08:57 AM
  #47  
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Hi there!

I usually use the stair-treadmill ergonometer Good stand-in.
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Old 04-08-2011, 09:19 AM
  #48  
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Ok, that sounds good! Thanks very much taubele!
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Old 11-15-2011, 01:41 AM
  #49  
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Default Help please!

Hey guys,
So last night was my first night at the gym and I went on the elliptical cross-trainer, I was so excited to come home a record it but found that there is no elliptical on there. What do you suggest I put?
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Old 11-15-2011, 01:56 AM
  #50  
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Find anything that burned about the same calories in roughly the same time. Try treadmill or anything.

Last edited by 01gt4.6; 11-15-2011 at 09:01 AM.
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