Elliptical Trainer -- Calories Burned???

Hi

No. All cardio machines (treadmills, stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, etc.) are known to be rather 'optimistic' in their calorie figures. Why? Because it sells machines. If someone thinks 'Wow, 20 minutes on this machine and it says I've burned 300 calories!' they will likely buy it over some other machine that announces only 200 calories, even if the truth is the other way around.

Agreed. What an industry... The calories burned in running an 8 minute mile (7.5 mph) for a 100 lb. woman is 8-9 cal/min. One can use this as a reference in two ways: Compare both activities in terms of perceived exertion. If you don't *feel* equally tired or 'worked out' for both activities, the calorie burn is probably not the same. If you don't trust your perception of exertions, you can measure your HR during both activities. Altho in principle HR can't be used to compare calories for two different activities, these are probably close enough to compare. A Timex watch will suffice, if'n by some strange reason a Polar HRM is not available... Or, maybe there is a clearing house of independently determined VO2s for this type of equipment, that has the values on the web someplace. Bottom line is, 30 minutes of running at 8 min miles is 3.75 miles, or 250-300 cals for a 100 lb woman. That's a goodly amount of activity, which is likely going to be felt in terms of a big 'whew' at the end. If'n you don't feel that same 'whew' at the end of your elliptical session, you probably have not burned the same amount of calories

The calories burned feature on machines is only useful if you have to input your weight when you start up. I use this feature on the ellipticals and they are close to the readings I get on my Polar M21 heart rate monitor. So they can be useful.

To me, it is an indicator of workout intensity. Not a gospel. Your fitness level will also come into account. The calorie figures are just a guide, and I would say not compeletly accurate.

What is most important in cardiovascular exercise is time in 'target zone' (heart rate). You need a pulse monitor for that. One of the ellipticals in my gym reads my Polar monitor transmitter, and asks for my age, then gives a current heart rate indicator readout on the display! The treadmills can display heart rate, but are very unreliable as far as that goes.