Ellipticals + Calories, out of shape novice

In an effort to improve my physical well being, fitness level, and to rectify health, joint and other issues, I have embarked upon a quest to lose weight. Of course, my quest is just beginning. I currently weigh over 300 pounds, standing 5'6'(yes, I'm morbidly obese, hence the exercises).

I purchased an elliptical machine, a Pro Form 545S Elliptical Trainer. I chose the elliptical machine because my knees and ankles are in terrible shape, and wanted to have as low an impact workout as possible on my joints. I had heard that it is 'low impact' as far as joints go. Thus far, I have found it to be sufficiently easy for my joints to take.

Anyways, my real problem comes in the electronic board thingy. It has time, speed, distance, and calorie counters on it. Of course, I'm not in the best of shape, but I have been attempting to go for 20 minutes a day on the thing. I have not yet succeeded in this task, with 15 minutes being my best stretch, but I make sure I do it every day. However, after a 15 minute stretch, the calorie counter on the friggin thing said I had burned all of 50 calories. FIFTY, that's not a typo.

Now, during this 15 minute stretch, at the behest of my doctor, I have been monitoring my heart rate, and, being about 30 years old, I have been told to keep my heart rate between 130 and 170 for fat burning and cardio workouts. During my entire workout, within about 2 minutes of starting, my heart rate reaches that level and stays there for the entire time(bouncing between 135 and 145).

Of course, at the end of my time, I am sweating buckets, my legs are wobbly and my heart is racing. I *FEEL* like I've just run a marathon. I *FEEL* like I've burned about 1000 calories. I *KNOW* that weight plays a factor in these things for certain machines, and I understand that these elliptical machines have their calories burned affected by weight.

Is there an equation or something for figuring out how many calories one would be burning for a given time period at a given heart rate for a given weight? Something that will give me a much more accurate interpretation of how much work I'm doing, because I *KNOW* I'm burning more than 50 calories. It doesn't have to be completely balls on accurate or absolutely scientific or anything, but it's really frustrating for that damn machine to tell you that you just worked out to the point of wobbly legs to work off the friggin carrot you ate for dinner.

Or, if I'm not burning more than 50 calories, I'm just going to say 'screw it', pay for liposuction and never eat again.

Posts or emails are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

calories.

Jeff Goslin - MCSD

Jeff,

Good to hear you have already checked with your doctor. I too, find the machines at my gym misleading. The elliptical trainers I use say I burn way more calories than I do running (for less effort and less time).

There are some tools to calculate 'true' calories based on effort made, but they are often lacking.... http://www.fitnessonline.com/calculators/ fitnessTools.asp (an example)

I wonder if there are better calorie counters out there than the one I currently use....anyone know of any where you can pick the activity (detailed), the time, distance, and speed to calculate the calories burned?

Thank you so very much, that was exactly what I was looking for. Regrettably, it does not include a 'elliptical machine' setting, but ah well. I will us this link as a guideline for what I am trying to accomplish. Thanks again!

I use an elliptical x trainer at my gym and level 7 for 20 minutes says I burn 300 calories that is going at a fast speed, sweating like mad and shattering after it but I love it. I do know that readouts on these machines is not always correct but I have stayed in good shape since using one, usually everyday with other machines on top of that.