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Elliptical Calories Burned

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Author: Message: Sort First Post on Top

SparkPoints: (19,339)
Fitness Minutes: (19,393)
Posts: 2,091
4/17/12 9:58 P

20.. it was my first time on it love dit though

SparkPoints: (18,921)
Fitness Minutes: (28,003)
Posts: 131
4/17/12 9:37 P

Thanks for the input. I'm just worried that, if I am burning that many calories when I use the elliptical, then I may not be consuming enough to balance that deficit..however, I don't really think I am burning that many so I'm wary about increasing what I eat.

I guess I'll just need to wait until I get my heart rate monitor to provide myself with better estimates in order to plan my nutritional needs on workout days better. Then I can gauge how close the HRM, SP, and my elliptical's computer are in all of their estimates, too.

SparkPoints: (158,833)
Fitness Minutes: (112,042)
Posts: 46,222
4/17/12 9:12 P


Just know that calories expenditure figures are just estimates of calories you would burn based on a algorithm, using your data (current weight, age). Because the elliptical uses both your upper and lower body for the movement, you will more calories as you are engaging more muscles.

Caloric expenditure is based on the amount of oxygen one consumes and the carbon dioxide exhaled during an activity. The more muscles you engage for an activity the higher the demand for oxygen which raises one's heart rate (hence why a heart rate monitor is a helpful tool). Just know, that it too is just an estimate of calories expended.

Coach Nancy

Edited by: SP_COACH_NANCY at: 4/17/2012 (21:13)

SparkPoints: (56,178)
Fitness Minutes: (14,204)
Posts: 9,570
4/17/12 9:06 P

Sparkpeople's can be a little high at times, but honestly, most people I've seen here that really do the research say they're pretty close. The elliptical vs biking thing is normal... the elliptical puts more weight on your joints and is a bit more difficult. The one thing that SParkpeople can't do is estimate your exertion... only you can do that.

Running burns surprisingly little calories, especially at lower speeds without intervals. That's probably pretty close to accurate, as they have the most data for runners.

I've found that Sparkpeople generally does pretty well with my HRM measurements. I get around 250-300 calories for 30 minutes of running with my HRM.

Edited by: DRAGONCHILDE at: 4/17/2012 (21:07)

SparkPoints: (18,921)
Fitness Minutes: (28,003)
Posts: 131
4/17/12 8:59 P

Spark tells me that 30 minutes on the elliptical burns 451. My elliptical gives pretty much the same numbers as Spark, and I just think it's too high.

If I bike for 30 minutes, I feel like it's a much harder workout, but Spark says I've only burned 179.

Running feels like the best workout to me, and 30 minutes is 261 calories burned, according to Spark.

I'm going to order a heart rate monitor tonight, but I'm wondering if anyone else with a heart rate monitor thinks the Spark calories burned are accurate, particularly on the elliptical.

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