Are the calorie counters on eliptical trainers acurate??

Question

They ask for my weight and age, 17years and 56kgs respectively...

It said after a 20 min workout out at 77-80rpm I burnt 250 cals..

although if I count my weights and what my cal counter said it says a total of 300 cals, 140cals for 45 mins weights..
plus 160 cals for 20 mins on eliptcal.
is the eliptical acurate? Am i infact burning more?

Answer 1

no - they are not. you need to know much more than those machines ask to determine calories burned. You need to know how much muscle mass you have - because muscle is what burns all the calories. No machines can tell you that precisely. (example is treadmills - you burn much more running than on elliptical and treadmills show a lot less than ellipticals...)

Answer 2

Elliptical training machines vary in accuracy. As do calorie counters. Your best tool is you. See what works best for your body. These devices are helpful and can be motivating and used for goal setting, but the bottom line is, is your body looking and feeling like you are paying attention to it. An extra 50-150 calories won't make a bit of differance on a device if it is not coming across in your mind and in the mirror.

Answer 3

No they are not 100% accurate, they mostly show a ball park figure. There are many factors that determine how many calories are burnt, age, height, weight, body mass, muscle mass etc etc.. so if I were you I would just take them as an average and use it to show you how you have performed in a particular workout session. Hope this answers your question sufficiently.

Answer 4

They're always a bit dodgy, although some are more accurate than others. If it's one where you can enter your age and weight and it measures your heartbeat then you typically burn 75-85% of what it estimates. If not it's more like 60%. Hope this helps