Ellipticals - Weight Loss Message Board

samizzle79 · 12-29-2005, 03:55 PM

I'm trying to lose 12 pounds. I have started eating not so much "healthier" but less and i recently got an elliptical for Christmas. When i use the at school i go at about 7mph but here i can't seem to go faster than 2.5mph! Because of this, it takes me ONE HOUR to do 2 MILES!! I'm used to doing about 3 miles in 30 minutes.
I get very bored just running for this long and kind of dissapointed that i'm not going as far and as fast as i'd like. Is there any way to help this? I listen to music and watch tv and it doesn't do too much.
After two miles at 2.5 and one hour, it says i've burned 740 calories. Is this right?!?

OutToLunch · 12-29-2005, 08:39 PM

First off, don't pay attention to the calorie readouts on any machine. Those are programmed for the average person and even the machines that ask you to input your age and weight still make a lot of assumptions. If you want to gauge how hard you've worked, pay attention to your heart rate. Any form of cardio will get boring after a while. That's why a lot of people try to do a circuit of several machines. For instance, they'll do 20 minutes on the elliptical, then 20 minutes on a rowing machine, and then 20 minutes on a treadmill.

Lenin · 12-30-2005, 06:48 AM

I hate those machines.
We got all new ones at the gym YESTERDAY, and I can't figure out how in blue blazes the controls WORK. Cute though, they each have a built in Plasma TV Screen...but the cable hasn;t been connected yet.

Yes, all those machines lie about the effort you are putting in and translating the mothion of an elliptical into mileage really doesn;t make a lot of sense because an elliptical is sort of a cross between a treadmill and a stepmaster...you are going UP and FORWARD at the same time so distance doesn't have a lot of meaning.

"Two Miles and Hour" sounds most like a broken machine. I'll know more after I fiddle with our machines tomorrow and get a handle on the speed readout. (Museum hopping today...enough aerobics.)

samizzle79 · 12-30-2005, 01:05 PM

sounds good. let me know how yours work out and if you have any tips for mine