Elliptical Trainer/Weight loss questions?

If i burn about 500 calories on elliptical trainer everyday and don't eat junk food or sometimes cut down what I eat (But no junk food, more like grain products I eat) will I be able to lose about 20 pounds in about 3-4 months? Oh and just what does the Tension Control does on the elliptical trainer? At first it was 3 which was a little bit heavy but not that much and I turned it to 1, it became less heavier. Will I be able to burn 500 calories in 30 minutes on elliptical trainer if my Tension Control is low? I want to lose weight, I really don't want to have muscles. And if I do lose weight, will the muscles in my calves shrink? And does 20 pounds make you look really different? How much calories should I eat a day anyways? I want to have skinny thighs,claves, and a smaller bum. Stories will help me keep motivated if you lost pounds on elliptical and made your legs smaller!! And you don't have to answer all the questions, just some you know. Thanks!! for answering though!

Public Comments

  1. I just found I had to buy a treadmill because the elliptical gave me a bulky bum and thighs, don't over do it like more than a half hour or you will build muscle, eat 1,300 calories a day if you are a female. go to calorie count.com for a free personalized calorie count for your weight and height.
  2. grain products are high in carbohydrates. eating too many could affect weight loss. products should be 100% whole grain and they should not make up more then 25% of your daily calorie intake. calorie intake for someone not on a weight loss program is about 2000 calories per day. someone trying to lose weight should eat between 1200 and 1500 calories per day. 3500 calories = 1lb. cutting your calorie intake by 500 calories per day will amount to a 1lb. weight loss per week. increase weight loss by burning off an additional 500 calories a day.
  3. 1. Elllipticals - These machines are supposed to be low impact exercise machines meaning it exerts less stress to your joints. If using it requires u to strain too much then u should lower the tension. If it gets too easy, u need to inrease the tension. - To get a real cardio work out u need to raise your pulse by at least 25 % the normal rate & maintain it for 15 mins at least. That is why cardio machines like the ellipticals have pulse monitors built in so u can see if u r using it correctly. I am assuming here that u have a go ahead from your health proffessional to do cardio workouts. Remember cardio workouts start slow & end slow. - If u do cardio workouts using the ellipticals at least 3 x a week , eat right & are overweight, you will lose a permanent 5 lbs every month. If u r very very overweight, u will lose at least 10 lbs. 2. Eating more grain products - Not sure if your health professional prescribed that you eat a lot of grain foodstuff. If they did, the u should follow. - Eating a lot of grain products raises your carbohydrate intake. Carbo are one of the very 1st forms of matter from food that the body uses to convert to energy needed to perform it's daily function or during exercise. If u have a lot of carbs available then the body does not have to reach into those reserves of fats around our waist, hips thighs, etc, for it's energy requirements. 3. Legs - Ever wonder why track sprinters (100 m, 200, 400m run) have more massive legs than long distance runners (1 500 m, 3 000m, 5T, 10T, 42K)? - Legs muscles were found to be the "fast twitch" type of muscles. Fast twitch muscles are muscles that are capable of performing very quick & explosive motions like sprinting. A sprinter trains by running distances shorter than what they are supposed to run in competition. Example if u r training for the 100 m dash, you will run 75 m at the most & mostly just 50 m each time or even 25 m but very very fast. If u do this type of training, your legs will bulk up. This is how fast twitch muscles react to workouts. If you train them for a very short period & with a lot of stress, they grow. If you train them for long period of time & with less stress they will shrink up to a certain level. - Yes your legs (& calves) will shrink if u use the elliptical for cardio workouts. But genetics will also come into play on whether they will get very skinny or just nomal girth. Your butt will get smaller as well. Assuming your health professional says it is OK for u to do so, use a long distance runner's training principles, L. S. D. = long, sustained, distances. 4. Muscles - Muscles by far are the best fat burning machines you can get. If u compare 2 persons of the same height , same bone size, same amount of fat in the body, the person that has a lot of muscle will burn more calories or fat. than the person with less muscle if they perform exactly the same type & amount of exercise. - Legs are by far the best muscle burning machine from among the different muscle groups in our body. After a very heavy leg workout with weights during the day, when u r already sleeping, u might wake up 1 time & find your legs to be sweating profusely. It is burning calories even while at rest. This the best exercise huh, resting. This is 1 proof of this principle. The more muscle you have the more calories you need to maintain these muscles. This makes your metabolism more efficient. Your ability to burn fat during exercise is much better with more muscles. After saying these things you might want to change your fitness goals. 5.Weight - Remember it is not your weight that makes you either look good or bad. It is your body measurements & proportions. I am 5'10" 170lbs, 32" waist so not fat. Mr. Olympia 2007 or even 2008 is probably the same height as me but 2 x the weight. Mr. Olympia however would look better in a t-shirt than I would do.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers