Polar users question

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I have the Polar HRM which tracks my calories as well. My question is, should I wear it only when exercising or should I wear it all day? I think it's cheating a little to wear it while I'm at work, doing daily activities or just sitting whatching tv. Don't get me wrong I'm sure the body burns calories, not much, but does burn calories around the clock. Any thoughts are welcomed and thank you in advance.

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  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
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    Just while exercising. Anything you may burn in day to day activities is already counted in your tdee. Counting thrm via a hrm will be "double dipping" so to speak.
  • VegasFit
    VegasFit Posts: 1,232 Member
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    I only wore my HRM while exercising. If you want to track all day long you should look into an activity tracker.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Only wear it all day if you want to know your heart rate - calorie figures would be meaningless.
    Calories estimates only likely to be "reasonable" for steady state cardio, not weights, not cardio intervals.
  • ahavoc
    ahavoc Posts: 464 Member
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    I did an experiment and took a nap with mine. It registered my calorie burn from snoring, ;-)!, but really, that hour of rest gave me a baseline that I subtract from the total shown when I get a total from exercising. We all burn a certain amount of calories as our heart beats, as we breathe, and our body processes whatever it's processing, so I figure that baseline shouldn't be part of those extra calories we enter.

    Now, if you nap and your HRM says you didn't burn any calories, then that means you don't need to find a baseline. You're either dead, or the algorithm of the HRM program already subtracts a baseline for you.

    Good luck!
  • FancyPantsFran
    FancyPantsFran Posts: 3,687 Member
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    I wear it just for exercise
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    ahavoc wrote: »
    I did an experiment and took a nap with mine. It registered my calorie burn from snoring, ;-)!, but really, that hour of rest gave me a baseline that I subtract from the total shown when I get a total from exercising. We all burn a certain amount of calories as our heart beats, as we breathe, and our body processes whatever it's processing, so I figure that baseline shouldn't be part of those extra calories we enter.

    Now, if you nap and your HRM says you didn't burn any calories, then that means you don't need to find a baseline. You're either dead, or the algorithm of the HRM program already subtracts a baseline for you.

    Good luck!

    Interesting and to me logical theory.

  • Tony302
    Tony302 Posts: 4 Member
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    Thank you all for your responses. I plan on only using g it during exercising.
  • kmdimenna
    kmdimenna Posts: 5 Member
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    I have periodically worn mine for a 24 hour period to get an accurate view of what I actually burn everyday. As your cardiac and overall fitness improves that number changes drastically.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    During steady state cardio. Here is an article that explains why heart rate monitors are not reliable for strength training.

    http://livehealthy.chron.com/can-heart-rate-monitors-measure-calories-weight-lifting-4910.html
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    kmdimenna wrote: »
    I have periodically worn mine for a 24 hour period to get an accurate view of what I actually burn everyday. As your cardiac and overall fitness improves that number changes drastically.

    Only it didn't track your calorie burn at all

    HRM tracks steady state cardio, anything else is inaccurate