HRM Accuracy?

cosmo_momo

How accurate are heart rate monitors in terms of calories burned during exercise? I have a naturally high resting heart rate as it is (80-100) and I feel like that definitely affects the totaled calories burned. A fast heart rate can't automatically equal more calories burned, or else I'd be stick thin lol. I have the polar FT4 btw.

socioseguro

Hi
I hope this link helps you.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Heart-Rate-Monitors:-How-Do-They-Work?&id=6186384
I use a polar FT7. I notice I burn more calories, if I exercise closer to my "maximum heart rate" (i.e. 85% of my maximum HR)
Good luck in your healthy journey

enterdanger

I'm gonna read that link too. I posted the same thread in December and a bunch of people told me to trust my HRM. I also have a high resting heart rate. One thing I did was figure our my vo2 stat and enter that in my garmin's homepage thing. I've already forgotten what it is. lol

TimothyFish

It is impossible to know how many calories a person burns by how many times their heart beats. At best, a HRM can measure the amount of time a person spends doing higher intensity activities and multiply that by some factor. This is essentially the same thing you are doing when you use the calorie burn estimates that are in the MFP database, you're just using different factors.

Mr_Knight

enterdanger wrote: »

I'm gonna read that link too. I posted the same thread in December and a bunch of people told me to trust my HRM.

I'm pretty sure a bunch of people also told you to not trust it.

Listen to those people.

RockstarWilson

Keep in mind, the HRM usually measures total calorie burn. If you are doing a light workout, such as a long walk, you must also subtract what the you in a different universe would have burned anyways just by sitting on the couch:

(HRM #s) - (BMR for that timeframe) = (True Calorie Burn)

This is only a huge factor in workouts of small magnitudes. I usually burn 800-1300 calories per workout, so I just estimate at that point. My hourly burn is about 120 calories, so I just use proportions in my estimations. If I work out for 30 minutes, I just deduct 60 calories from the output of the HRM.

cosmo_momo

RockstarWilson wrote: »

Keep in mind, the HRM usually measures total calorie burn. If you are doing a light workout, such as a long walk, you must also subtract what the you in a different universe would have burned anyways just by sitting on the couch:

(HRM #s) - (BMR for that timeframe) = (True Calorie Burn)

This is only a huge factor in workouts of small magnitudes. I usually burn 800-1300 calories per workout, so I just estimate at that point. My hourly burn is about 120 calories, so I just use proportions in my estimations. If I work out for 30 minutes, I just deduct 60 calories from the output of the HRM.

Actually did that after my workout today!