Can I rely on my HRM?

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Hi all, I've been using a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor (with chest strap) to calculate my daily gym burns. It gives a very different figure to MFP - much lower. The burns are still relatively high though - 720 cals used today for 90 total minutes of elliptical/stationary bike. I'm 157lbs, 48, female and 5 ft 2. I was working quite hard - got very sweaty indeed. My HR stayed at 140-159 bpm. Does the reading it gave sound reliable to you? It just strikes me as still a bit high but I don't know...

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Doesn't sound at all unreasonable.
    Only you know your fitness level and intensity of effort though.

    What makes you think it's high?
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
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    Sounds reasonable to me when I first started training I was always in the 145-155 HR range now even pouring sweat legs on fire I rarely hit 140 and most of my averages are 125-135 over a 60 min workout
  • krupskaya
    krupskaya Posts: 24 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Doesn't sound at all unreasonable.
    Only you know your fitness level and intensity of effort though.

    What makes you think it's high?

    I think I'm just being cautious as I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by overeating exercise calories. Thanks for your input though, sijomial and Michael - if this is in the ballpark of reasonable it makes me very happy indeed! I don't mind putting in the hours to get a result like that!

  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
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    Sounds reasonable to me for 90 minutes of more or less continuous high aerobic activity.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I agree with the others. There's no way to say if it's accurate or not, and whether not it is may change depending on the activity your doing. But based on your original post, the numbers seems well within reason.