We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Phone heart-rate monitor- good for measuring calorie burn?

rebeccam279
rebeccam279 Posts: 13 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I've downloaded a free app on android that measures my heart rate. I can then use the number provided on various websites to calculate the calories burned based on that number and how long I was exercising. Firstly, how accurate are these apps?

Secondly, if they are good to use when do I measure my heart rate in the middle of my exercise when my heart rate is highest or after I've cooled down?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Ones I've tried are spectacularly inaccurate at measuring HR.

    Then trying to estimate calories from a random sample of HR at different points in your exercise routine is an exercise (pardon the pun...) in futility.

    What is your exercise of choice?
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    Heart rate is not a good predictor of calorie burn. You'd be better off saving your money and instead use the MFP activity based estimator.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    A phone app that only takes snapshots of your HR is useless for determining caloric burn. Constant read HRMs can only come close to estimating caloric burn for a narrow range of activities ... that ability to even come close disappears with only periodic checks. You may as well put your fingers onto your wrist ... count your pulse ... then guess how many calories you burned.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories