HRM question

BaranVonCoop

Hi everyone,
I have a question about my HRM, which is the Polar FT7 (with chest strap.)

How accurately do you believe these are, with respect to calories burned?

I worked out for 26 minutes doing a cardio kickboxing video, and it said that I burned around 238 calories. I then rode a stationary bike (high resistance) for 10km (40ish minutes) and my total for that showed 463.

I felt like it may be estimating a higher burn rate, so when I enter into MFP, I reduce each by 30%. (Don't get me wrong, I was tired and felt like I worked hard, just shocked by the numbers.)

I am just looking for feedback to help me understand if I should stop reducing like that and put more trust in the device.

(Note: I have updated my weight in it so that it is accurate.)

CurlyCockney

All the knowledgeable people here say that HRMs are only accurate for steady state cardio (I have no idea what SSC is though, so I'm not much help sorry!)

DeadsAndDoritos

I've been using the FT7 to track calories burned for over a year. I log and eat back all my exercise calories and I am making progress at the expected rate.

I also use a body fat analyser scale to track trends, even though these are notoriously inaccurate as well. If it keeps you motivated and isn't hurting your progress, do it, if it doesn't, change it. That's my best advice.

Commander_Keen

Everything is relative.
Who cares that its right or wrong.
You just need to be consistent with it.
If you are not loosing weight, then increase your cardio time and calories burned until you see the scale moving