GF discouraged by HRM calorie burns. Any advice?

Muldactus

My GF and I both recently restarted our journey to fitness - she finally found some sites that inspire her and help her to truly believe the goal is obtainable. We both use HRMs, and are trying to get used to tracking foods, exercising regularly and so on.

Unfortunately, she struggles with our relative calorie burns during our workouts. I usually burn almost twice as many calories as she does, and she finds it discouraging to think that she's working as hard as I am, but not getting as much out of it.

Here's some information that may or may not be relevant: I'm in slightly better shape than she is, having spent several months (several months ago) using MFP and working out while she was unable to due to a back injury. I have asthma, and I don't sweat. Not that I don't want to sweat, I just don't seem to be able to. Haven't been able to my whole life. I just overheat and have to deal with heat exhaustion.

I've heard that it's normal for men to burn a bit more than women do, but twice as much seems excessive. Any thoughts on what might be causing this and what we can do to help overcome the discouragement?

TeachTheGirl

How much heavier/taller are you than your girlfriend? I believe that will factor into the calorie burn listed on the HRM?

cmeiron

Height, sex, fitness level, weight, age, medical conditions...there are lots of factors that can affect this. I kind of feel her pain; my partner and I exercise together a lot, and she normally gets 1.5-2x the calorie burn that I do. I just try to celebrate the fact that I'm still reaching my goals, super-fit, in excellent cardiovascular health (and get to eat more than my partner anyway bwahahaha ) She needs to remember that everyone is different and the only benchmark against which she should measure herself is...herself.

Sarauk2sf

HRM's are not my or SideSteel's forte but we have a few HRM geeks in the group that will hopefully be able to comment.

Regarding energy expenditure in general, size will have a lot to do with it though, as will cardiovascular fitness levels and how adapted you are to the exercise.

Muldactus

I'm about 6 inches taller than she is, but she weighs a bit more than I do. I'm courteous enough not to ask her weight, but my guess is that she's maybe 10lbs heavier than I am.

Chief_Rocka

what we can do to help overcome the discouragement?

Explain to her that the only thing that really matters is the size of the deficit. The easiest way to "burn" 200 more calories is not to eat them.

ChanceyRose

I'm the GF. I was 188lbs as of this morning.

I know I'm going to burn less than he does. I'm shorter, fatter, less fit, etc. Just guessing, but, I think his inability to regulate his body temp at high levels of exertion is the key factor in the burn difference. My body temp drops to normal within 15mins of stopping exercise. His continues at a high level for a lot longer. I have felt excessive heat radiate from his skin an hour after a workout.

Example burn for me: 60mins of lifting (avg HR 60%) + 20mins of walk/jog with (HR ranging 75-90%) equaled 453kcals.

Sarauk2sf

^^this is interesting...I don't know whether it would impact the HRM reading or the actual burn, or a bit of both.

I realize that my statement is totally unhelpful however....

jackpotclown

*grabs popcorn*

I don't think there is much advice to give....you have what you have and burn what you burn....the ultimate measure should be self improvement \m/

ChanceyRose

The easiest way to "burn" 200 more calories is not to eat them.

Less than helpful and unappreciated. You don't know how much I eat now so telling me to 'eat less' is irresponsible.

DopeItUp

My wife and I use the same model of HRM and we use the same exercise equipment for the same period of time. I consistently burn almost exactly double what she does. So your situation sounds viable.

Having said that, exercising for the maximum calorie burn is a difficult way to look at it. You (she) should look at is as a way of achieving a fitness goal. You run, why? To be able to run a certain distance. Or run a certain distance at a certain speed. Or to train for a 5k or a half marathon or maybe a spartan race or something. You lift weights, why? To retain LBM, build strength, bulk up, whatever. Notice none of these reasons are simply to burn calories. Exercise should be for fitness, diet is for weight loss/gain.

Having said that, I do enjoy a beer with my earned exercise calories. But I don't strive for the most calories burned, I strive for my fitness goals. The extra calories are icing on the cake.

chubby_checkers

I'm the GF. I was 188lbs as of this morning.

I know I'm going to burn less than he does. I'm shorter, fatter, less fit, etc. Just guessing, but, I think his inability to regulate his body temp at high levels of exertion is the key factor in the burn difference. My body temp drops to normal within 15mins of stopping exercise. His continues at a high level for a lot longer. I have felt excessive heat radiate from his skin an hour after a workout.

Example burn for me: 60mins of lifting (avg HR 60%) + 20mins of walk/jog with (HR ranging 75-90%) equaled 453kcals.

I don't burn too much more than you for a similar workout, and I'm much heavier. Do you eat back exercise calories or do you do TDEE- a %?

Sarauk2sf

My wife and I use the same model of HRM and we use the same exercise equipment for the same period of time. I consistently burn almost exactly double what she does. So your situation sounds viable.

Having said that, exercising for the maximum calorie burn is a difficult way to look at it. You (she) should look at is as a way of achieving a fitness goal. You run, why? To be able to run a certain distance. Or run a certain distance at a certain speed. Or to train for a 5k or a half marathon or maybe a spartan race or something. You lift weights, why? To retain LBM, build strength, bulk up, whatever. Notice none of these reasons are simply to burn calories. Exercise should be for fitness, diet is for weight loss/gain.

Having said that, I do enjoy a beer with my earned exercise calories. But I don't strive for the most calories burned, I strive for my fitness goals. The extra calories are icing on the cake.

^^agreed.

Sarauk2sf

I'm the GF. I was 188lbs as of this morning.

I know I'm going to burn less than he does. I'm shorter, fatter, less fit, etc. Just guessing, but, I think his inability to regulate his body temp at high levels of exertion is the key factor in the burn difference. My body temp drops to normal within 15mins of stopping exercise. His continues at a high level for a lot longer. I have felt excessive heat radiate from his skin an hour after a workout.

Example burn for me: 60mins of lifting (avg HR 60%) + 20mins of walk/jog with (HR ranging 75-90%) equaled 453kcals.

HRMs are very inaccurate for lifting and should not be used to estimate calorie expenditure for it.

DopeItUp

Example burn for me: 60mins of lifting (avg HR 60%) + 20mins of walk/jog with (HR ranging 75-90%) equaled 453kcals.

PS - do not use the HRM for lifting, it will be wildly inaccurate (typically extremely high). I log around 1/3 of the HRM calories for lifting, I typically show 1200-1400 calories for 90 mins of work. I log 450 and it seems to be dead on (weight loss is roughly as expected). 450 calories for a woman of your size, doing that amount of work, seems quite high. Maybe 300 total? I guess it doesn't matter, adjust for your expected vs actual weight loss. If you're losing slower than your calculations show, then your HRM readings are high. And vice versa.

NovemberJune

I'm the GF. I was 188lbs as of this morning.

I know I'm going to burn less than he does. I'm shorter, fatter, less fit, etc. Just guessing, but, I think his inability to regulate his body temp at high levels of exertion is the key factor in the burn difference. My body temp drops to normal within 15mins of stopping exercise. His continues at a high level for a lot longer. I have felt excessive heat radiate from his skin an hour after a workout.

Example burn for me: 60mins of lifting (avg HR 60%) + 20mins of walk/jog with (HR ranging 75-90%) equaled 453kcals.

I'm no HRM nerd/expert, but what kind of HRM are you using? If it's just a heart rate monitor, body temperature itself shouldn't affect the calorie estimate. But maybe you mean his condition keeps his heart rate elevated? In that case it would increase the calorie estimate (but I wonder if it would affect the actual burn too? interesting).

HRMs really aren't intended to be good at estimating calories burned during anaerobic exercise (lifting). The elevated heart rate during lifting doesn't correlate with calories burned in the same way elevated heart rate does during aerobic exercise (cardio). I don't understand it very well but here is a link that might help.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

I also think that heart rates are an area where everyone really is a special snowflake. I believe that my heart rate gets slightly higher than average (for my gender, size, age) and that HRMs over estimate calories for me. But I have a friend on here who will do half an hour of intense cardio and get 100 calories. My guess is that her heart rate is slightly lower than average and her HRM under-estimates her burns. If that's the case, my heart rate getting higher doesn't mean that I'm burning more.


ETA Fixed link and there were a lot of replies while I typed that lol

DragonSquatter

Stop comparing yourselves to each other. It will drive you both insane if you continue to do this.

I also second DopeItUp's suggestion of setting some fitness goals and not obsessing about the actual calories burned.

You may also benefit from using the TDEE - 20%/15% or so method instead. This will give you a fixed calorie goal every day based on your regular activity level (exercise is built in instead of trying to estimate and eat back as MFP guides suggest). You can calculate your TDEE at various sites online then subtract 10-15% from that. Eat at that level, and you're done. No guesswork with calorie burns.

ETA: I understand your frustration. My husband loses weight ridiculously easily, and I have to work hard for every pound. It's just a downside of being female and smaller.

ChanceyRose

Just started this 10 days ago so I don't have a good base for knowing what my typical exercise and activity level is going to be. Currently, I have my daily calorie intake at 1550 (slightly above the BMR calculated by most online sites) and I eat back my exercise calories as given by the HRM. I have lost 2lbs in 10 days. I'm not unhappy with that. I have no plans to change what I'm doing with either my diet or exercise/activity -- yet. I need more data before I can determine if what I'm doing is working or if I need to make adjustments. Frankly, I'm still learning how to get all the numbers to work. I only just yesterday managed to meet my protein requirements (currently set at 30% of 1550 or 116 grams). Nothing changes until I have more data and until I'm stabilized in diet and exercise habits.

We use Polar HRMs though I don't know the model offhand.

Thank you for the info about HMRs and lifting. I'm going to continue to use it, even if I opt to modify the calories burned, because I'm curious about my HR vs my perceived exertion.

DopeItUp

Just started this 10 days ago so I don't have a good base for knowing what my typical exercise and activity level is going to be. Currently, I have my daily calorie intake at 1550 (slightly above the BMR calculated by most online sites) and I eat back my exercise calories as given by the HRM. I have lost 2lbs in 10 days. I'm not unhappy with that. I have no plans to change what I'm doing with either my diet or exercise/activity -- yet. I need more data before I can determine if what I'm doing is working or if I need to make adjustments. Frankly, I'm still learning how to get all the numbers to work. I only just yesterday managed to meet my protein requirements (currently set at 30% of 1550 or 116 grams). Nothing changes until I have more data and until I'm stabilized in diet and exercise habits.

We use Polar HRMs though I don't know the model offhand.

Thank you for the info about HMRs and lifting. I'm going to continue to use it, even if I opt to modify the calories burned, because I'm curious about my HR vs my perceived exertion.

Sounds like you've got a good plan in place. I'd do it for 4 weeks at LEAST before adjusting anything so you can have some reasonable data to go by. Your calorie intake sounds good at a glance too so I think you will be fine. I too wear my HRM when lifting just for giggles more than anything. I can keep track of my time spent easily and it's interesting to check my level of exertion as you mentioned. For example, if I'm not hitting 190 on my squats then I'm slackin (don't follow that advice as a beginner btw).

Keep up the good work, not many people start with good research if I'm honest. It will help you out a lot in the long run.

ChanceyRose

Sounds like you've got a good plan in place. I'd do it for 4 weeks at LEAST before adjusting anything so you can have some reasonable data to go by. Your calorie intake sounds good at a glance too so I think you will be fine. I too wear my HRM when lifting just for giggles more than anything. I can keep track of my time spent easily and it's interesting to check my level of exertion as you mentioned. For example, if I'm not hitting 190 on my squats then I'm slackin (don't follow that advice as a beginner btw).

Keep up the good work, not many people start with good research if I'm honest. It will help you out a lot in the long run.

Thank you.

Yeah, I was thinking 4 weeks at a minimum if for no other reason than building habits. Won't do me any good to take 2 weeks of newbie-motivated exercise/activity levels, use that to figure calorie intake, then slack off 'cause I'm bored/injured/too busy/whatever.

190 on your squats --- LOL! I just graduated from pink dumbbells.

And, thank you for the earlier tidbit about you burning twice as much as your wife. Helps to know this isn't necessarily an anomaly but a fact I need to accept. S'okay. I can still kick the BFs @ss in some things.

NovemberJune

I still log my hrm cals too. It's just something I keep in mind and I don't really follow the mfp "net" calories model.