Sceptical about Polar watch calories burned

TinyJimbo

Polar says I burned about 500 calories by walking for 50 minutes. That seems a lot to me.
How precise are those watch reports? (Polar M200).

slowbubblecar

Did you change the settings to put in your info? Seems a little high to me though.

My watch always seemed fairly accurate but I have a basic watch.

BrianKMcFalls

Seems about double what you actually burned to me.

TinyJimbo

slowbubblecar wrote: »

Did you change the settings to put in your info? Seems a little high to me though.

My watch always seemed fairly accurate but I have a basic watch.

Yes I did, my age / weight and height are correct. I do walk as fast as I can and I'm not in shape.

ragsibobs

Polar might add on your basal metabolic rate to the calories burnt. But I'm not entirely sure... I used to have a polar watch and I seem to remember that when I uploaded my training from polar to Strava (running/cycling/swimming app), Strava would tell me I had burnt less calories than polar did even though strava only had it's information from the Polar app.

Azdak

Unless you weigh almost 400 pounds, the calorie number is elevated. If you have a higher than average max hr, an HRM will think you are working harder than you are and give you an elevated calorie burn.