HRM, calories question

vpsmith14

I am completely confused which is funny because I have been counting calorie/working out regularly for 3 years next month. Wearing HRM for much of that time until it broke. I went for months without one and just got another one. So here are my concerns.

For the first time I wore it for 24 hours. In that 24 hours I burned 3000 calories including my 500 calorie burn workout. I ate 1820 calories in that 24 hours which actually gave me a 1200 calorie deficit. This diet is typical for me even on days without the HRM. So that said, why, in these 3 years have I lost in the beginning but in the end, today, i am up 20 pounds. I do strength training using all of Jilllian and Bob's workout dads and that pretty much consist of my workouts so I am strong but NOT losing weight. In fact gaining. Talking it over with my husband after I discovered I burn 3000 in 24 hours and only take in around 1800-2000 in the same 24 hour period; am I NOT getting enough calories hence the weight gain or what? Any ideas would be great.

MinnieInMaine

HRMs are not intended for all day use, only during intential exercise, espcially steady state cardio. The number the HRM gave you isn't correct. If you want an all day calorie estimate, you'd be better off with something like a Fitbit or BodyBugg.

TeaBea

HRMs are not designed to calculate calorie burns for 24 hours. HRMs work best for steady state cardio....that's all. HRMs compare your resting heart rate with your exertion level heart rate. No exertion while sleeping.

FitBits are a fancy pedometer that is designed to calculate calories for 24 hours. These are basically looking for your "activity level"......you would then use a HRM for cardio workouts.

Mokey41

All of the above and it's probably giving you false numbers for you DVD's as well unless you maintain a steady elevated HR during the whole thing. HRM's are really meant for runners, etc who want to monitor their heart rates during exercise. It's the diet industry that has made it an essential tool for the dieter as a calorie burn estimator.

If you've gained 20 lbs then you're eating too much. I'd start really evaluating your caloric needs as well as being extra vigilant with weighing and measuring food.

LAWoman72

I don't really trust the "calories burned" calculators. IME, they exaggerate, and not in the right direction. I had the same problem with Weight Watchers (when I used to do it) and the "activities" monitoring section. It would give X amount of points per activity as "burned." I didn't find that this matched up with my actual weight loss results.

There are other things that can be getting in the way of your burning calories efficiently as well. Hypothyroid is one major example of this.

Calories in/calories out and activity level/calories burned never follow an exact path. It's supposed to be exact, as measured (energy burned) but is it ever, really? There's definitely more to this equation than meets the eye, or meets exact numeric measurements.

cmriverside

Wait.


You lost in the beginning.

Now you're up 20 pounds. How did that happen? Are you weighing and measuring and logging all your food?

I agree with the above, HRMs are not intended for all-day use.

You aren't under eating if you've been logging a consistent 1850.

I just don't see how you are up TWENTY pounds. Didn't you notice at around FIVE pounds that something was amiss?

cmriverside

^^My point is that you aren't GAINING weight when/if you under eat. Just NO.