HRM and weight loss?

hels4397

Hey all...so I'm finding that I'm really confused. I bought a Timex Ironman HRM last week when I was at the outlets. I started using it, and it said I was burning 800 calories in 30 mins of running, and 1500-1800 calories in 60 minutes of Zumba. When I work out, I give it my all, and my HR goes way up in the 180's because I get so excited and put myk all into it... I've been trying to eat a lot of the calories back, but I stepped on the scale today and I was up a few lbs. Now i"m stumped because I'm not eating more than my allotted calories, and I'm not even eating all of them back - I end up with my net being between 1200 and 1400 a day. How am I'm gaining weight? When I put it in MFP, I usually underestimate by a couple of hundred calories too...I know the numbers seem a little high for the HRM (it has a chest strap, and I've programmed it with my weight and stuff and I use it religiously)....what are some thought about the numbers from the HRM?

I'm just so stumped..I don't get it? Any help would be much appreciated! :bigsmile:

mzenzer

HRM's require that you put in your information to be accurate, such as height and weight. Have you done that?

Bearface115

does your watch have a male of female settings on it. if its set you male then it will show that much... im sure you have a billion times, but read the manual that came with it. i have a polar watch and it calculates my running for examle as like 230 cals in 45mins... so it keeps it lower, butt i think its more accurate! It is Impossible for someone of your hight and weight to burn that much in a running session and ESPECIALLY in a zumba session, My zumba cals was 545 cals in 1 hr. Check ur watch out again, lol

ProTFitness

Yeah your HRM is definatly not reading right. Check the info in it and does it have a chest strap? IF not then I can see why it is not reading right. THere is no way your burning that much doing Zumba. When I do Zumba I am pretty crazy and do alot of the higher end of the workout and can barley get 600 calories. Even though I know weight and age and height has some to do with it. Even if your out there killing the workout I would say 800 would be alot. HUMM I would definatly ????? whether it is functioning right

WonderNoodle

i'd do a factory reset on it and then reprogram your stats (height, weight, sex, etc). with my polar, it specificly tells me to wet two areas of the chest strap to allow better communication with my heart.

i'm 5' 5", 214lbs and work my BUTT off at zumba. i've wore my polar the last several times and i range from 630-740 calories (the 740 was 1:15, we did a few extra songs).

hels4397

I forgot to mention I'm 5'8 and 231 lbs, so I'm carrying more weight then most of my counterparts at the Zumba class, and have to work even harder when teaching the class...

Azdak

I forgot to mention I'm 5'8 and 231 lbs, so I'm carrying more weight then most of my counterparts at the Zumba class, and have to work even harder when teaching the class...

The HRM is still drastically overestimating your exercise calories. Most likely because your normal exercise heart rate is higher that "average"--which is just a normal variation. However, the HRM reads it as you working 95-100% of your maximum heart rate.

Unfortunately, while Timex has always made great stopwatches, as best I can tell, they are mediocre HRMs when it comes to estimating calories. Your actual exercise "burn" is probably closer to 700 calories/hour.

hels4397

So maybe take what MFP uses for dance and double? That seems ok to me...350/30 mins is pretty good considering what it could be...

Thanks for all your responses!!!