Calories burned from weightlifting-HRM inaccurate?

frayst
frayst Posts: 62
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm beginning to suspect my heart rate monitor is inaccurate when depicting my calories burned. I can burn up to 650 calories in a one hour session and for some reason that doesn't seem right to me. Granted I am getting in a hefty cardio warm-up in the beginning, and keeping my heart rate up with sprints, jump rope, and high-rep plyos between sets, but don't only cardio-filled workouts burn that many calories?

I drink coffee in the morning and (unfortunately) take stimulants to concentrate in school so I'm worried that may be having a positive influence on my heart rate and tricking my monitor into thinking I'm exerting myself more than I actually am.

Any fitness/nutrition experts have any insight as to what is going on? I'd like to be able to accurately log calories burned because I am in deficit right now, trying to get leaner, I don't want to eat too little but I am very confused about how much I really should be eating back.

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    HRM's aren't made to track weight lifting calories so it would be inaccurate. HRMs are for steady elevated cardio.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    HRM's aren't made to track weight lifting calories so it would be inaccurate. HRMs are for steady elevated cardio.

    Glad I stumbled onto this thread, I had no idea ^^
  • frayst
    frayst Posts: 62
    HRM's aren't made to track weight lifting calories so it would be inaccurate. HRMs are for steady elevated cardio.

    So how should I go about tracking my calories? I do get in at least a half hour of cardio. What should I be eating back? Should I not log my weightlifting at all? Eat closer to maintenance?
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I believe most weight lifters use the TDEE method so they don't have to worry about all that....
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Yep, a HRM is only good for steady state cardio and even that is still an estimation when it comes to calorie burns. Remember, the only thing an HRM is really designed to do is track your heart rate.
  • hill8570
    hill8570 Posts: 1,466 Member
    HRM's aren't made to track weight lifting calories so it would be inaccurate. HRMs are for steady elevated cardio.

    So how should I go about tracking my calories? I do get in at least a half hour of cardio. What should I be eating back? Should I not log my weightlifting at all? Eat closer to maintenance?

    If you're trying to build muscle more than worrying about weight (which, given your stats, seems like a reasonable approach right now), I'd concentrate on your macros (getting enough protein, etc) and eat maintenance or a bit above. If you want to track calories for the lifting (as opposed to TDEE method), then MFP has an OK database for lifting that would give you a starting point.
  • frayst
    frayst Posts: 62
    Thanks, that was really helpful. I think I'm only going to log my cardio workouts from now on and just ignore the weightlifting. I'm going to eat with a slightly low deficit but definitely much closer to maintenance than I have been doing in the past, and I'll see where it goes.

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