HRM's...and calories burned...

Fgillies
Fgillies Posts: 194
edited September 23 in Fitness and Exercise
So, I have a question...And i'll apologize now if it sounds dumb.....

Okay, so i have purchased a HRM ( being shipped, cant wait for the arrival)....and of course the point of working out is to get our heart rate up....but here is when the dumb comes in....

I know that if I am on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes, my Heart rate is not at Target heart rate the entire time....Am i still burning calories?....I am getting the HRM so i can accuarately log said calories, but i got to thinking, goodness, if my heart rate isnt in the target range the whole 30 minutes, did i just waste 15 of those minutes not really burning anything?

I am still trying to get to the point i can run for the whole 30 minutes, let's be honest, i want to even run for 15 minutes without stopping...

I guess i am just "nervous" i have been "sabotaging" my opportunity to burn calories...I am pushing myself during my workouts, that is no question,but sometimes instead of walk/running for 30 minutes, i'll do a moderate speed and walk at 10 incline...which feels just as good as running...


and I;m rambling. sorry!!

Thanks for any feed back :)

Replies

  • winterjade
    winterjade Posts: 55 Member
    my indoor HRM gives me an average heart rate for the legnth of time I am exercising....I plug that average into a caloric calendar (there are lots on the web) and it gives my calorie burn....I think unless you have bought a really expensive one you will just get the average...which is ok just like foods nothing is super persice, I have found lots of the same foods in the search that have all different nutritional values...so I just use mine as a guideline, the emfisis is on the word use :)

    LOL and I apologize for my horrible spelling!! Its early here!
    ~Jenn
  • Randee75
    Randee75 Posts: 234
    Bumping this because I am curious as well. I don't think its a dumb question at all. I also ordered a Polar FT7 HRM last week and can't wait till it gets here.
  • dhutt2011
    dhutt2011 Posts: 77 Member
    Hello, I bought a HRM to see what I was burning and you will be amazed at what you burn during your workout. You are burning calories just doing your normal activity. It is always good idea to get your heart rate up during a workout. I believe that 140 or higher is the range for cardio. You may have to change up your routine a little on the treadmill if you are not getting up to that heart rate. Like walk for 4 minutes at speed 3 or higher and then 2 minutes running at a higher speed and alternate that during your workout. If that isn't enough then you less the time for walking and increase the time for running over a period of time. You should gradually work your way up to more running then walking but that is over several weeks time.
    Hope this helps!
  • dhutt2011
    dhutt2011 Posts: 77 Member
    Bumping this because I am curious as well. I don't think its a dumb question at all. I also ordered a Polar FT7 HRM last week and can't wait till it gets here.

    I have this same monitor and love it!
  • GinaSz3
    GinaSz3 Posts: 26 Member
    The purpose of your new HRM is to stay IN THE ZONE ( burning zone ) It will help monitor where your at as far as your heart rate goes and notify you when you are in your zone =) but to answer your question you are still burning out of your "zone" just not as much. You will see, the HRM is a very nice tool that will help you tremendously in keeping the math as accurate as possible in this weight loss journey. =)
  • Fgillies
    Fgillies Posts: 194
    Okay, thank you! Not that I am trying to Avoid my Target heart rate by any means, but ive been trying the interval mode on my treadmill...and its high high high for a few minutes, then back to low during the rest, and i was afraid i wasnt really burning ANYTHING during those low heart rate moments!!! :)
  • FaeFae
    FaeFae Posts: 243 Member
    hun you burn calories doing pretty much anything even if its little things!!! going for a walk and walk very very slowly will still burn calories! If i sat on my couch and played with my hair for an hour it would burn calories......so dont worry!!!! I walk on an incline very often! I actually find i get a great workout that way! I didnt get a chance to use my HRM today but i'll let you know how it goes when I use it tomorrow!!!
  • dmmarie21
    dmmarie21 Posts: 254 Member
    I have the Polar FT7, and I love it! I have recently been doing zumba as well as elliptical. The polar has a chest strap, so it is pretty accurate. I have found that the database on here for excercise is pretty off actually. Sometimes, it says I should have burned 900 calories, when, in reality I only burned 600. It all varies, and even when my heart rate goes down, I'm still burning calories. For example, the other day I was on the elliptical 45 min and stopped when my HRM said I had burned 497 calories. I have a gym in my condo, and I live on the 9th floor. After working out, I feel like I'm going to die, so I take the elevator :laugh: Anyway, by the time I got off the machine, and in my apartment, my HRM was at 541. My fiance said that it's like a meat thermometer. Even though it's done, it still keeps rising :laugh: Anyway, that is just my experience. You don't burn a lot when your heart rate goes down, but it still continues for a little while. trust me, I can only do like 60 seconds on the elliptical before I have to take a break..haha. the guy next to me thinks I'm nuts because I do it for 45-60 seconds, stop, drink, breath, then go back at it for 60-90 seconds, then stop and repeat hahahhaa. Hope this helps. The one question that I do have is, how do you figure out what your target heart rate is supp to be while working out?
  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
    The purpose of your new HRM is to stay IN THE ZONE ( burning zone ) It will help monitor where your at as far as your heart rate goes and notify you when you are in your zone =) but to answer your question you are still burning out of your "zone" just not as much. You will see, the HRM is a very nice tool that will help you tremendously in keeping the math as accurate as possible in this weight loss journey. =)

    could not have said it any better. My polar FT4 was a God send for me. These calories burned in MFP are very inaccurate. Your HRM is going to be very helpful. You will learn that you don't have to be running on the treadmill all the time, but as long as your heart rate is in the zone at whatever activity you are doing, you will be burning the same amount of calories, basically.
  • Sammyk50
    Sammyk50 Posts: 77 Member
    I recently got a Polar ft40. It tells me the number of calories i've burnedduring a work out. Records hr, tells me how long I stayed in the fat burn zone, the % of calories burned during this time, also the amount of time i was in the fitness zone instead of the fat burn zone. I love it , it shows me everything i need to know and am now more confident of my actual calorie burn. Btw my incline treadmill calorie counter is waaaaay off! Don't know if this helps. I guess my suggestion would be to get the "right" hrm. One that shows u the info that is important to u. Polar brand seems to be the way to go. Good luck to u!
  • Sammyk50
    Sammyk50 Posts: 77 Member
    Lol, meant to put a space between *calories I burned during a work out* :laugh:
  • GinaSz3
    GinaSz3 Posts: 26 Member
    I understand =) The HRM will help you ... that way you stay in your Zone throughout your whole interval run! cause your zone is based on a range...mine is like 132-162 so when I do intervals ( or any workout )I stay within that ( make sense )?
  • kerriBB37
    kerriBB37 Posts: 967 Member
    Hey girl! I'm glad you ordered a HRM :) I had to buy a new onc yesterday b/c mine broke after a good 5 years! You and I are similar size and same age and I'm assume same movement amount during the day so I wanted to share some info. Over the summer I went to a personal trainer who was hosting a class (4 hours) on heart rate and zone training. There were 4 of us in the class and 3 trainers. We did a HUGE variety of stuff (spinning, weight training, long distance running, sprints, plyo, jumps, etc) and our HR's were monitored literally every couple of minutes. It is crazy but WAY worth it. She calculated the different zones for me. I will give you my numbers so maybe you can loosely follow them. I set my HRM limits up to where I am in my fat burning zone, maybe that would be benefical to you too. I have 6 zones to follow during classes like spinning and then two general zones- 1 fat buring and, 2 cardiovascular. MY fat burning zone is 155-165 which is 65-75% of max and MY cardio burn (75-80%) is 165-180. My max HR calculated was 200 and recovery was 128. Maybe you could see if there is a Lifetime Fitness near the Zoo, I know those gyms do this type of stuff. Or you could literally push yourself to where you think you're going to barf to get you MAX HR and then do % based on that to see where you are at ;)

    Message me if you have more ?'s.. sometimes it's hard for me to explain things well LOL

    Kerri
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