Does anyone have any idea about my heart rate monitor

juldga

I bought a Polar Ft4 HRM. I am 28, 311 lbs, resting heart rate of 72...

The heart rate monitor fits well, doesnt slip, and measures my heart rate the whole work out (it displays on the gym machine)
the zones my hrm says are my target zones are 125-160 My actual heart rate the whole time on the machine is 165 - 180

My problem/question is the calorie calculation. The HRM says I only burn less tham 200 calories for 30 minutes on the elliptical. Now I am working as hard as I possibly can - sweating like crazy. Like I said HR is 165 - 180. Is less than 200 calories possibly right??? Every other calculator says 500 or more. I see peoples readings from thier HRM and they are 400+ There is no way I can work harder I dont know why my calorie count is so low.

I am just looking for opinions or suggestions.

SashaSpells

do you have your weight/height programmed into the watch? that's the only thing I can think of that might make it inaccurate =/

iRun4wine

do you have your weight/height programmed into the watch? that's the only thing I can think of that might make it inaccurate =/

I agree- I would double check it. Sometimes as simple as having 1 digit off could drastically affect the calorie bun- telling the HRM you weigh 98 lbs instead of 198 lbs, for example, would be a huge difference. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

juldga

Yes, I doubled checked all the settings twice. I even manually changed my zone in case working above my zone affected calorie count. I think I am just going to return it. Maybe in the future I will invest in another one

Flyntiggr

Hate to say it, but I think it is pretty close? If I do 30 minutes on treadmill at 4.5 mph, I burn about 230 cals. I would double check your settings to be sure...

juldga

Actually, If it was the truth It would be ok. Its jsut hard to believe my count is 50% lower than my skinner friend next to me

WarmDontBurn

Maybe your skinner friend is wrong?

juldga

could be. I still think I am going to return it. $90 for discouragement isn't worth it. Im just going to focus on getting as fit as I can

WarmDontBurn

Aww that is too bad. I have the exact same HRM and couldn't live without it. I had the F7 before but it crapped out and I couldn't change the batteries so I got the FT4 just about a month ago. I looked back at my exercises that I entered and your results sound similar to mine.

juldga

Thanks for all your input. I will make my final decision this week. Its just hard watching other people on the boards on stuff enter 600, 700,etc... calories burned with thier hrm in 1 hr and I feel like I worked so hard and enter 250 for 1 hour.

Maybe I should get over it and just be happy I am doing my best (HAHA maybe!!! - I know its the truth! really)

luv2ash

I have the FT4 and I love it too. I will say the burn is nothing compared to what MFP tells ya. I work out about 50 mins and burn 350 calories in aerobics, so I think your's is pretty right on. I don't use machines so I cannot speak from that aspect of things.