Did my new HRM cause my plateau?

rebecca_florida

I've been doing MFP for almost 6 weeks and lost 9 lbs the first month, but more or less stopped losing weight the last 2 weeks. I'm almost always under my net calorie goal and I have good variety in my diet and exercise routine. In an effort to figure out if I'd been doing anything differently, I made a big spreadsheet tracking not only calories, but a bunch of other potential factors including the composition of those calories, type and intensity level of my workouts, day of the week, time of the month, etc. After doing all kinds of dorky spreadsheet analysis, I concluded NOTHING. I couldn't explain why I stopped losing weight.

Just this morning a friend just pointed out a very important observation that made me realize one factor I hadn't considered - my new HRM. About 2 weeks ago I got an HRM and LOVE it, however I never realized that the burn it gives me for a workout INCLUDES my "daily activity" calories that I burn just breathing, walking, etc. So in essence unless I subtract that from my burn, I'm double counting some calories in my burn and therefore possibly over eating vs. my net calorie goal.

So I went back to my spreadsheet and deducted 100 activity calories per hour from what my HRM said I burned. (My daily activity is set at about 2,000. Per hour that's about 83 cals, but I figure I burn more when I'm awake so 100 as a good rule of thumb number (and easier to calculate)). And sure enough, more than half the time in the past two weeks I was over my 1,200 net goal WITHOUT KNOWING IT! Not by a lot, but yikes! I hope this realization will get me back on track now....

The moral of the story is - don't double count your daily activity calories in your exercise!

denisec26

ive been on the fence with this too.i posted a few topics, some people subtract, and alot of people dont, and they eat their exercise cals and continue to lose, so idk. it makes sense but as the same time, i dont see a point if sooo many people using a hrm if after, they got sit there and do math and calculate what they really burned, i think most people just go with the # it gives them.

carolineroo

forgive me but whats an HRM. I am from the UK and it isnt clicking in my mind straight away.?

JMJohnson1005

Heart Rate Monitor

SeasideOasis

Ive stood around, literally, with my HRM on and Im usually only burning a calorie a minute. Note, I have a sedentary lifestyle (stupid desk job...:grumble: :grumble: ). I havent noticed much of the same problem since using my HRM. Actually, Ive had the opposite effect, as I am more away of the amount of calories I am burning versus just guessing. MFP, while amazing, can only give you guesstimate totals. And sometimes, my workouts just werent 100 perfect, so I was guessing the 500 for my video, when really I had only burned 300 because I didnt give it my all.

Are you close to your goal? Could some of the weight gain/plateau have anything to do with your muscle growing and your fat shrinking? Personally, I dont rely on the scale because there are so many factors...water...TOM, etc etc etc. I have noticed that since I have been taking measurements, I have been much happier.

meagalayne

I subtract my maintenance calories from my HRM count like so...

Maintenance cals = 1690

1690 / 24 hours / 60 mins = 1.17 calories per min

Total burn according to HRM - (1.17 X mins of exercise) = Net activity burn

Ex.

If I run speed intervals for 25 mins on the TM, my watch would likely register about 325 calories burned (approx).

(1690/24/60) X 25 = 29.34

325 - 29.34 = 295.66 calories burned running

Obviously for shorter workouts this isn't really a big difference. For hours of walking/hiking, it can definitely make a dent! Use your own discretion :happy:

stormieweather

Yes! That is what a lot of people do, erroneously. In your daily calorie burn (home> goals> right hand side), what you normally burn is included there. A deficit is then created by MFP to help you reach your weight loss goals. For me, my daily burn is calculated at 1730 per day. That is 72 calories per hour. Even if I'm sleeping. So if I go work out and burn off 200 calories in an hour, that INCLUDES what I would have burned during that hour, doing absolutely nothing. To figure out the EXTRA calories my exercise gave me, I need to deduct that 72 from the 200, which gives me only 128 extra. That's what I get to eat, not 200.

gtm124

I just use my HRM for scheduled workouts and use the cal burn on the watch to record my exercise cal. I find my HRM more accurate than MFP or fitness center equipment.

maggieschuck

Wow. You are way over thinking this. Your HRM should be used to track exercise only. If you wear it more then that you will get the wrong numbers. Your daily burned calories are for an normal resting day. Any thing extra like walking, running, exercising, dancing is considered above and beyond the already burned cals awarded to you.

Myfitnesspal already factors in your daily cal burned - intake cal = net. To increase your daily cal burned you add your exercise.

Its very normal to plateau. I went 6 weeks with no weight loss then lost 3 the following 2 week and plateaued again. I added new exercises, changed foods and all that stuff too. Its takes time to break through a plateau. Its ok to go over the 1200 cal allowed. That is a default number that is given to every one. I eat an average of 1500 cals a day and I raised my sugar, fiber and lowered sodium goals. (based on my dietitian's advice). And guess what, it is working.

Take a breath. Step away from from the spread sheets. Enjoy your new change in life and the rest will follow.

Pangea250

I've been thinking the same thing. I started in March and had wonderful results in the beginning that tapered to a perfectly acceptable 1.5-ish lbs a week. Then I got my HRM and hit a plateau. On one hand, I wonder if that can be the cause. But on the other, if I look at my intake, I'm still well below even my BMR. And comparing my HRM to other sources, it's higher, but not all *that* high. Maybe 50 cals a day max.

I'm perplexed. I think my TOM is a bit late, which is unusual for me, and I'm just hoping that I'm holding water for that reason. Sigh.

12by311

I've been doing MFP for almost 6 weeks and lost 9 lbs the first month, but more or less stopped losing weight the last 2 weeks. I'm almost always under my net calorie goal and I have good variety in my diet and exercise routine. In an effort to figure out if I'd been doing anything differently, I made a big spreadsheet tracking not only calories, but a bunch of other potential factors including the composition of those calories, type and intensity level of my workouts, day of the week, time of the month, etc. After doing all kinds of dorky spreadsheet analysis, I concluded NOTHING. I couldn't explain why I stopped losing weight.

Just this morning a friend just pointed out a very important observation that made me realize one factor I hadn't considered - my new HRM. About 2 weeks ago I got an HRM and LOVE it, however I never realized that the burn it gives me for a workout INCLUDES my "daily activity" calories that I burn just breathing, walking, etc. So in essence unless I subtract that from my burn, I'm double counting some calories in my burn and therefore possibly over eating vs. my net calorie goal.

So I went back to my spreadsheet and deducted 100 activity calories per hour from what my HRM said I burned. (My daily activity is set at about 2,000. Per hour that's about 83 cals, but I figure I burn more when I'm awake so 100 as a good rule of thumb number (and easier to calculate)). And sure enough, more than half the time in the past two weeks I was over my 1,200 net goal WITHOUT KNOWING IT! Not by a lot, but yikes! I hope this realization will get me back on track now....

The moral of the story is - don't double count your daily activity calories in your exercise!

Without knowing your stats, eating a little over 1200 calories is not going to cause you not to lose weight (unless the reason is undereating). That was still put you probably a quite a bit of deficit. If you are burning approximately 2,000 a day. Why not eat 1500?

gtm124

I've been thinking the same thing. I started in March and had wonderful results in the beginning that tapered to a perfectly acceptable 1.5-ish lbs a week. Then I got my HRM and hit a plateau. On one hand, I wonder if that can be the cause. But on the other, if I look at my intake, I'm still well below even my BMR. And comparing my HRM to other sources, it's higher, but not all *that* high. Maybe 50 cals a day max.

I'm perplexed. I think my TOM is a bit late, which is unusual for me, and I'm just hoping that I'm holding water for that reason. Sigh.

What kind of HRM do you have? Polar HRM's as a general rule will be more accurate (on the lower side) of fitness equipment and MFP estimates. I think I would take the HRM out of your equation of issues.

snazzycee

I agree!

Pangea250

Its very normal to plateau. I went 6 weeks with no weight loss then lost 3 the following 2 week and plateaued again. I added new exercises, changed foods and all that stuff too. Its takes time to break through a plateau. Its ok to go over the 1200 cal allowed. That is a default number that is given to every one. I eat an average of 1500 cals a day and I raised my sugar, fiber and lowered sodium goals. (based on my dietitian's advice). And guess what, it is working.

Take a breath. Step away from from the spread sheets. Enjoy your new change in life and the rest will follow.

God bless you for saying this. I have to say, hi, my name is Susan, and I've been making spreadsheets too. With charts. I need help.

But I have to make sure you know that it's people like you that help me the most. I mean...I know, in my brain, the facts of what you said. But it helps tremendously to hear from someone who has gone through plateaus and made it through to loss again. I never expected a plateau this early in my new lifestyle, but I guess no one is immune. When I get down to the nitty gritty, even if my cals burned are a bit off, I'm putting out more cals than I'm taking in. For now, I'm just plugging away and acting as if. I must hold strong that, eventually, the numbers will follow.

Pangea250

I've been thinking the same thing. I started in March and had wonderful results in the beginning that tapered to a perfectly acceptable 1.5-ish lbs a week. Then I got my HRM and hit a plateau. On one hand, I wonder if that can be the cause. But on the other, if I look at my intake, I'm still well below even my BMR. And comparing my HRM to other sources, it's higher, but not all *that* high. Maybe 50 cals a day max.

I'm perplexed. I think my TOM is a bit late, which is unusual for me, and I'm just hoping that I'm holding water for that reason. Sigh.

What kind of HRM do you have? Polar HRM's as a general rule will be more accurate (on the lower side) of fitness equipment and MFP estimates. I think I would take the HRM out of your equation of issues.

I have the Polar FT4.

manymuses

But as someone above previously mentioned, HRM's are to be used to track workouts only, not resting calories expended. You should only be wearing it for the duration of your workout, then recording only that session in your daily burn.

SewRue

I would just use the HRM for your workouts. I find it tedious to count every calorie I burn through out my day. I'd stick to counting your cardio and strength training workouts.

rebecca_florida

Thanks for all the feedback. I only wear my HRM for exercise. I usually eat around 1200 NET calories per day, as prescribed. I have a good Polar HRM that I'm sure is pretty reliable. I'm not obsessed with spreadsheets but I do find it helpful to track patterns that I might not recognize in myself, however I realize this is more art than science. I'm happy with my loss so far and not panicking that I haven't lost in a couple weeks. I'm sure my measurements (if I took them) would show progress. We all approach this differently and for those who found this post helpful, I'm glad.

darrenham

HRMs are no more reliable than MFP for estimating calorie burns. If you want to, you could average both, but if you find your HRM over estimates for you, (it's not what it's designed for, so you can't ask it to be 100% accurate) then sure, subtract some, x by 0.8 or whatever.

gtm124

I've been thinking the same thing. I started in March and had wonderful results in the beginning that tapered to a perfectly acceptable 1.5-ish lbs a week. Then I got my HRM and hit a plateau. On one hand, I wonder if that can be the cause. But on the other, if I look at my intake, I'm still well below even my BMR. And comparing my HRM to other sources, it's higher, but not all *that* high. Maybe 50 cals a day max.

I'm perplexed. I think my TOM is a bit late, which is unusual for me, and I'm just hoping that I'm holding water for that reason. Sigh.

What kind of HRM do you have? Polar HRM's as a general rule will be more accurate (on the lower side) of fitness equipment and MFP estimates. I think I would take the HRM out of your equation of issues.

I have the Polar FT4.

Hmmm. Those have been pretty accurate so I would tend to rely on it then. I still use the now out dated Polar F7 and have for years. A very useful tool for me as in addition to calories burned I use it to monitor my HR% on my bike rides as I know how long I can maintain my pace at a certain % level.

gtm124

HRMs are no more reliable than MFP for estimating calorie burns. If you want to, you could average both, but if you find your HRM over estimates for you, (it's not what it's designed for, so you can't ask it to be 100% accurate) then sure, subtract some, x by 0.8 or whatever.

Politely disagree. I find the HRM's more reliable than MFP estimates. But you are correct HRM's are not 100% accurate either and were never intended to be that. The main function of the HR monitor is to monitor the heart rate which I feel is extremely accurate.