First Workout With my HRM

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veriviki
veriviki Posts: 44
in Fitness and Exercise
HI! I bought a Polar FT4 today because I wanted to be more accurate with how many calories I really burn during my workouts, however the number I got seemed really high! I did level one of the 30 day shred and it said I burned 300 calories doing it. When I put this into MFP as circuit training it says I only burn 171 calories. For most of the workout my heart rate was above my target zone, if that helps. I'm just trying to be as accurate as possible, so any advice would be appreciated!

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  • tabi26
    tabi26 Posts: 535 Member
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    Trust your HRM. I have the FT60 and alot of people on here have the FT4 and they all swear by it. 300 calories sounds about right for 30-40 minutes of exercise. I haven't seen or done the 30 day shred so I'm not sure how intense it is, but if I work my behind off I burn about that much in 30-40 minutes :)
  • Azzrielish
    Azzrielish Posts: 44 Member
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    I have the Polar FT7 and its usually pretty close to what MFP says - although now that I am very close to my goal weight MFP tends to be higher than my HRM.

    I'm 5'2" 111lbs (40 y.o. female) and level 1 of the 30 Day Shred nets me about 140 calories but levels 2 and 3 are usually about 180 calories - mind you I have been doing the 30 day shred on and off for about 6 months and I sometimes do all three levels one after the other. As I got fitter the number of calories I burned decreased (although my weight dropped at the same time so thats a part of it too).
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    I did my first workout with my Polar FT7 today and I walked at a moderate pace for about 55 min and it says I burned 311 calories. MFP said I burned about 270.. about a 40 calorie difference. I'd trust your HRM over MFP just for the simple fact that your HRM is customized to you and is constantly tracking your heart rate... MFP is not.
  • gnalani
    gnalani Posts: 126
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    Trust the HRM. The higher your HR the more calories you burn. Your HRM tracks how long you spent in each HR zone. MFP has no idea, obviously. So a 30 minute circuit workout might have kept you in zones 3/4 the entire time, but putting in the minutes to MFP it may calculate your calorie expendeture as if you were only in zones 2/3. Get credit for going into zone 4 and trust your HRM!

    I have the Polar RS300xsd and I have found that MFP is not accurate for calculating my calorie expendeture. Its more accurate for others I know, but for me, I am glad I have my HRM!
  • meribethd
    meribethd Posts: 92 Member
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    My HRM (Timex, not Polar) usually gives me about 300 calories for doing one of the 30 day shreds, too. I think yours is probably pretty accurate!
  • Cletc
    Cletc Posts: 352
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    How is this calculated anyhow?

    LoseIt had one figur for calories
    MFP has another
    My running website had another #
    and Garmin Center had yet another #

    I'm beginning to wonder whether anyone knows :-)

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