HRM?? How do they tell you how many calories you have burned

Helice

So i see alot of people using heart rate monitors to work out how many calories they burn during exercise and i don't understand how they are doing it..

When ever i exercise i just record how long iv been doing it for and guess how many calories you would burn doing an exercise like that each minute...
But i no that the ammount of calories you burn differ on how much you weigh, how fit you are, etc..
So i would really like to have a more accurate reading because i want to know for sure how many calories i am really burning...

So im considering buying a heart rate monitor....
But the problem im having is i wouldn't know how to use one...
I know that it tells you your heart rate....
But that means nothing to me ..
If my heart rate was say i dunno 82. (I don't know if that's a high or a low number for a heart rate to be)... Then how would i know that because it was 82 i had burned 20 calories.... Etc.

Its all very confusing!!
How do you work it out??
I need some help!
Is there a formula you need to do?? Etc??
I have no clue.

Any help would be grately appreciated!!

minchk1n

Thats the beauty of a heart rate monitor, it does all the working out for you. You just need to put in your info like age, weight etc and then it uses that information and the speed of your heart rate to work out how many calories you are burning. HRMs are a fantastic tool for optimising weight loss because as well as telling you how many calories youve burned it can help you maintain a certain level in exercise to maximise fat burning by helping you to keep your heart rate in a certain window.

Helice

So you tell it when you begin exercising and then tell it when you have finished and it will calculate it and tell you how many calories you burned in that time?

goron59

For cardio (ie how hard you heart is working) your heart rate is a good indication of how many calories you are burning, so long as you know your weight.

HRMs that tell you how many calories you burn ask you to input your age/gender/age/weight and typically you also calibrate it by sampling your heart rate at rest.

There's some magic (ie I don't know!) related to zones, but generally, the device has enough information to give you a good idea of how many calories you are burning.

For me, I just strap on the sensor and go. It's easy really

goron59

So you tell it when you begin exercising and then tell it when you have finished and it will calculate it and tell you how many calories you burned in that time?

Yes. In fact it can tell you how many cals you are burning at any given moment and will add it all up for you.

Very handy, if you are doing different kinds of exercises at the same time, eg walk/run/walk or run/cycle or doing a load of gardening or whatever.

Helice

Wow that does sound very easy! Im defiantely going to look into buying one!!

ceirawillsucceed

not all HRMs calculate calories burned so make sure the one you gets says it does this.

Helice

Thanks il keep that in mind!