heart rate monitor for the day...

mckshowie

do any of you wear your heart rate monitors all day to see what kind of calories you actually burned throughout the day? is that a thing?

brattyworm

thats an interesting idea. i might do that one of these days.

Jenscan

It's really not recommended to do that, as HRM's aren't designed to clock resting heart rates, I believe. They get all funky.

l3ugjuice

That's what a bodybug/bodymedia device is designed for, I wear one about 20 hours per day.

AmberM6912

the calories you burn during the day are maintenance calories and are accounted for in the mfp recommendations. . you can't really count them in your "calories burned during exercise" categories. you could do it just to see what you are actually burning during the day, but it's not considered extra calories burned during exercise.

ItsTerriC

I've done it 2 different days, just out of curiosity. I have the Mio Motiva Petite watch style HRM. I kept the timer going and checked my heart rate every 1/2 hour or so through the day. I'm not sure how accurate it was, because both days it said I burned about 2400 calories, without my exercise. I'm almost 50, 5'2 female and weigh around 136, so that seems awfully high to me.

At that rate, I should have been able to eat pretty much whatever I wanted without gaining weight, lol.

I am not losing even with the 1200 net that I stay loyal to, so at this point I don't know how low I'll have to go to see the pounds drop. I'm sticking it out, hoping that once my body realizes that I'm serious it will play along!

I really want the BodyMedia Fit BW, it's designed to be worn 24 hours. I think it sounds awesome, but it's too pricey for me. Maybe I'll let it be my 50th birthday present to myself.

mckshowie

I didn't think they were, but thank you for the insight. I am just curious of the calories I'm actually burning throughout the day rather than basing it on the generic for my height and weight.

the calories you burn during the day are maintenance calories and are accounted for in the mfp recommendations. . you can't really count them in your "calories burned during exercise" categories. you could do it just to see what you are actually burning during the day, but it's not considered extra calories burned during exercise.

l3ugjuice

"maintenance" calories on MFP are only a (slightly educated) guess. Being off by only a fraction can have you thinking you are burning 100's of calories more per day than you are actually burning, or 100's of calories LESS. I actually burn way more than MFP guessed. So no, they dont count as 'extra' calories. But at the end of the day, what matters is how many calories you burn versus how many you take in. That's it, basically it just boils down to addition and subtraction. A - B = X. Your body doesnt care if those calories are maintenance or exercise, calories burned are calories burned. It's just as important that you know your maintenance calories accurately as it is you know your exercise calories; I'd actually argue that, for most of us, it's more important.