Yet another HRM question

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skylark94
skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I got a Polar FT4 about a week ago thinking it would eliminate the confusion from the calories burned issue.....wrong.

My gym has the Life Fitness machines that "talk" to the Polar HRMs. I have been making sure my watch and the machines have the same weight info and I start recording on the watch the moment I start the machine.

Both the watch and the machine (treadmill or elliptical) will show the same HR number, but I am getting a pretty drastic difference in the calories burned number. In my case the machine is actually giving the lower number even though they are notorious for being high most of the time.

Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. My HRM said I burned 288 calories and the machine said 240. When I entered my info here http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm I got a burn of 300.

I've been recording the lower number in my diary, but I'd love to be able to know which is the most reliable.

Replies

  • mainesm
    mainesm Posts: 107 Member
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    I would love to know the answer to this questions as well. I always go by my HRM because I feel like it is the most accerate.
  • amaodonnell
    amaodonnell Posts: 100 Member
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    bump!
  • westielover1
    westielover1 Posts: 14 Member
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    yeah, me too i just go by my watch cause its set up to me so i go by that figure.
  • juliapurpletoes
    juliapurpletoes Posts: 951 Member
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    One reason there may be differences is that the Polar and the machines may use different VO2max estimates as part of their mathmatical formulas. (not sure what they using are though)

    I also use the website you use and in it I enter what I believe to be my VO2max manually and generally will come up with a slightly higher burn than what my Polar FT4 says.

    I'm sure there could be other reasons, but it has to be somewhere in how their alorythms are designed.
  • azzledazzle
    azzledazzle Posts: 79
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    always go for the lower estimate, this will save you from going over your calorie limit.

    I do 30mins on the elliptical machine and i burn around 250 cals. Im 230lb (i was last time i weighed myself) and i make sure the machine knows my weight.

    The machines in the gym always give me a lower reading than MFP so i stick with that.

    Gym equipment is pretty high hi-tech now so i would say they are a lot more reliable than they used to be
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    I got a Polar FT4 about a week ago thinking it would eliminate the confusion from the calories burned issue.....wrong.

    My gym has the Life Fitness machines that "talk" to the Polar HRMs. I have been making sure my watch and the machines have the same weight info and I start recording on the watch the moment I start the machine.

    Both the watch and the machine (treadmill or elliptical) will show the same HR number, but I am getting a pretty drastic difference in the calories burned number. In my case the machine is actually giving the lower number even though they are notorious for being high most of the time.

    Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. My HRM said I burned 288 calories and the machine said 240. When I entered my info here http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm I got a burn of 300.

    I've been recording the lower number in my diary, but I'd love to be able to know which is the most reliable.

    Always us the HRM.

    Your HRM has a different calulation than the gym equipement and probably different than any website.

    The only purpose of linking with a machine is to make your HR display on the machine.

    I wouldn't recommend just picking the lowest one of the bunch. It is important to be consistant. Whatever method you use to calculate calories burned, use the same method everytime. I think the HRM is going to be more accurate, so I'd say stick with that.
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
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    id go with the hrm
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Just because it "talks" to the machine, means nothing.

    Your HRM is set up to you specifically and knows how hard you are working. The machine, is basing your calorie burn off of the weight only.. it has no clue about your height, gender, age, etc.. and the heart rate it's just showing.. it's not actually using it to calculate anything.

    Use the HRM.. it's going to be the most accurate estimation.
  • yeroc39
    yeroc39 Posts: 55
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    Hi Guys. Let me first say that I work for Polar and I also use My Fitness Pal. When I see HRM questions just like to help out if I can. There are a lot of good answers here. The main answer is that as some people have said, we use more personal information in our calculation for calories, what we call our OwnCal. The treadmill uses weight and gender, and sometimes age. The Owncal calculation takes into consideration additional factors that give a more accurate calorie count because it is more based on you. We add in height and something called heart rate variability which can fine tune the calculation and make it much more accurate. And of course your heart rate during the exercise.

    Example. If you put in 35 150 pounds and male, the treadmill will set up a measurement based on that along with your heart rate, if used. If hr is not used, its not accurate at all. But to take it further. If you are 150 pounts and 5'4" you would certainly burn calories differntly than someone who is 150 pounds and 6'1. So that makes a diffference as well.

    Also some machines will just display heart rate but not factor that into calories. Because as you know it will give you calories on some machines without using the transmitter, or just grabbing the handles on occassion.

    So you can rely on what you see on the hrm. The websites give you generic information and the treadmill gives you incomplete info. Hope that helps.
  • deanadimples
    deanadimples Posts: 419 Member
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    Hi Guys. Let me first say that I work for Polar and I also use My Fitness Pal. When I see HRM questions just like to help out if I can. There are a lot of good answers here. The main answer is that as some people have said, we use more personal information in our calculation for calories, what we call our OwnCal. The treadmill uses weight and gender, and sometimes age. The Owncal calculation takes into consideration additional factors that give a more accurate calorie count because it is more based on you. We add in height and something called heart rate variability which can fine tune the calculation and make it much more accurate. And of course your heart rate during the exercise.

    Example. If you put in 35 150 pounds and male, the treadmill will set up a measurement based on that along with your heart rate, if used. If hr is not used, its not accurate at all. But to take it further. If you are 150 pounts and 5'4" you would certainly burn calories differntly than someone who is 150 pounds and 6'1. So that makes a diffference as well.

    Also some machines will just display heart rate but not factor that into calories. Because as you know it will give you calories on some machines without using the transmitter, or just grabbing the handles on occassion.

    So you can rely on what you see on the hrm. The websites give you generic information and the treadmill gives you incomplete info. Hope that helps.



    Thanks for that information!

    I have a Polar compatible treadmill and the HR always matches but calories do not. I've always used the HRM since it has more information on "me".
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
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    Hi Guys. Let me first say that I work for Polar and I also use My Fitness Pal. When I see HRM questions just like to help out if I can. There are a lot of good answers here. The main answer is that as some people have said, we use more personal information in our calculation for calories, what we call our OwnCal. The treadmill uses weight and gender, and sometimes age. The Owncal calculation takes into consideration additional factors that give a more accurate calorie count because it is more based on you. We add in height and something called heart rate variability which can fine tune the calculation and make it much more accurate. And of course your heart rate during the exercise.

    Example. If you put in 35 150 pounds and male, the treadmill will set up a measurement based on that along with your heart rate, if used. If hr is not used, its not accurate at all. But to take it further. If you are 150 pounts and 5'4" you would certainly burn calories differntly than someone who is 150 pounds and 6'1. So that makes a diffference as well.

    Also some machines will just display heart rate but not factor that into calories. Because as you know it will give you calories on some machines without using the transmitter, or just grabbing the handles on occassion.

    So you can rely on what you see on the hrm. The websites give you generic information and the treadmill gives you incomplete info. Hope that helps.

    Thank you for the detailed explanation! I will very happily take credit for those additional calorie burns that the HRM gives me!

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