You burnt how many calories?!

kated930

I rely on my HRM to tell me calories burned. When I look at the machines, its always higher, and MFP always gave me a higher number as well.

I know everyone is different but I notice people burning way more calories than me when doing the same exercises. For example, I run for an hour, getting my heart rate up to 80% of the max, and my HRM says that burns roughly 450-500 calories. I see some people logging an hour of running and burning 800-1000 calories which is probably what it says on the tredmill! I know body composition and weight have a lot to do with it but a lot of people just don't know any better.

Example:
The other day in my body pump class I heard women talking about roughly how many calories the class burned and they were thinking 500 calories. On my HRM it said I only burned 190!!!!

HRM is way better then guessing

kated930

There are conditions under which heart rate can increase without any significant increase in oxygen uptake. Under these conditions, the HRM calorie estimates are not accurate at all. This includes: weight training, thermal stress (e.g. bikram yoga), anxiety, medication, and others.

So how can we estimate calorie burn during strength training if the HRM won't do the job. My HR gets pretty high at times when lifting weights.

well I keep a close eye on my HRM while I'm doing weights and I notice that it really only goes up when I am at the end of a set and using a lot of power to finish- I think that is accurate and my heart rate is def going up then. Also, while I'm doing weights, I try to break it up with mountain climbers or jumping jacks to get that HR up! That way, I feel like my HRM is accurate- does that make sense?

shaeni1221

My HRM always comes in lower that MFP and my treadmill. Always. The range is larger the longer I exercise.

mine always comes in higher then MFP and my treadmill. Granted I don't have a real expensive or fancy one, it's a watch one, and I check my heart rate every 2-5 minutes while on the treadmill to make sure the calorie burned count is accurate.

engineman312

My HRM always comes in lower that MFP and my treadmill. Always. The range is larger the longer I exercise.

mine always comes in higher then MFP and my treadmill. Granted I don't have a real expensive or fancy one, it's a watch one, and I check my heart rate every 2-5 minutes while on the treadmill to make sure the calorie burned count is accurate.

you mean a wrist one? those are horribly inaccurate.

ronald4133

As a running coach, I can say with confidence that most runners burn 100 calories per mile. If you zip along at 7:00/mile (which is ca. 8.5 mph and will make a 43:30 10K) you'll burn 850 calories. At a more realistic 6 mph you'll burn 600. So if a speedster runs 10 miles in 55:00 and a jogger takes 1:50:00, they both burn around 1100 calories. It just takes the jogger twice as long. Of course, this is a gross simplification, but you can see why most marathon (26.2 miles) finishers are lean.

Azdak

There are conditions under which heart rate can increase without any significant increase in oxygen uptake. Under these conditions, the HRM calorie estimates are not accurate at all. This includes: weight training, thermal stress (e.g. bikram yoga), anxiety, medication, and others.

So how can we estimate calorie burn during strength training if the HRM won't do the job. My HR gets pretty high at times when lifting weights.

You can't. Normally, it's not that significant anyway. Or, you can just use a set amount --like 200-300 per hour. That's about as good as it gets.

As I mentioned before, the fact that your heart rate goes up during strength training is irrelevant -- that HR increase is not accompanied by an increase in oxygen uptake, therefore it cannot be used as an indicator of increased calorie burn.

Azdak

As a running coach, I can say with confidence that most runners burn 100 calories per mile. If you zip along at 7:00/mile (which is ca. 8.5 mph and will make a 43:30 10K) you'll burn 850 calories. At a more realistic 6 mph you'll burn 600. So if a speedster runs 10 miles in 55:00 and a jogger takes 1:50:00, they both burn around 1100 calories. It just takes the jogger twice as long. Of course, this is a gross simplification, but you can see why most marathon (26.2 miles) finishers are lean.

Calories burned are a function of intensity x weight. If the same person is running at different speeds, they will burn roughly the same number of calories per mile. If two people are running, their calories per mile will depend on their body weight.

So, I 132lb runner will burn fewer calories than a 176lb runner--at any given matched speed. The 132lb runner will burn 100 calories per mile, and the 176 lb runner will burn 133.

shaeni1221

My HRM always comes in lower that MFP and my treadmill. Always. The range is larger the longer I exercise.

mine always comes in higher then MFP and my treadmill. Granted I don't have a real expensive or fancy one, it's a watch one, and I check my heart rate every 2-5 minutes while on the treadmill to make sure the calorie burned count is accurate.

you mean a wrist one? those are horribly inaccurate.

why is that?

chanson104

I think that people should just experiment a little bit and do what works for them. I use the calories that the elliptical machine and treadmill calculate and enter 200 for 30 day shred as a guesstimate. If I do something else I use MFP's calculator. Sometimes I eat my exercise calories and sometimes I don't; it depends on if I am hungry or not. Yes, I am guilty of occassionally exercising after the fact so that at the end of the day my post reads that I was under my goal. That being said, I weigh 104 pounds less than what I did at my heaviest, and I've consistently lost weight for the last several months.

engineman312

My HRM always comes in lower that MFP and my treadmill. Always. The range is larger the longer I exercise.

mine always comes in higher then MFP and my treadmill. Granted I don't have a real expensive or fancy one, it's a watch one, and I check my heart rate every 2-5 minutes while on the treadmill to make sure the calorie burned count is accurate.

you mean a wrist one? those are horribly inaccurate.

why is that?

the strap version picks up a better signal from your heart.