Total wake up cal...(HRM)

erickirb

I am having the exact opposite problem. My HRM always tells me I burn on average about 200 calories more than any machine or what MFP says. I am so confused. My heart rate while working out ranges anywhere from 161-185. I usually maintain the 170ish range while keeping a steady pace. Any tips or advice as to the correct amount burned would be helpful!!

What brand HRM? Polar and Garmin seem to be the most accurate. Try double checking your burn on these 2 sites, if you HRM is much higher it is probably over estimating:
http://www.gersic.com/calories/index.php?daAge=32&daRHR=52&daAHR=148&daMinutes=27&daSeconds=0&Submit=Submit&action=1
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

sandy729

Yeah...My personal trainer help me set my HRM profile and it's about 200-300 cal difference from the gym machines.

erickirb

HRM use a calculation to determine the calories that you burned. This site has the calc at the bottom

http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

basically they take your age, weight, female/male, VO2 Max , AVG HR and length of workout and can calculate how many calories you burned during the workout. That's the link that I use to double check mine.

I do have a huge issue with this calc for one reason, if you don't know your V02 Max and use 0, it gives the same answer as if you chose 60ish, which is really high. The few times I mentioned this site I urged the user to enter 35 to 40 in the V02 Max to give you a more realistic burn.

CallmeSbo

OMG...I got a Polar FT7 HRM and used it for the first time ever doing what I love...Elliptical... 42 min ...and these are the stats:

MFP said 712 cals burned

Ellipitical Machine said 500 cals burned

And drum rolll.....

HRM said I only burned 250 cals --- ONLY????

Now wonder I have not been losing weight all this time...seesh! I swear by it now!

Thank you for posting this. This is EXACTLY why i do not believe in eating back calories you not even sure you have burn. This past week end there was another post about how Polar is NOT accurate for women. So your REAL burned calories could even be less. The Polar HRM overestimates numbers too :-(

runbyme

Thank you so much for your post! I bought and started using a HRM a couple weeks ago and my calorie expenditure is a lot less than what MFP calculated! Even though I think my heart is going to explode and my face is beat red...my heart rate really isn't that high! Mine has a chest strap also so I know that it's continuously monitoring my heart rate!
Good luck to you and your weight loss and fitness journey!

kmparasram

I am having the exact opposite problem. My HRM always tells me I burn on average about 200 calories more than any machine or what MFP says. I am so confused. My heart rate while working out ranges anywhere from 161-185. I usually maintain the 170ish range while keeping a steady pace. Any tips or advice as to the correct amount burned would be helpful!!

What brand HRM? Polar and Garmin seem to be the most accurate. Try double checking your burn on these 2 sites, if you HRM is much higher it is probably over estimating:
http://www.gersic.com/calories/index.php?daAge=32&daRHR=52&daAHR=148&daMinutes=27&daSeconds=0&Submit=Submit&action=1
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Thanks for the website link! I had a feeling it was overestimating so I normally shave off 200 calories from the overall estimate. However the 2 sites gave me different estimated calories burned, but I always like to use the lower amount burned as to remind myself to stay in "check" with my food intake. I have been told by trainers before that it takes a serious workout for my heart rate to get going, but I am just surprised about how many calories I can truly burn when I push myself!

jadedone

I am having the exact opposite problem. My HRM always tells me I burn on average about 200 calories more than any machine or what MFP says. I am so confused. My heart rate while working out ranges anywhere from 161-185. I usually maintain the 170ish range while keeping a steady pace. Any tips or advice as to the correct amount burned would be helpful!!

That's keeping your heart rate pretty high. Believe the HRM.

CyberEd312

I have a Polar FT60 HRM

Another thing to consider is what HR zone you are exercising in???

TRAINING ZONES
Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.
Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

If I am on the Elliptical and stay in zone 1 over the course of an hour there is a big difference in calories burned:

Precor Elliptical: 970ish calories burned
Polar FT60 HRM: 700ish calories burned

Now if I am at 80% of my HR or in the Anaerobic Zone for that same hour:

Precor Ellitpical: 1100ish calories burned
Polar FT60 HRM: 1170ish calories burned

Now on the treadmill the 2 are pretty much spot on (within 60-80 calories....... This is just from my own experiences, don't know if it applies to anyone else but thought I would share......

erickirb

I am having the exact opposite problem. My HRM always tells me I burn on average about 200 calories more than any machine or what MFP says. I am so confused. My heart rate while working out ranges anywhere from 161-185. I usually maintain the 170ish range while keeping a steady pace. Any tips or advice as to the correct amount burned would be helpful!!

That's keeping your heart rate pretty high. Believe the HRM.

The issue might be that your actual max HR may be higher than the calculation in the HRM, the HRM assumes you are working at X % of a calculated max, but if your Max HR is actually higher your % of max would be lower. You may want to look into having your max HR tested to see if it is higher than 220-your age.

techigirl78

Funny, I got my Polar HRM and found out I was underestimating a lot. The only thing I overestimated was zumba. Estimated 800 by myself, but HRM usually shows 600-700. Otherwise, I was usually much further over on HRM then MFP.

MarieAnneN

I am more apt to believe the Elliptical Machine. I am usually on the Treadmill for 43 mins and both my HRM and the treadmill come to about 500 calories.

I suspect that your settings on the HRM need to be set up correctly. Try resetting the hrm.

Could be possible that you need to calibrate your HRM with a fit test... see your manual BUT, yes indeed, I found that often cals from cardio machines and web sites are higher than HRM because of the actual effort made doing them.

thefishers4

My HRM was a total wake up call too. I have noticed that I have to work harder now that I have been losing more weight. I have the FT4 and LOVE IT. I would be lost without it. MFP does over cal because of the fact that it doesn't know how hard you are doing your exercise because of your heart rate.

lmarshel

I had the exact opposite experience when I started using my HRM. It shows my calorie burn as quite a bit higher than MFP. Of course, you have to take into account that MFP has no control for speed or intensity level. It just looks at your weight, height stats and the workout time. The HRM knows how hard you are working. I don't think any of the technology we use today is entirely accurate, but the HRM probably comes the closest.

I can't wait to try it out in a yoga class and see how that compares to the MFP estimate!

mandygal13

Here's a question - do you all continue to wear your HRM after your workout until your heart rate is back to where it started and count your calories burned at that point (heart rate back to normal), or do you only count exactly what was burned during actual exercise, even if your heart rate is still elevated when you're done?

TheNewLeslie

It would be nice if you could enter some parameters into the MFP calculations. Other than time, that is. For instance, if the MFP allowed you to enter time, average HR, and average speed, it would present you with a better estimate of the # of calories burned...... which would in turn let us figure out where we REALLY stand.

Simona38

HRM use a calculation to determine the calories that you burned. This site has the calc at the bottom

http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm

basically they take your age, weight, female/male, VO2 Max , AVG HR and length of workout and can calculate how many calories you burned during the workout. That's the link that I use to double check mine.

Thanks for posting this link. I just double-checked it against my HRM and it's almost bang on - off by a few calories.

erickirb

Here's a question - do you all continue to wear your HRM after your workout until your heart rate is back to where it started and count your calories burned at that point (heart rate back to normal), or do you only count exactly what was burned during actual exercise, even if your heart rate is still elevated when you're done?

The problem if you are doing that is that the HRM is estimating your burn assuming a certain oxygen uptake, once you are no longer exercising, even if your HR is elevated, your oxygen uptake is much less and thus the HRM will over estimate calories burned for that period of time. But I also realize that you would be burning more than at "normal" rest, so it is a personal choice. what I would point out is that the HRM calculates total cals burned (which includes maintenance cals that are already accounted for in MFP) so if you stop right when you are done what you burn while your HR is coming down should make up for the over estimation by double counting maintenance calories, once in MFP and again when you enter the exercise (assuming you enter the number on your HRM into MFP).

pethead30

This might be a dumb question, but how does the hrm know how many calories we burn? I just got a new one, with a chest strap, and it said I burned 1256 by jogging four miles at only 6mph and a half hour of strength training. Thats way more than even mfp would credit that. Didn't seem super accurate but settings are correct.

Also, does fat burn stop or slow down when we get into cardio zone? I like to work out and push myself,hard, but am I sabotaging myself by not staying in the "far burning" zone?

Because there is a direct correlation between heart rate and workout intensity between a certain heart rate range. Your heart rate is the best way to gauge your calories burned next to actually going and having a test done in a laboratory. As far as fat burning in the 'cardio zone' - you will burn less calories as fat (~50%) in this zone than you will in the typical 'fat burning' zone (~75%) because at that point your exercise become anaerobic rather than aerobic. If you are trying to lose weight, stick to the fat burning zone as long as you want to burn fat.

lambertj

Ok, so help me to do this correctly tonight. When I get to the gym I put my chest strap on and my watch on and upon stepping onto the machine I press start. I generally do two miles on the stairmaster and then jump directly on the treadmill - I am assuming I just let the HRM continue on as I switch between the two machines and press stop as soon as I'm done jogging on the treadmill. Do I have this right? I never thought this would be so confusing, was just looking for an easy way to see how many calories I burn lol

MummyOfSeven

Ok, totally jumping in on an unrelated topic, but, you all seem to know what you're talking about and I'm stuck.

How do I find out what my heart rate is supposed to be? Different target zones, high heart rate alarm, etc?

Thanks and sorry for the hijack