Unsure of exercise calories

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msrn8143
msrn8143 Posts: 90 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I bought a HRM and am not sure about the accuracy of the calorie count. The HR seems to be accurate but the amount of calories burned seems very high for the length of time I exercise. For example, if I use the exercise part of MFP, it says a 30 minute walk burns 150 calories. My HRM says I burned 450-500. That seems very high to me. However, I am on beta blockers so my resting heart rate is low. My exercise rate more than doubles it most of the time. Should I believe the HRM?

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  • msrn8143
    msrn8143 Posts: 90 Member
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    I bought a HRM and am not sure about the accuracy of the calorie count. The HR seems to be accurate but the amount of calories burned seems very high for the length of time I exercise. For example, if I use the exercise part of MFP, it says a 30 minute walk burns 150 calories. My HRM says I burned 450-500. That seems very high to me. However, I am on beta blockers so my resting heart rate is low. My exercise rate more than doubles it most of the time. Should I believe the HRM?
  • hiddensecant
    hiddensecant Posts: 2,446 Member
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    Maybe you should ask your cardiologist for more info about how the beta blocker affects your heart rate and calorie burn.

    EDIT: and don't forget to let us know what he says because I'd like to know too :smile:.
  • ivykivy
    ivykivy Posts: 2,970 Member
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    You should go with the MFP data. Being on a beta blocker essentially makes HRM data useless.
  • adopt4
    adopt4 Posts: 970 Member
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    I would go with the HRM unless there's a medical reason that the beta blockers would make it useless....

    None of the calorie counts in MFP are accurate for me. They are too low for big people and too high for small people, it seems.
  • MumOfADuo
    MumOfADuo Posts: 294 Member
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    I read a couple articles on beta blockers on the mayo clinic website and they said that they effect the heart rate when using a hrm but didnt say anything about the caloric burn....I would think the heart rate would be inaccurate but not the rest of it???
  • mrsyac2
    mrsyac2 Posts: 2,784 Member
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    I read a couple articles on beta blockers on the mayo clinic website and they said that they effect the heart rate when using a hrm but didnt say anything about the caloric burn....I would think the heart rate would be inaccurate but not the rest of it???

    well if the heart rate is wrong then so will the calories be because you burn more calories faster the higher your heart rate is--
  • librarygirl
    librarygirl Posts: 182
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    I bought a HRM and am not sure about the accuracy of the calorie count. The HR seems to be accurate but the amount of calories burned seems very high for the length of time I exercise. For example, if I use the exercise part of MFP, it says a 30 minute walk burns 150 calories. My HRM says I burned 450-500. That seems very high to me. However, I am on beta blockers so my resting heart rate is low. My exercise rate more than doubles it most of the time. Should I believe the HRM?
    I think it can depend on how fast you are walking for those 30 min? 500 cal. does seem high but I know for my HRM I burn 200 or more for 30 min and 400 and more for 60 min. I walk home from work and it takes me 60 min. Some times I burn more calories because I have more energy and some times my calories are lower because I'm going slower.
  • MumOfADuo
    MumOfADuo Posts: 294 Member
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    I read a couple articles on beta blockers on the mayo clinic website and they said that they effect the heart rate when using a hrm but didnt say anything about the caloric burn....I would think the heart rate would be inaccurate but not the rest of it???

    well if the heart rate is wrong then so will the calories be because you burn more calories faster the higher your heart rate is--

    Duh, makes sense.....it did say you can adjust your min/max heart rate on the hrm if you are on beta blockers...I dont have a hrm so not sure how easy that would be to do....
  • Georg
    Georg Posts: 1,728 Member
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    For reference-
    When hubby & I walk 2 miles+/- for 30-35 minutes, the most either of us has ever burned is 300 calories. And that's so fast we can't talk. :frown:
  • jtintx
    jtintx Posts: 445 Member
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    I really don't think the HRM is wrong...it is just detecting the electrical signals given off by the heart. However, you could have personal information entered in incorrectly which could be calculating calories burned incorrectly...if your watch let's you do that sort of thing. I think you should talk to your doc about this.

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