Am I REALLY burning this much?

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masterofktulu
masterofktulu Posts: 151 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I had purchased a SportLine Heart Rate Monitor with a chest strap and tried it at the gym today. In my watch I entered my weight, age, and height. I have felt my pulse with my finger to see how accurate the chest strap is, and its dead on my heart rate. I did the elliptical as normal today for 30 minutes. Currently I weigh 235lbs, am 5'11 and 23 years old. My watch indicated to me I burned 602 calories. Am I crazy or is that a ton of calories for 30 minutes of working out? My heart rate is usually around 78 at complete rest not moving, and around 102-105 when I am walking, or basically moving. When I work out it is between 150-175.

Is my watch and chest monitor really accurate in regards to the calories, or are my hopes up and I probably burned less? The watch was about 70 dollars. Is that too cheap of one or should I spring for a really expensive one? Or am I a rube and the watches and chest straps do not work?

Thoughts/opinions?

Replies

  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    I'd say it is. At your age and weight that seems about right for the HR zones you were reaching.
  • millerhillbabe
    millerhillbabe Posts: 54
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    if your heart rates are what you are saying then yea you could be burning that much! I would get the same numbers....
  • dg09
    dg09 Posts: 754
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    We're somewhat similar in height/age, doesn't sound too far off from numbers I get.
  • muzmacol
    muzmacol Posts: 358 Member
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    would agree with above, i have a polar ft4 i believe its accurate.
  • VeggieKelli
    VeggieKelli Posts: 232 Member
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    To me that doesn't sound too far off. Usually when I'm working hard on the elliptical I burn up to 470 calories in 30 minutes. I'm 5'2 and 157 lbs, and my heart rate is usually between 145-160. Do you feel like you are working pretty hard to get this number? And what type of cardio are you doing? I think those are two determining factors, but it doesn't sound that farfetched to me if you are working pretty dang hard.
  • fionat29
    fionat29 Posts: 717 Member
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    I'm sure other, better qualified people, will disagree, but that burn sounds good to me..
    You are a tall, male adult, working out and that amount of calories seems about right to me.
  • Jellyphant
    Jellyphant Posts: 1,400 Member
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    I have very similiar stats with your weight AND height, apart from the gender and I burn that much in some of my cardio sessions. :) i have a polar hrm though.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,238 Member
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    Sounds good to me. One of the things that one has when heavier is higher calorie burns. When I weighed 250 pounds I burned a lot more calories than I do now some 60 pounds lighter. Less to carry, less calories burned.
  • FitForLife81
    FitForLife81 Posts: 372 Member
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    nope that sounds right given your height weight and heartrate range. For me being small 5'3" and weighing 110 and am in good cardio shape my resting heartrate is 58 and going my hardest on the elliptical my heartrate is 140's so I only burn 200 in 30 mins but I am a lot smaller! So nope your heartrate monitor sounds right!! I have a polar ft4 and it is pretty accurate =)
  • masterofktulu
    masterofktulu Posts: 151 Member
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    To me that doesn't sound too far off. Usually when I'm working hard on the elliptical I burn up to 470 calories in 30 minutes. I'm 5'2 and 157 lbs, and my heart rate is usually between 145-160. Do you feel like you are working pretty hard to get this number? And what type of cardio are you doing? I think those are two determining factors, but it doesn't sound that farfetched to me if you are working pretty dang hard.

    I definitely sweat like you wouldn't believe haha and my legs burn, but I am not gasping for breath. I do the elliptical on an incline at a medium level. I will do short bursts of a minute of very fast, then a few slow minutes and a few minutes going backwards. I try to mix it up every day as I don't want to get stuck on an exact routine, and keep it interesting.
  • mdebbie1026
    mdebbie1026 Posts: 164 Member
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    I have the Polar FT7, got it as a birthday gift that I did not ask for and at first, I almost wanted to take it back because it said I only burned about 200-300 when according to the machines I was burning 600 to 700. But I understood that it was in tune with my body and more accurate than the machines. I now totally depend on the FT7 and feel like I am lost without it's info like once in a while when the watch and strap don't totally get along or understand each other.:explode:

    I use the elliptical a lot but, being female weighing in around 175 at the highest, it is hard to know for your ht. wt, age etc. Also if you were doing hills and high resistance that type of info would make a difference to.

    I would take what the machine says and what the HRM says and count the lesser of the two??? Sorry I am not much help here.

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  • masterofktulu
    masterofktulu Posts: 151 Member
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    Yeah I am gonna do some confirming. I am going to see what my BMR is, my calories burned in a day and wear the chest strap all day and see if it really is accurate.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    Yeah I am gonna do some confirming. I am going to see what my BRM is, my calories burned in a day and wear the chest strap all day and see if it really is accurate.

    I haven't tried this, but I've heard from numerous people (not confirmed) that it's less accurate when you're at a resting heart rate. I would be interested to see the results.

    That said, you won't need to wear it all day. The BMR is when you're completely at rest, so if you're up and about then the numbers shouldn't match. I would try this:

    1) Lay in bed for 15 minutes (to bring your heart rate completely to rest)
    2) Start the calorie counter.
    3) Wait 30 minutes completely motionless.
    4) Stop the counter.
    5) Multiply the calorie readout by 48 (since there are 48 half-hours in a day).

    Hopefully the number is close to your calculated BMR.

    And for what it's worth, the numbers in your initial post looked pretty reasonable.
  • masterofktulu
    masterofktulu Posts: 151 Member
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    Yeah I am gonna do some confirming. I am going to see what my BRM is, my calories burned in a day and wear the chest strap all day and see if it really is accurate.

    I haven't tried this, but I've heard from numerous people (not confirmed) that it's less accurate when you're at a resting heart rate. I would be interested to see the results.

    That said, you won't need to wear it all day. The BMR is when you're completely at rest, so if you're up and about then the numbers shouldn't match. I would try this:

    1) Lay in bed for 15 minutes (to bring your heart rate completely to rest)
    2) Start the calorie counter.
    3) Wait 30 minutes completely motionless.
    4) Stop the counter.
    5) Multiply the calorie readout by 48 (since there are 48 half-hours in a day).

    Hopefully the number is close to your calculated BMR.

    And for what it's worth, the numbers in your initial post looked pretty reasonable.

    Yeah I have determined my BMR is 2288.56 complete rest and I consider myself moderately active as I do 30min cardio and 10-20 min weights as of now mon-fri so in that case to maintain my weight I need to eat 3450 calories. So I will wear it tomorrow until I go to bed and I will let you know how it goes :)

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