how accurate could THIS be?
seobstar
Posts: 169
ok, so I'm new this this group (but not new to MFP). I shared my story a bit last night through a post on the boards. I lost 70 pounds 2yrs ago and then over the last year have hit a total stand still and fluctuated the same 5 pounds over and over again, struggling to get the last 10 OFF for good! I stumbled across this board last week and have decided to do the total metabolism reset. I'm nervous about the whole thing but ready to kick these last 10 pounds once and for all! Here's my question, I don't have the money for a fitbit or BMF right now so last week I did a little experiment with my HRM. How accurate do you think this could be?
I woke up at 5am, put on my HRM, turned it on and went to my 5:20am YMCA class (burned about 530cal in 50minutes, crazy hard HIIT class with cardio/strength/circuit type training) and then LEFT my HRM runnning, came home and continued on with my day (yes, I was gross and sweaty for an entire day....haha)...I am a stay at home mom and usually pretty active. So, I spent the day doing my normal stuff, with my HRM ticking away. It never acted strange, never shut off, never did anything different than it normally does when I wear it during a workout, etc. So,then at 9pm I turned it off and at that time it read 2400cal burned. Then, I researched how much the body burns during sleep and found a range of different numbers. I took the very low end of the range (just to estimate low) and added 400cal for my 8hrs of sleep that night. So, with my little experiment that would mean I burned 2800cal in that day. How accurate do you think this could be? I've heard people say that HRMs aren't accurate when you're not moving vigorously?? But, mine seems to work great, even for weight lifting it picks up my HR, etc.
The reason I'm so curious about this is b/c I'm trying to make sure that I have my TDEE as accurate as possible and make sure I'm eating enough! I've been a chronic (like 15yrs) low calorie eater and I'm now doing the reset and going to eat 2500cal for 8wks but my gut is telling me that 2500 may actually not even be enough? (I workout 6 days a week at a high intensity doing a variety of running (a 5K route that I do 3x a week), heavy lifting, and circuit training,bootcamp type classes at the Y)
Thoughts?
I woke up at 5am, put on my HRM, turned it on and went to my 5:20am YMCA class (burned about 530cal in 50minutes, crazy hard HIIT class with cardio/strength/circuit type training) and then LEFT my HRM runnning, came home and continued on with my day (yes, I was gross and sweaty for an entire day....haha)...I am a stay at home mom and usually pretty active. So, I spent the day doing my normal stuff, with my HRM ticking away. It never acted strange, never shut off, never did anything different than it normally does when I wear it during a workout, etc. So,then at 9pm I turned it off and at that time it read 2400cal burned. Then, I researched how much the body burns during sleep and found a range of different numbers. I took the very low end of the range (just to estimate low) and added 400cal for my 8hrs of sleep that night. So, with my little experiment that would mean I burned 2800cal in that day. How accurate do you think this could be? I've heard people say that HRMs aren't accurate when you're not moving vigorously?? But, mine seems to work great, even for weight lifting it picks up my HR, etc.
The reason I'm so curious about this is b/c I'm trying to make sure that I have my TDEE as accurate as possible and make sure I'm eating enough! I've been a chronic (like 15yrs) low calorie eater and I'm now doing the reset and going to eat 2500cal for 8wks but my gut is telling me that 2500 may actually not even be enough? (I workout 6 days a week at a high intensity doing a variety of running (a 5K route that I do 3x a week), heavy lifting, and circuit training,bootcamp type classes at the Y)
Thoughts?
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Replies
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could be accurate.. I have a bodymedia fit and I am finding I burn 3085 calories a day on my non workout day is about 2650. Before I bought my BMF I wore my HRM to try to get a accurate TDEE but mine was crazy every time I would sit it would spike up to 240 something LOL.0
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I had a friend use my HRM to see what she burned in 24hrs and it worked for her. Her numbers were a lot lower than yours and she did it on a 'rest' day. I keep wanting to try it but I always forget.
Next week I'm going to do the Body Pod testing where you sit in an egg shaped thing and it tells you all of your numbers like TDEE, RMR, BF, etc. I can't wait to see how that comes out.0 -
I have a HRM but I don't use it, even for my workouts. I've found that I was getting crazy about the numbers.
For me, it is so much less stressful to just use the scooby calculator and take 15% off TDEE.
I am actually thinking about getting a Bodyfit to get a better idea of my true TDEE, but keep bouncing back and forth. In the meantime, I think the scooby calculator is pretty close.0 -
Hard to say, certainly not impossible if you're very active.
That said, HRMs aren't terribly accurate.0 -
"They" say that using a HRM to get TDEE is not accurate, due to the fact that any spike in HR will look like burned calories, even if it's just her heart rate racing for another reason (anxiety, for example).
That being said, I did that once before I knew this and it wasn't too far off.
I, like you, am STRUGGLING with the last 7# and may take two weeks to eat at TDEE which is terrifying me. LOL
I now have a BMF so I am trying to decide if I trust those numbers.
You could try the 2500 for half of the time and then do a re-eval? It sounds like you are hella active and the cals could do you some good to fuel that fierceness!!0 -
HRMs are calibrated so they calculate calories burned during aerobic exertion. Therefore they are not accurate for calories burned during daily activities, weight training or sleeping, and they don't transmit in the water so even if waterproof don't work while swimming.
If you suspect calorie calculations are what's holding you back from losing, either eat at TDEE minus 500 calories every day whether you workout or not, or use your HRM calories and take off what you'd burn during that duration at rest. Say you have a BMR of 2000, for 1 hour of exercise take off 2000/24 = 83 calories.
Double check your portion sizes of food too, that's certainly let me down in the past.0 -
Have you tried calculating your numbers using the scooby stats website given in the stickies for the group? Then you could see how your test compared to what the website spits out after entering all of your info...0
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It is not made to calculate your TDEE. What number does scooby calculator give you?
Oh and don'T be scared of the metabolism reset, it was the best thing I could do since I was going nowhere and it made it possible to shift the weight for me.0 -
It is not made to calculate your TDEE. What number does scooby calculator give you?
Oh and don'T be scared of the metabolism reset, it was the best thing I could do since I was going nowhere and it made it possible to shift the weight for me.
The Scooby calculator says 2500ish for my TDEE so for now that's what I'm going with. I'm doing the reset and planning to eat 2500 for about 8wks. Thanks for your input!
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HRMs are calibrated so they calculate calories burned during aerobic exertion. Therefore they are not accurate for calories burned during daily activities, weight training or sleeping, and they don't transmit in the water so even if waterproof don't work while swimming.
If you suspect calorie calculations are what's holding you back from losing, either eat at TDEE minus 500 calories every day whether you workout or not, or use your HRM calories and take off what you'd burn during that duration at rest. Say you have a BMR of 2000, for 1 hour of exercise take off 2000/24 = 83 calories.
Double check your portion sizes of food too, that's certainly let me down in the past.
Thanks for your input!! But, unfortunately it's simply not that "simple" for me anymore. I've already lost 70 pounds and "know" all the information there is to know about calories, working out, calculating TDEE, etc. doing 500 less than my TDEE isn't working for me....been there done that. That's why I'm going to do this reset (eating AT TDEE for 8 wks) and then reassess after that! I've eaten anywhere from 1500-2200 cal over the last year (in an attempt to figure out how to shed these last 10) but none of it is working! 0 -
HRMs are calibrated so they calculate calories burned during aerobic exertion. Therefore they are not accurate for calories burned during daily activities, weight training or sleeping, and they don't transmit in the water so even if waterproof don't work while swimming.
If you suspect calorie calculations are what's holding you back from losing, either eat at TDEE minus 500 calories every day whether you workout or not, or use your HRM calories and take off what you'd burn during that duration at rest. Say you have a BMR of 2000, for 1 hour of exercise take off 2000/24 = 83 calories.
Double check your portion sizes of food too, that's certainly let me down in the past.
Thanks for your input!! But, unfortunately it's simply not that "simple" for me anymore. I've already lost 70 pounds and "know" all the information there is to know about calories, working out, calculating TDEE, etc. doing 500 less than my TDEE isn't working for me....been there done that. That's why I'm going to do this reset (eating AT TDEE for 8 wks) and then reassess after that! I've eaten anywhere from 1500-2200 cal over the last year (in an attempt to figure out how to shed these last 10) but none of it is working!
Same boat. Feel ya.0
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