HRM All Day?

bri1720
bri1720 Posts: 254 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone out there wear their HRM all day? I usually just wear it when I'm working out so I can get a more accurate calorie count than the MFP numbers. But I wondered if anyone wore theirs all day. I mean, if we can log in "Doing Dishes" and such, why not just keep it on all day to see what you've burned in total for the day?

Just a thought. What do you think?

Replies

  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
    Once a month just to see how sitting at a computer makes me fat. And to see what activities knock up my heart rate.

    Mostly I use my FitBit for 24/7 monitoring.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    Well, funnily enough, I am wearing my HRM all day today as an experiment to see how many calories I do actually burn. Today is a "rest day" so i am just going about my normal daily activities - getting ready for work, school runs, a day at work, cooking dinner, entertaining a 6 year old and getting him off to bed, any other chores and then watching telly. I'll have it on from about 6.45am until 10pm. Obviously I'll burn cals when sleeping as well! I have no idea how accurate it will be but it will be interesting to see the result anyway. I do normally only wear it for exercising.

    I'm hoping santa will bring me a Fitbit......so santa, if you are out there..........:flowerforyou:
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.
    This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).
  • kritterxx
    kritterxx Posts: 100 Member
    Well, funnily enough, I am wearing my HRM all day today as an experiment to see how many calories I do actually burn.

    Please report back to us (: I'd be really interested to know how this goes, and if the number really is the same as your BMR is supposed to be.

    If I got a hrm, this'd probably be the first thing I do with it, just wear it around and see what's up :3
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    Well, funnily enough, I am wearing my HRM all day today as an experiment to see how many calories I do actually burn. Today is a "rest day" so i am just going about my normal daily activities - getting ready for work, school runs, a day at work, cooking dinner, entertaining a 6 year old and getting him off to bed, any other chores and then watching telly. I'll have it on from about 6.45am until 10pm. Obviously I'll burn cals when sleeping as well! I have no idea how accurate it will be but it will be interesting to see the result anyway. I do normally only wear it for exercising.

    I'm hoping santa will bring me a Fitbit......so santa, if you are out there..........:flowerforyou:

    It's not going to be accurate at all... so any number you do get, should be disregarded.

    to OP:
    HRM's are meant for exercise only.. and only cardio exercise at that. Not strength training or anything else.
  • sgarrard01
    sgarrard01 Posts: 213 Member
    Your all forgetting in your 'day wearing' that the body burns calories every day just running inteself, thats what the 'sedentry' setting is!!! a HRM will not pick up any of this!
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    I am not looking for a BMR or a "sedentary setting" I am just looking to see how many cals I burn from normal daily activity. MFP says my maintenance cals on sedentary (which is what i have set it as) are 1750. My HRM is set for my weight, height and age and has a chest strap and therefore reads my heart rate regardless of what I'm doing. I appreciate it won't be accurate but no HRM is accurate. Like I said anyway, its just an experiment and for my own interest.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    Well, funnily enough, I am wearing my HRM all day today as an experiment to see how many calories I do actually burn.

    Please report back to us (: I'd be really interested to know how this goes, and if the number really is the same as your BMR is supposed to be.

    If I got a hrm, this'd probably be the first thing I do with it, just wear it around and see what's up :3

    The number will always be higher than BMR - BMR is what it would read if I slept all day. I hope it will be a bit higher and reflect what MFP says.
  • diddyk
    diddyk Posts: 269 Member
    Bump. Curious to see what your results are. Please report back!
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    Wear my HRM doing cardio workouts and Nike fuel band all day long. However, I only log the calories burnt from my exercise and NEVER from the fuelband. It seems pointless to me to say I burnt over 1,000 calories on a ' rest' day...which is what the fuelbands and fitbits of this world will show...they arnt engineered to measure aggressive cardio but I'm AMAZED the fuelband readings for exercise are out by only 20 calories compared to the HRM reading.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    Wear my HRM doing cardio workouts and Nike fuel band all day long. However, I only log the calories burnt from my exercise and NEVER from the fuelband. It seems pointless to me to say I burnt over 1,000 calories on a ' rest' day...which is what the fuelbands and fitbits of this world will show...they arnt engineered to measure aggressive cardio but I'm AMAZED the fuelband readings for exercise are out by only 20 calories compared to the HRM reading.

    Curious about the fuel band - is it like a fit bit or bodymedia device? Don't worry, I am not going to be logging any of today's calories as exercise cals! I usually only wear my HRM for exercise and in that case I do log them.
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
    My HRM/GPS - Garmin305 - the batteries would not last all day
  • africaa
    africaa Posts: 228
    I wear it all day...I don't really care about the amount of cals I burn in a day, but when I do certain things I like to know how many cals I burned. Also I'm in love with my HRM :)
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    Results of HRM Experiment

    I wore it from 6.45am until 9.45pm and during that time burned 1321 cals (885 of which are my BMR). I have then added on another 9 hours worth of BMR (for sleep) which is 531 making a total of 1852. MFP says my maintenance cals is 1750 so perhaps I am underestimating my activity level - which is currently sedentary. I did do 30 day shred yesterday but I have deducted that calorie burn.

    I appreciate this is not accurate or scientific but was interesting for me.
  • pinksmurf1
    pinksmurf1 Posts: 4
    Hmmmmm. feeling like a bit of an idiot here...... but what is a HRM?? Heart Rate Monitor? Her Royal Majesty? Huge Red Moobs? I'm sorry lol but the more i try to think of what it could be, the more silly things I come up with and end up imagining u all wearing while exercising....... Hairy Randy Monster........ pleae put me out of my misery and tell me!!!!!!!!!! xx
  • amyram
    amyram Posts: 108 Member
    A related question, I just got a HRM and went for a jog, when I got back my heart rate was 111 bpm so even though the jog was over I was still burning calories. Do you keep counting calories burnt until your back to normal resting heart rate?
  • schpanks
    schpanks Posts: 468 Member
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.
    This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

    I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    A related question, I just got a HRM and went for a jog, when I got back my heart rate was 111 bpm so even though the jog was over I was still burning calories. Do you keep counting calories burnt until your back to normal resting heart rate?
    I stop counting immediately after I've finished. Though you're still burning extra calories for a while afterwards, while you're exercising you're also still burning at your BMR so in theory you should take off what you'd be burning during your exercise duration even if you were sitting on the sofa. To avoid hard sums and account for any inaccuracies, it's not a bad idea to "round down".
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.
    This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

    I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!

    I don't wear mine when swimming either as the reading is just far too low for it to be correct! MFP and various other calorie calculators say I should burn about 300 cals in 30 mins doing breast-stroke but HRM only says about 100!
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    A related question, I just got a HRM and went for a jog, when I got back my heart rate was 111 bpm so even though the jog was over I was still burning calories. Do you keep counting calories burnt until your back to normal resting heart rate?
    I stop counting immediately after I've finished. Though you're still burning extra calories for a while afterwards, while you're exercising you're also still burning at your BMR so in theory you should take off what you'd be burning during your exercise duration even if you were sitting on the sofa. To avoid hard sums and account for any inaccuracies, it's not a bad idea to "round down".

    I also switch mine off when I've finished. My kettlefit and bodypump instructors say that I should burn 600-800 cals for one of those cals but during the class it is only 350-400 max. I asked them about this and they said it is the "after-burn" from doing strength related exercise which is important.
  • ErB56
    ErB56 Posts: 71 Member
    I have a Bowflex Precision 7.0 HRM and tried the all day experiment yesterday. My HRM must be different than the FitBit or Nike. It does not specify it in the instructions, but it does not register any calorie burn when resting. You have to enter all of your vitals into it before starting. From the way it behaves, it appears that it calculates your BMR and does not start counting calories until you exceed that. The upside is that I get an accurate count of the 'after-burn' since it stops counting once the heart rate returns to normal.

    Which brings up the question I wanted to ask today: Does anybody know if there is a difference in recovery time between cardio and lifting? It seems like when I do cardio my heart rate recovers pretty quickly, but when I lift my heart rate recovers much more slowly.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    I have a Bowflex Precision 7.0 HRM and tried the all day experiment yesterday. My HRM must be different than the FitBit or Nike. It does not specify it in the instructions, but it does not register any calorie burn when resting. You have to enter all of your vitals into it before starting. From the way it behaves, it appears that it calculates your BMR and does not start counting calories until you exceed that. The upside is that I get an accurate count of the 'after-burn' since it stops counting once the heart rate returns to normal.

    Which brings up the question I wanted to ask today: Does anybody know if there is a difference in recovery time between cardio and lifting? It seems like when I do cardio my heart rate recovers pretty quickly, but when I lift my heart rate recovers much more slowly.

    My Polar FT7 burned calories the whole time, even when resting. I was amazed that my resting heart rate is about 55 bpm - thats good yeah??!

    Not sure about the recovery rate between strength and cardio - I haven't really measured that yet.
  • ChristinaBarnhouse
    ChristinaBarnhouse Posts: 274 Member
    I was wondering the exact same thing. I just ordered the Polar FT60 and should have it in a couple of days!! :)

    Thanks for posting!
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
    I would wear it all day if I was doing the Ironman!

    Other than that, I know my HRM would show a high number and give me a false sense of security regarding.... ice cream consumption.
  • kiminikimkim
    kiminikimkim Posts: 746 Member
    The only HRM watch on the market that can accurately read your HR + calories burned under water is the Polar RCX5. That is why I ordered it!
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.
    This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

    I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!

    I don't wear mine when swimming either as the reading is just far too low for it to be correct! MFP and various other calorie calculators say I should burn about 300 cals in 30 mins doing breast-stroke but HRM only says about 100!
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

    Davpul is correct

    A HRM uses an algorithm to 'guess' calories burnt when doing cardio activities based on elevated heart rate.

    Relax in a sauna for 2 hours (Not recommended!) and your heart rate would be elevated to the point where your HRM would indicate a considerable calorie burn - which would be false

    Public speaking, excitement, fear etc, will all raise your heart rate - but will not raise your calorie burn

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