How much do you trust your HRM?

beckylawrence70

600 calories burned in 20 min sounds excessively high, the first 5 or 10 minutes you're just getting started, hmmmm......something's not right.......

rockerbabyy

I wasn't so sure about the accuracy of my HRM, either. Machines, MFP, my Nike+App and the HRM all said something different and the HRM seemed high. I did some research, though, and found The Journal of Sports Sciences has a formula, tweaked for each gender, to calculate calorie burn based on average heart rate. So, I set up the formula in the excel spreadsheet I use to plan my workouts so all I have to do is pop in the variables to figure out my burn. See below.

If you set up an Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly enter the info for your workout to get a good estimate of calories burned.

Variables are:
Age (in years)
Weight (in pounds)
Average Heart Rate
Time (in minutes)

Formula for men:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) - (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

Formula for women:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

I hope this helps you!

thats interesting - when i input my last workout it gives me 353ish, when my HRM gave me 401... hmm

feltlikesound

When I am finished my workout, my calories burned average to just over 10cals/minute. For example, today I had 60 minutes of cardio and burned just over 620 according to my HRM. I am in my target heart rate zone for almost all of those minutes. I use a Polar FT4.

I think your reading sounds overboard, but I certainly can't say that for sure considering the specifics of height/weight/HR/etc.

RUNN3Rmom

YES!! I am a Boxer mom, too!! Our family does not know what we would do with out her. We adopted her from BoxAR rescue agency in August 2011 and have been head-over-heels in love since.

We also have a Chihuahua (he was my apartment dog in my pre-marriage pre kids days). He is a lot older than Layla (our Boxer) but still fiesty and LOVES to rough house with her. He chases her, nips are her and she chases him...then he runs behind the couch and yaps!! She is going to find a way back there one day

RUNN3Rmom

600 calories burned in 20 min sounds excessively high, the first 5 or 10 minutes you're just getting started, hmmmm......something's not right.......

40 min's was her total workout.

Alexstrasza

I wasn't so sure about the accuracy of my HRM, either. Machines, MFP, my Nike+App and the HRM all said something different and the HRM seemed high. I did some research, though, and found The Journal of Sports Sciences has a formula, tweaked for each gender, to calculate calorie burn based on average heart rate. So, I set up the formula in the excel spreadsheet I use to plan my workouts so all I have to do is pop in the variables to figure out my burn. See below.

If you set up an Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly enter the info for your workout to get a good estimate of calories burned.

Variables are:
Age (in years)
Weight (in pounds)
Average Heart Rate
Time (in minutes)

Formula for men:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) - (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

Formula for women:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

I hope this helps you!

Is this actually accurate?

According to this I burned about 460 calories today when working out instead of the 296 that my HRM said.

dvisser1

I think most of them are fairly accurate. What I noticed with mine (garmin FR60) is that it was reading higher than the elliptical that I was doing most of my cardio work on. Over time, the HRM came down as I got in better shape. Now it reads fewer calories burned than the elliptical does. HRM has my height, weight, age, gender and when using the elliptical I enter my weight and age.

Both the elliptical and HRM were always less than the MFP database figure. I have always logged the lowest of MFP, the machine if using one, and my HRM. HRM accuracy for calorie burn while weight lifting is not so good, they are best suited for cardio work.

degan2011

I typically burn 600 calories doing 20 minutes of moderate elliptical and 20 minutes of vigorous biking. I'm definitely sweating when I am done!

The brand is Sportline, and I did enter my gender, height, weight, etc. That's why I thought it should be accurate!!! I hope you're right! LOL

I am 190 and I can burn almost 400 cals on the elliptical in 30 min of mod effort, so I think yours sounds about right. When my sister and I would work out together (she is heavier than I am) we used to compete to see who could burn more... I would ALWAYS have to work harder to catch or beat her cals burned. We both have different model Polar HRMs.

Frogger0828

I wasn't so sure about the accuracy of my HRM, either. Machines, MFP, my Nike+App and the HRM all said something different and the HRM seemed high. I did some research, though, and found The Journal of Sports Sciences has a formula, tweaked for each gender, to calculate calorie burn based on average heart rate. So, I set up the formula in the excel spreadsheet I use to plan my workouts so all I have to do is pop in the variables to figure out my burn. See below.

If you set up an Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly enter the info for your workout to get a good estimate of calories burned.

Variables are:
Age (in years)
Weight (in pounds)
Average Heart Rate
Time (in minutes)

Formula for men:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) - (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

Formula for women:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

I hope this helps you!

Is this actually accurate?

According to this I burned about 460 calories today when working out instead of the 296 that my HRM said.

I think it's pretty close - at least with the way I've been calculating it. My personal trainer said it was a reliable formula. The last workout I did (today) the HRM said over 1000 calories were burned...my calculation said 600. Even if it's wrong, I'd rather low-ball my guess than go with the HRM that would indicate 400 more. Based on all the responses about the varying numbers, I think it's safe to say it's not an exact science, no matter what formula or gadget you use.

invisibubble

I wasn't so sure about the accuracy of my HRM, either. Machines, MFP, my Nike+App and the HRM all said something different and the HRM seemed high. I did some research, though, and found The Journal of Sports Sciences has a formula, tweaked for each gender, to calculate calorie burn based on average heart rate. So, I set up the formula in the excel spreadsheet I use to plan my workouts so all I have to do is pop in the variables to figure out my burn. See below.

If you set up an Excel spreadsheet, you can quickly enter the info for your workout to get a good estimate of calories burned.

Variables are:
Age (in years)
Weight (in pounds)
Average Heart Rate
Time (in minutes)

Formula for men:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.2017) - (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) - 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.

Formula for women:
Calories Burned = [(Age x 0.074) - (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) - 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.

I hope this helps you!

Is this actually accurate?

According to this I burned about 460 calories today when working out instead of the 296 that my HRM said.

My HRM gives a burn of about half of most of the formulae used to calculate calories burned. It's all down to the particular formula your HRM is programmed for. That's why I plug my data into all the "trusted" sources and take a mean number.