Calculated correct calories using a HRM

kat5556

I got a HRM yesterday and I'm wondering about correctly counting my calories when exercising. Using hypothetical numbers, say I normally burn 100 calories when just going about my daily routine and then I work out for an hour and it says I burned 300 calories. Would I count only 200 towards my workout calorie burn since the other 100 are part of my baseline (BRM)?
Thanks!!

camiah

My understanding is yes--that is the way it should be counted to be absolutely correct. The HRM is measuring what you are doing in that span of time, not the excess calorie burn only, if that makes sense. However, even knowing this, I still use the uncorrected number from my HRM because I'm lazy and don't feel like calculating each time I work out how much to take off to account for that base number. It hasn't been a problem for me to do that, since I have a lot to lose, and am typically under my calorie goal anyway. However, if you have only a few pounds to lose and are at your calorie goal each day, then it might make a difference. YMMV.

ETA: I just looked at your ticker. It probably will make a difference for you, with only five more pounds to lose. Double counting those calories is going to narrow your deficit, and depending on how big that deficit is, could eat into it quite significantly.

fitnthinby34

I'm with Camiah, I count my total calorie burn as well. But similarly, I am under calories most days. That being said, I am just starting out, so I will see how much of an impact it has on my loss when I weigh-in on Tuesday.

kat5556

Thanks for the conformations. I wore it while doing some chores and while working on the computer, each for an hour, so I have somewhat of a baseline now for exercising.