this has got to be the most stupid question but..

NWCountryGal

Excellent points! I just wear mine when I am kayaking or walking. If I do something like circuit weight training I'll wear it. But really haven't started anything with heavy weight training, yet.

I know exactly what you're saying.

Does the manual for your hrm monitor specify how it calculates?
If not, I think most of them calculate your total burn for the time you are wearing it, not just your "extra" burn from exercising.

Does it matter? I think it depends on how much of your activity you are logging as exercise.

Your resting metabolism is probably burning about 50-75 calories per hour. If you "double log" your resting and exercise calories for that hour, it's probably not significant. 50 calories is well within the margin of error for estimates anyway.

But if you are someone who wears the hrm monitor for half the day, logging "lawn mowing, 2 hours," "laundry, 30 minutes," "walking dog, 1 hour," etc. those 50 calories x 1 hour will add up and cause a significant miscalculation of calories burned. To be clear I'm not saying that sarcastically; I think it's fine to log all those daily life activities as exercise if you have your activity level set as sedentary, but in that case it is important to think about total vs. "net exercise" calories.

ixap

Yes you're right, you might be short changing yourself by 1lbs every 275 days.

Exactly; if you're only wearing it for 30-60 minutes / day of exercise, it's not going to really matter.
You can't know for sure that your hrm or your resting metabolism as calculated by this site are accurate to the calorie (in fact, it's pretty much a given that they're not), and those errors are going to add or subtract more than 250 calories/week to your tally.

You can subtract them if it makes you feel better, but if you don't want to bother, it's not going to be the thing that stalls out your weight loss.

NWCountryGal

I think what I have deduced from this thread is that I do not want to eat every calorie that is on my hrm. I will just use the gross/net links from shapesense for now. See how that goes.

I've got my MFP custom set to a TDEE minus 20% deficit so that is confusing me. I guess the whole thing with me is I don't want to waste time making mistakes on what I am eating compared to what I am burning. Some people say to listen to your body. Well that's great but if your body isn't hungry does that mean it doesn't need any nutrition?? I mean does it always mean that? If I burned 1000 calories today and have a net of 1500, how much of that 1000 do I eat back? I used to think it was all of it. Now I am not sure anymore.

The guy that said I am over-thinking it may be right. But I can see there are other people here wondering the same thing, and some doing things I never heard of doing like just subtracting 20% from their gross calories burned.

Lots of food for thought but for now, I think I'll go eat some food for my tummy:laugh:

Thanks every one!! denise:drinker: :drinker:

ixap

Some people say to listen to your body. Well that's great but if your body isn't hungry does that mean it doesn't need any nutrition?? I mean does it always mean that?

It's a nice idea and it works for many people, but some of us have our "hungry / not hungry" sensors all out of whack, and some of us get "hungry" exclusively for unhealthy foods.

My sensors are getting better, but I'm not there yet. So I like the tools that MFP provides to spell it out for me.

I also think that while losing weight, most people are going to be at least a little hungry at least some of the time. So it's easier to use the "just do what you feel" approach when maintaining, in my opinion.

NWCountryGal

they are usually different but one lady said she just took an average between the two. I'm inclined to just go with the gal that said listen to your body, if you are full don't eat more just because some calculator says too. I don't know, I hate numbers sometimes. :laugh:

For everyone who has a HRM do you find the calories burned on there is about the same number that MFP would have put for the same workout?

NWCountryGal

You only eat every other day? What am I missing? Sorry, denise

I think what I have deduced from this thread is that I do not want to eat every calorie that is on my hrm. I will just use the gross/net links from shapesense for now. See how that goes.

I've got my MFP custom set to a TDEE minus 20% deficit so that is confusing me. I guess the whole thing with me is I don't want to waste time making mistakes on what I am eating compared to what I am burning. Some people say to listen to your body. Well that's great but if your body isn't hungry does that mean it doesn't need any nutrition?? I mean does it always mean that? If I burned 1000 calories today and have a net of 1500, how much of that 1000 do I eat back? I used to think it was all of it. Now I am not sure anymore.

The guy that said I am over-thinking it may be right. But I can see there are other people here wondering the same thing, and some doing things I never heard of doing like just subtracting 20% from their gross calories burned.

Lots of food for thought but for now, I think I'll go eat some food for my tummy:laugh:

Thanks every one!! denise:drinker: :drinker:

To avoid mistakes, listen to people who have been in your shoes. Who have produced the results you want. I don't even track exercise calories, eat about 3,500-4,000 calories every other day and lose about 3lbs a week. If tracking calories was so important, I wouldn't be losing weight.

NWCountryGal

Ditto, you understand exactly what I meant!!!

I totally understand your question and I have wondered the same! I think a lot of people replying here don't get what you're asking...

But yeah I've thought about the same thing. My BMR is about 1400 calories a day - I'd burn that in a coma. That means my body burns about 58 calories an hour, just by existing. MFP has already included this in my calorie allowance! So if I work out for an hour and my HRM says I burned 400 calories, shouldn't I only enter 342 burned because I would've burned the other 58 anyway, and MFP already included those? So confusing...

CatseyeHardcast

I agree. If you wear a HRM all day in theory you get your BMR...do you add this to your calories? Noooo.

Clas burnt in a routine are HRM reading minus (BMR/1440x per minute exercised)

Work out your BMR for the day then divide it by 1440 (minutes in a day). That will give you a figure to subtract from your HRM reading per minute. That's what I do anyway. eg. My BMR is 2005, my BMR per minute is 1.39. If I do a 40min work out and my HRM says I burnt 392 cals. I log burnt cals as 392-(1.39x40mins) = 336.4 cals officially burnt

Paullei

If you are using a Polar HRM, and you accurately set-up your information including your resting heart rate or basic metabolic rate, then the HRM calculation should be accurate and logged as displayed. polarusa.com had a post about this and I copied the response below with a link.


http://forum.polar.fi/showthread.php?t=23581

RESPONSE:
hi,
As said, your basic metabolic rate (what your body uses even if you were just sitting on a sofa) and the calories you consume being active are included in the calculation. Your basic metabolic rate does not all of a sudden stop when you're active, which is why what is calculated is what your body has used in the time you were measuring it.

Being active also increases your basic metabolic rate for a while after training.

//kate

NWCountryGal

Thank you much, I was just thinking about how to calculate it best. I was wondering for 12 hours or 24 etc.:laugh:

I agree. If you wear a HRM all day in theory you get your BMR...do you add this to your calories? Noooo.

Clas burnt in a routine are HRM reading minus (BMR/1440x per minute exercised)

Work out your BMR for the day then divide it by 1440 (minutes in a day). That will give you a figure to subtract from your HRM reading per minute. That's what I do anyway. eg. My BMR is 2005, my BMR per minute is 1.39. If I do a 40min work out and my HRM says I burnt 392 cals. I log burnt cals as 392-(1.39x40mins) = 336.4 cals officially burnt

NWCountryGal

Thank you muuuuuuuuuuch!! I will check out the link, I do use a Polar Ft4;) denise PS I did set it up, by the manual so it must be aok but I will check the link too;)

If you are using a Polar HRM, and you accurately set-up your information including your resting heart rate or basic metabolic rate, then the HRM calculation should be accurate and logged as displayed. polarusa.com had a post about this and I copied the response below with a link.


http://forum.polar.fi/showthread.php?t=23581

RESPONSE:
hi,
As said, your basic metabolic rate (what your body uses even if you were just sitting on a sofa) and the calories you consume being active are included in the calculation. Your basic metabolic rate does not all of a sudden stop when you're active, which is why what is calculated is what your body has used in the time you were measuring it.

Being active also increases your basic metabolic rate for a while after training.

//kate

NWCountryGal

Thank you, you have be a real help with this whole thing!! denise:drinker: :drinker:

I agree. If you wear a HRM all day in theory you get your BMR...do you add this to your calories? Noooo.

Clas burnt in a routine are HRM reading minus (BMR/1440x per minute exercised)

Work out your BMR for the day then divide it by 1440 (minutes in a day). That will give you a figure to subtract from your HRM reading per minute. That's what I do anyway. eg. My BMR is 2005, my BMR per minute is 1.39. If I do a 40min work out and my HRM says I burnt 392 cals. I log burnt cals as 392-(1.39x40mins) = 336.4 cals officially burnt

BMR will not be calculated that way. Remember BMR is no activity. If you're moving around through your day this is activity. What you're talking about is called NEAT, stands for Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. It means the calories you burn when you're not sleeping and not exercise. So just your normal daily activity.