What I learned from my New Heart Rate Monitor

Doesntplaynice82

***EDITED TO ADD**** Thanks for your comments! I think I need to make some adjustments to the settings on my HRM, although I still think I had been under estimating my calorie burn for a while.

What I learned from my new heart rate monitor
1. The cardio machines at LA fitness sync to the monitor so I do not have to look at my watch to see what my heart rate is.
2. I have been working way harder than I need to be
3. I have been SEVERELY underestimating my calories burned which means I have been under eating. No wonder i keep falling off the wagon!

I put on my monitor and started it, walked to the gym (about 2 blocks plus 4 flights of stairs) did shoulders and abs and 30 minutes on the treadmill...burned 1000 calories. I had only been logging about 300!!

I have logged my weight training on here but it never shows "calories burned" for weight training...I weight train pretty vigorously. Am I logging it wrong or something or do you think my heart rate monitor is wrong??

pcotter54

I think I read that on MFP they don't assign calories burned to weight training 'cause it's really variable and hard to estimate.

NCchar130

What I learned from my new heart rate monitor
1. The cardio machines at LA fitness sync to the monitor so I do not have to look at my watch to see what my heart rate is.
2. I have been working way harder than I need to be
3. I have been SEVERELY underestimating my calories burned which means I have been under eating. No wonder i keep falling off the wagon!

I put on my monitor and started it, walked to the gym (about 2 blocks plus 4 flights of stairs) did shoulders and abs and 30 minutes on the treadmill...burned 1000 calories. I had only been logging about 300!!

I have logged my weight training on here but it never shows "calories burned" for weight training...I weight train pretty vigorously. Am I logging it wrong or something or do you think my heart rate monitor is wrong??

That is really interesting! I still haven't gotten an HRM but now I MUST!!

FYI you can log weight-training under cardio and manually enter your calories burned. It does give a number when you enter the minutes but I just assume it's way off.

Sabine_Stroehm

Hmm, what are you doing on the treadmill? Running?

Doesntplaynice82

Interval training. I reach my cardio heart rate and maintain for 3 minutes then go back down to a lower heart rate for 3 minutes, did that for 30 minutes.

islandmonkey

1000 calories seems like a LOT burned for that amount of activity (the walking and stairs is pretty negligible). Depends how long you did weights for and how fast you run....but even then, 1000 seems really over the top.


What HRM did you get?

What I learned from my new heart rate monitor
1. The cardio machines at LA fitness sync to the monitor so I do not have to look at my watch to see what my heart rate is.
2. I have been working way harder than I need to be
3. I have been SEVERELY underestimating my calories burned which means I have been under eating. No wonder i keep falling off the wagon!

I put on my monitor and started it, walked to the gym (about 2 blocks plus 4 flights of stairs) did shoulders and abs and 30 minutes on the treadmill...burned 1000 calories. I had only been logging about 300!!

I have logged my weight training on here but it never shows "calories burned" for weight training...I weight train pretty vigorously. Am I logging it wrong or something or do you think my heart rate monitor is wrong??

Doesntplaynice82

Timex Personal Trainer.

My resting heart rate is about 60 and while lifting its around 140 (did that for about 30 minutes). treadmill I stay around 160. (again 30 minutes)

iAMsmiling

At 220 lbs, it takes me about 70 minutes at an average of 140 bpm to burn 1000 calories. Something line 13-15 bpm most days. No idea how to tell if your HRM is accurate regarding calorie burn.


I also discovered that, at times, I was working too hard. Towards the end of my routines, my HR was beyond max by my old habits, gaining little and risking a problem. The HRM can be a great tool for keeping you in a productive and safe range.

I wear my HRM through my weight lifting as well as cardio and cut off my work outs at my calorie goal of about 1000 calories a day.

Sabine_Stroehm

Interval training. I reach my cardio heart rate and maintain for 3 minutes then go back down to a lower heart rate for 3 minutes, did that for 30 minutes.

hmm. I worry that that's a little high of a burn too. you set the HRM up right, inputting your stats etc?
(I think 300 was too low too)

Doesntplaynice82

I maybe need to make a few adjustments to it...I was a bit confused in the set up process. I will double check all the settings. For now I am going to estimate about 600 Calories do you think that should be accurate enough?

CyberEd312

I have to agree the numbers just don't add up for the time... How long did you weight train?? Do you have all you input numbers in correctly (age, height, weight, etc) I use a Polar FT60 and am 249 lbs. and to hit 1000 calories at 140-150 HR it takes me around 65 minutes. I don't normally wear my HRM while weight training but have before and with 20 second rests between sets constantly moving it would take me 90-100 minutes to hit 1000 calorie burned...

Sabine_Stroehm

I maybe need to make a few adjustments to it...I was a bit confused in the set up process. I will double check all the settings. For now I am going to estimate about 600 Calories do you think that should be accurate enough?

For me (5'6" 132, 47year old female) a 30 min treadmill run followed by 30 minutes of weights would be about 600, yeah.

Doesntplaynice82

Thanks for all your help....going to check my settings to be sure I didn't do something wrong (knowing me I did....electronics are out to ruin my life haha)

Awkward30

Sorry, hon, but that is probably really off.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75 HRMs are not accurate for strength training.

As a general rule, a 150 lb woman doing cardio won't go over 10 cal/min, and if you do, it probably won't be by much!

iAMsmiling

Using this calculator:
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

For you...an average 150bpm yields 566 calories per hour.

goldfinger88

In general, a HRM will over estimate your caloric burn greatly. Fact is, most people feel their exercise burns way more calories than it actually does. Even the most intense workout burns a tiny number of calories. There may be an afterburn if you do HIT workouts. But a regular workout produces very small caloric burn. If I were you, I'd err on the side of caution.

amy_kee

This sure makes me want an accurate HRM. I'm still trying to decide on what brand to purchase, & where to purchase it from.
Amy

LCFulmer

I wear a HRM for every workout... currently I'm doing hybrid of P90X & Insanity and for the weight lifting I log the calories burned. With my HRM I have three levels 1, 2, 3... I set it to level 1 or 2 for weight lifting; it depends on which P90X I'm doing. For example for chest & back I set it at level 1 for legs & back I set it for level 2 (squats are involved). For Insanity I set it for level 3 except for cardio recovery.... None the less I burn more than 500 calories per workout. For P90X Yoga I set it to level 1. I had the same light bulb moment you had... realizing I was under eating due to under calculating my calories prior to getting a HRM.

m3dreamer2011

A HRM is a great investment! At they very least it will give you a consistent result to compare sessions.

Doesntplaynice82

Can anyone help me figure out my max and min heart rate zones for maximum fat burn (also cardio...I know i can work harder than just the fat burn)

I am 5'9" 155lbs Female 30 years old.

Math hasnt been my strong point haha I'm a cop I don't need to do equations!! (unless its like 3 felonies times 20 years each = 60 years to serve) hahahah

likemeinvisible

Can anyone help me figure out my max and min heart rate zones for maximum fat burn (also cardio...I know i can work harder than just the fat burn)

I am 5'9" 155lbs Female 30 years old.

Math hasnt been my strong point haha I'm a cop I don't need to do equations!! (unless its like 3 felonies times 20 years each = 60 years to serve) hahahah

Fat burn is around 60-80 percent of max HR. I don't know your max HR so I'll have to use the formula 220-age, so 220-30=190
therefore the fat burning zone is 114-152. Going above that to 160 still burns max fat but also burns a little more glycogen so have some pasta when you're done

hubkal

1000 calories is way too much. Check your settings. Timex is not a dependable HRM. I know it is cheaper but not worth it. Spend the 100 bucks and get a Polar. You will be much happier!

lwoods34

If this helps any....I used to wear a timex hrm for a few years before I switched back to Polar and I can tell you that Timex overestimates calories by as much as 200-300 calories if not more!! For example for a treadmill run at a speed of 6.5mph for an hr, my Timex said I burned 700+ calories....when I went back to Polar it said 450... I'm 34, 5'3 and 125 lbs. it didn't hinder my weight loss because I don't eat back all of my exercise calories but it was definitely an eye opener. But it also goes to show that nothing is 100% accurate. Its still an estimation. Also the fitter you get the harder you will have to work to get the higher calorie burns!!

Doesntplaynice82

If this helps any....I used to wear a timex hrm for a few years before I switched back to Polar and I can tell you that Timex overestimates calories by as much as 200-300 calories if not more!! For example for a treadmill run at a speed of 6.5mph for an hr, my Timex said I burned 700+ calories....when I went back to Polar it said 450... I'm 34, 5'3 and 125 lbs. it didn't hinder my weight loss because I don't eat back all of my exercise calories but it was definitely an eye opener. But it also goes to show that nothing is 100% accurate. Its still an estimation. Also the fitter you get the harder you will have to work to get the higher calorie burns!!

Man that sucks...I guess you get what you pay for! I guess I will have to invest in a new one. Hopefully I can sell this one

Doesntplaynice82

Does this one look ok? I just want basic functions, heart rate and calories burned

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4

Chrisswa

I have a Polar FT7 and love it ... my trainer swears by Polar watches.

CyberEd312

Does this one look ok? I just want basic functions, heart rate and calories burned

http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/get_active/fitness_crosstraining/FT4

Yeah the FT4 or FT7 are both great choices for the basics. Look on amazon they always have good prices or heartratemonitorusa.com .. I have the FT60 and got mine from here:

http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/polar-products.html

check for promo code you can normally find one for 5 0r 10% discount....

Doesntplaynice82

Just purchased one on amazon...going to try to take this one back to academy if i can

jms3533

Love my Polar FT7! I got it from amazon.

TimeFourMe

Not necessarily.... Depends on how hard she was working. You go Girl! I get a lot more calories burned when I work at a higher intensity and can burn 800 calories in an hour when I over do it. If you workout hard and for a long time you could log that many. I wouldn't et it all back though... but I am scared to eat too much.

cybercpa

I do interval training too and it really works. What kind of HRM do you have? I use a fit bit to measure my calories burned but would like a HRM, too. Message me please with this info about the HRM. I'd really appreciate it.:flowerforyou: