Is calculating calorie burn by heart rate accurate?

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filming_ghosts
filming_ghosts Posts: 81
in Fitness and Exercise
I use this calculator to calculate how many calories I burned through exercise by taking my pulse every few minutes and averaging it out: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

Is that an accurate way of calculating it, or no? My pulse was around 180 while I was running (I ran for a little over 45 minutes), and it said that I burned 600 calories, which seems pretty steep.

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  • nphect
    nphect Posts: 474
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    the calculator is fine, but i wouldn't go by you checking your pulse. You can get a decent heart rate monitor for $20.

    600 calories is about right. 180 is high for a heart rate how fast where you going?
  • filming_ghosts
    filming_ghosts Posts: 81
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    Isn't that basically the same thing though?
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    yeah those are pretty much the same formulae that the HRMs use. i guess the difference is that you'd have to pay attention to your HR to get your average whereas the watch could do it for you.
  • nphect
    nphect Posts: 474
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    Isn't that basically the same thing though?

    yea its the same thing, just seems like a pain in the butt
  • filming_ghosts
    filming_ghosts Posts: 81
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    Oh okay haha. I normally just take it for 10 seconds every 5 minutes or so, then multiply it by 6 and average it out after.

    I wasn't going that fast since I was walking/running, my heart rate just shoots up whenever I run. I haven't run in awhile (hence the walking), but even when I'm used to it my heart rate's still pretty high, but I can maintain my pace without too much trouble.
  • nphect
    nphect Posts: 474
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    Oh okay haha. I normally just take it for 10 seconds every 5 minutes or so, then multiply it by 6 and average it out after.

    I wasn't going that fast since I was walking/running, my heart rate just shoots up whenever I run. I haven't run in awhile (hence the walking), but even when I'm used to it my heart rate's still pretty high, but I can maintain my pace without too much trouble.

    if your running/walking then no its not accurate.
  • filming_ghosts
    filming_ghosts Posts: 81
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    My pulse went up to about 190 while running, then it was around 170 while walking (I did short walking intervals, so my heart rate stayed up), so I averaged it out to 180.

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