Does the HRM account for your BMR?

downsizinghoss
downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does your typical HRM (Polar FT7 in this case) take into account your BMR over long workouts?

I did about a 5 hour outdoor project today and for giggles wore my HRM.

For the sake of simple math, let's say my BMR was 2400 per day. So 100 cal on avg per hour would be burned if I lounged in the grass.

If you do some extended exercise, sort of like 5 hours worth, is that 500 accounted for already by the HRM? Or should I reduce the amount I log by 500?

I don't plan on eating them back, but just wondered about it for the sake of anal retentive tracking.

Replies

  • Tw1zzler
    Tw1zzler Posts: 583
    That's too much math... I think different HRMs use different algorithms to calculate calorie burn. It should take BMR in to account otherwise you'd have to adjust each workout. It should adjust for your personal user data that you used when you set up your watch.
  • neurochamp
    neurochamp Posts: 261 Member
    Typically, no - as far as I am aware HRMs do not account for your BMR. My BMR amounts to about 80 calories/hour of sitting around, so if I do a workout that takes an hour, I subtract 80 calories from my burn (according to my HRM) before I log it.

    For instance, I lifted for an hour this morning, and my HRM calculated 486 calories burned. I logged it as 406. Then I eat at least *most* of those 406 back during the day.

    ETA: HRMs are set up to your personal stats, but most are not accurate at low/resting heart rates (so you've personalized it for your *max* heart rate and effort level, etc., but that doesn't mean it's calibrated to account for your BMR). At least that's what I work with - I figure logging my workouts with the more conservative number makes it less likely that I'm going to accidentally overshoot my calorie goal by a huge number.

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