Help! If my HRM says I burn....

maurierose

I have a Polar F11. If it says I burn 2900 cals in 24 hours on an exercise day... should I believe that? I've tested it several times, and average between 2800 and 3000 cals in 24 hours when I bike 8 miles on my stationary bike during that time period......

How many calories should I be eating on those days? I am trying to lose a pound a week (would love to lose two, but that just *feels* too aggressive at the moment).... 2900 - 500 = 2400 total to be eaten on an exercise day? That sounds like a LOT. I'm about 35 pounds away from my goal weight, if that helps....

Thanks in advance!

:flowerforyou:

farmgirlh

Have you tried it on a day that you don't exercise? That just sounds really high to me.

vhuber

You need to realize that your body will burn 1000 to 1500 just to exist per day and that is without exercising!

Azdak

HRMs are not intended to be used to monitor all-day calorie expenditure. There is no reliability in those numbers.

maurierose

Thanks for the responses! That sounds high to me too. Yes, I've tried wearing it 24 hours on a non-exercise day, and burn an average of 2200 -2400 cals on those days. Funny thing is, my hour or so of exercise only *technically* adds 350-500 cals burned, depending on my intensity and interruptions, with starting my HRM at the beginning of my ride and stopping it at the end.... so sometimes even those numbers don't add up to what I'm getting in a 24 hour period of constant wear....

Adzak, sounds like I need to change my way of thinking a bit, then.....


Sooo.... what's the best way to count what I'm actually doing activity-wise and determine my calorie intake? Should I just use basic MFP settings + eat exercise calories, not eat exercise calories, or do I need to tweak things a little? I have my activity level as the second-up (don't remember what it "officially" says, but it's the one above sedentary). I'm an at-home wife and mama, up and down stairs quite a few times a day, laundry, dishes, vacuuming here and there, playing with a 3 yr old, etc. I've read so many of the "sticky" posts, opinions, etc, but somehow it's harder to determine things for *me*. :laugh: Maybe I'm overthinking this process?

When I started exercising several weeks ago (bought a stationary bike, no more excuses for me!), my weight loss slowed to an almost complete standstill - it's finally moving in the right direction again, but I'm really curious how to figure out my "magic number" of calories that I should be eating.

I'm finding it difficult to stick with 1250 calories, so I bumped mine up to 1500. I can handle losing at a slightly slower pace, and not feel starving and cranky while I do it. Last summer it wasn't so hard..... for some reason, this spring I'm finding it more challenging to stick to those levels. Not sure what that's all about.... but there it is. :huh:

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I'm soooo confused..... :noway: :happy: