How many calories do we normally burn in a day?

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Diamondmortiz
Diamondmortiz Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have been wearing a heart rate monitor for 4 hours and it says I have burned 2798 calories...do you think this is correct? I am an admin so I sit for most of my day but I do get up and move. I workout 5-6 times a week, 3 days lifting (Stronglift 5x5), 3 days cardio/circuit training...do you think my metabolism went up or is there a flaw in the heart monitor.
I am 25
Weight 126
Goal 116
Height 5
(Idk if that helps but figured I would put it down)

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  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    It varies for everyone. What kind of HRM were you wearing all day? It is my understanding that the basic, watch/chest strap models are only good for exercise, not so accurate for wearing and counting all day long. For that you need something like a FitBit or BodyBugg.

    I use this thread, and the tools linked there, to calculate my BMR and TDEE (all day long calories), and am having great success: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • eyeshuh
    eyeshuh Posts: 333
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    That's for four hours without exercise? I doubt that's right. I am 27 and I weigh 122lbs at 5'3". I just got a Fitbit and I had to try suuuuuuuuuper hard yesterday to get to 1800 calories burned over an 8 hour day where I have a stand up job that included me going and running up and down stairs as often as I could step away and lots of walking.

    Heart rate monitors aren't meant for all day use. You usually just put them on to track exercise calories.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    A HRM is not going to be all that accurate for anything other than actual aerobic exercise...can't go into all of the details, but basically has to do with VO2 max and a bunch of other gobilly goo I don't feel like going into right now. If you want a more accurate measure of your daily calories from just doing whatever then a BodyBugg or FitBit would be the way to go. HRMs are for aerobic/endurance training and properly setting zone goals to train properly...and yes, they tell you how many calories you burn doing that particular aerobic activity.
  • steph1278
    steph1278 Posts: 483 Member
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    I'm 5'11" 215.8 pounds and burn between 2700-3000 calories in an entire day including exercise so I highly doubt you burned that many in 4 hours being pretty sedentary. Standard hrm's are not meant to worn for anything other than exercise. I have a Body Media Fit.
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Dont wear your HRM to see how many calories you burn unless it is a fitbit or bodymedia.

    A normal HRM is only meant to be used for when you are exercising at an elevated HR. They are not accurate for daily burns. There is no way you are burning almos 3000 cals in four hours. At your weight, depending on how active you are, you probably don't even burn that in 24 hours.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    Yeah, they are not meant to be used for total energy expenditure. They are for aerobic/heart rate increased exercise.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

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