Question about Heart Rate Monitor

KyliAnne26

Hey guys,

Today was my first day using my HRM and I loved it! (Polar ft4) but I have a quick question. This morning I did circuit training for about 26 minutes. I sweat pretty well, but didn't kill myself or anything. It said I burned 265 cals total. Does my HRM take into account the calories I would have already been burning just standing there? Or are the training cals mixed with the BMR cals? I guess what I'm asking is should I eat back all 265, or should I find out my BMR cals burned for that time and subtract?

Thanks!!

NavyMommy

I have one too that I love. From my understanding it doesn't take into account the calories you would have burned by just breathing, so the estimate is probably a little high if you're just looking at exercise calories, since you're right you would have burned those anyways. For only a 30 minute workout though I wouldn't worry to much about it because it's not significant enough to really affect things.

phjorg

it depends, but normally HRM's include your BMR. Which is 2-3cal/min.

judychicken

bump

mljacobs23

My interpretation was that it doesn't take BMR into consideration. I use this calculator to make the adjustment http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx

I actually use the same website to calculate calories burned based on my average heartrate as registered by my HR monitor . I love my polar monitor but the numbers always seem a little high to me, probably related to my resting heart rate being high. I figure that using my average heart rate gives me some wiggle room for error. So far that's been working for me in terms of eating back calories and still losing weight.

All of this is my personal rationalization and probably has no basis in reality

KyliAnne26

Thanks for the input guys! I'll aim to just subtract 2-3 cals per minute from whatever I burn and I'll check out that calculator too! Appreciate your help!

lovesweetlove

it depends, but normally HRM's include your BMR. Which is 2-3cal/min.

Yep, that's why you enter all your info in during the initial setup. I love my Polar! Best investment ever. Maybe you could ask the company you bought your HRM from or Polar directly to clarify.

heathercarver96

I was going to post a similar question. Except I have a Timex with a chest band. (Probably 7 years old) I just did 30 Day Shred and it registered me as burning 410 calories in 28 minutes, which is extremely inaccurate! I did use the shapesense website that was recommended with my average heart rate and that is more accurate.

Question: Would y'all recommend the Polar HRM over a Timex?

BeLightYear

I was going to post a similar question. Except I have a Timex with a chest band. (Probably 7 years old) I just did 30 Day Shred and it registered me as burning 410 calories in 28 minutes, which is extremely inaccurate! I did use the shapesense website that was recommended with my average heart rate and that is more accurate.

Question: Would y'all recommend the Polar HRM over a Timex?

YES, Timex is really, totally, completely inaccurate, usually twice your actual burn!

erickirb

Yes all HRM's include total calories burned. So to be more accurate you would have to find out maintenance cals and back those out for the duration of the workout.

That said cals burned according to a HRM is just an estimate, and you may burn more or less than it suggests, so the cals burned at rest may just be part of the margin of error anyway.

timpicks

I was going to post a similar question. Except I have a Timex with a chest band. (Probably 7 years old) I just did 30 Day Shred and it registered me as burning 410 calories in 28 minutes, which is extremely inaccurate! I did use the shapesense website that was recommended with my average heart rate and that is more accurate.

Question: Would y'all recommend the Polar HRM over a Timex?

YES, Timex is really, totally, completely inaccurate, usually twice your actual burn!

I have a Timex and think it is about 50% high on cals burned (for men at least). So yeah, it's totally unreliable and the Polar I had before was better.

erickirb

it depends, but normally HRM's include your BMR. Which is 2-3cal/min.

Yep, that's why you enter all your info in during the initial setup. I love my Polar! Best investment ever. Maybe you could ask the company you bought your HRM from or Polar directly to clarify.

Usually maintenance burns or 1.25 to 2 cals/minute (not usually as high as 3 that would mean you burn 4320 cal/day at rest) To see your maintenance cals go to goals and look at cals burned from normal daily activity.

phjorg

it depends, but normally HRM's include your BMR. Which is 2-3cal/min.

Yep, that's why you enter all your info in during the initial setup. I love my Polar! Best investment ever. Maybe you could ask the company you bought your HRM from or Polar directly to clarify.

Usually maintenance burns or 1.25 to 2 cals/minute (not usually as high as 3 that would mean you burn 4320 cal/day at rest) To see your maintenance cals go to goals and look at cals burned from normal daily activity.

while sleeping it's less than 1. While standing it can reach 3. You can't just take 3 and multiply by 24 hours....

phjorg

My interpretation was that it doesn't take BMR into consideration. I use this calculator to make the adjustment http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx

I actually use the same website to calculate calories burned based on my average heartrate as registered by my HR monitor . I love my polar monitor but the numbers always seem a little high to me, probably related to my resting heart rate being high. I figure that using my average heart rate gives me some wiggle room for error. So far that's been working for me in terms of eating back calories and still losing weight.

All of this is my personal rationalization and probably has no basis in reality

if it doesn't take BMR into consideration, then your HRM calculation for bumming around doing nothing should read 0 calories burn/hour. does it do this?

KBmoments

I"m not sure...but I have a Polar HRM and I love it. I know nothing is 100% accurate so I just take my total calories burned and deduct about 15%. The HRM definitely shows that the numbers on the machines were over estimating! I still take into account that the HRM isn't error proof, hence the deduction... That way, I'm pretty sure I will not be eating back 'unburned' calories. Working great so far! Down 6 lbs in 6 weeks.

Cheddars13

Bump! This is really helpful, I have the Polar FT4 aswell and wondered how accurate the calorie burns were. Normally it says I've burned nearly double what the machines say :ohwell:

congruns

I was concerned about this issue regarding net calories and rand some test. When I run for an hour, I burn about 700-800 calories. I wore my Polar FT7 to work one day, which included mostly desk jockey, walking leisurely around, and 1 hour of driving. In the 10 hours, I averaged 75 calories per hour. I wanted to test it out over 24 hours when I was sick knowing I wouldn't be doing much, but I couldn't the chest strap to stay on while sleeping. The beeps would wake me out.

I gave up thinking about next calories over BMR for all activities in a 24 hour period. I can't wait until July when my emphasis will be to not focus on numbers at all. No weighing, no measuring distances, no timing on runs, just go out and enjoy the world. This is in contrast to my weight loss success because most of the success was due to alot of number crunching and calorie counting. Right now, it is hard enough to keep the chest strap on because the tighter I make it, the lower it wants to go.