Calories burned with a HRM

Turtle003
Turtle003 Posts: 133 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have the Polar FT60 and LOVE IT!! I think the chest strap gives a more accurate reading from all the reviews I have read. One question to anyone who uses the HRM - how much do you trust the calories burned? I programmed mine and when I work out I stay at a heart rate in zone 3 for most of my workout (about 160 - 172bpm). My resting heart rate is about 40-42bpm. At the end of my runs I am reading I burn on average 680 - 800 calories depending on lenth of run. My long runs I can burn up to 1300 calories. This seems a lot to me and I am still not losing weight. I think I am eating too many calories by eating my exercise calories... Does anyone else think their HRM may not be accurate??

Replies

  • aliciagudino
    aliciagudino Posts: 59 Member
    I have the FT4 and I always wondered the same....I will do a walk/jog for about an hour and it says I usually burn about 600-700. Doing my work out videos and such, I find that to be pretty accurate, since it is not too far off from what MFP and other websites say I should be burning. But just to be on the safe side, I never eat back all of my exercise calories, mainly for that reason...I'm just not positive if the count is accurate so I want to leave some room just in case! You might want to try eating back most of your cals, but not all of them, since you are not losing weight. I try to switch things up if I get stuck. Good luck!
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    For one, you only have 13 pounds to lose.. so any loss is going to be slow.. super slow. So make sure your deficit is pretty small(between 250-500 calories per day).

    Second, The Polar FT60 is one of the most accurate HRM's you can get because it allows you to input Vo2Max. While it may not be 100% accurate(no device that estimates calories burned is) it's going to be about 80-90% accurate depending on what exercise you are doing. Since you are using it for running, and HRM's are made to be used during steady state cardio(which running is) it's going to be pretty accurate.

    I just started running with my FT60 and I tend to burn between 300-400 calories a run.. but I also don't go very far or very fast yet.
  • Turtle003
    Turtle003 Posts: 133 Member
    What do you mean by my deficit of 200-250 calories?
  • sandrajune72
    sandrajune72 Posts: 492 Member
    I don't know if it's entirely accurate (I have the polar FT4) but I go by it anyway. The way I see it is nothing is gonna be as close right? :huh:
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    What do you mean by my deficit of 200-250 calories?

    I mean set your deficit to a pound or half a pound week loss.

    To lose a pound of weight over the course of week, you need a deficit of 3500.. which 500 calories less a day accomplishes since 500X7=3500. To lose half a pound of weight a week, you need a deficit of 1750.. which 250 calories less a day accomplishes since 250X7=1750.

    Some people who don't have a lot to lose, try to go the two pound a week loss route(IE a deficit of 1,000 calories a day, since two pounds a week equates to 7,000 calories) and then wonder why they don't lose... and it's simply because their body is already pretty lean, and doesn't have a lot fat to use as fuel.
  • ash190489
    ash190489 Posts: 587 Member
    Hi there,

    That sounds like a lot of calories to me too. When I do a run/interval training for an hour, I usually burn approx 400 -500 cals per hour.. but everyone is different, I used to burn more when I had more weight to lose.

    It's probably pretty closer to being accurate, however if I was burning high calories like you are, I wouldn't be eating them back - at least not all of them. That's a LOT more food. Just in case it's not as accurate as you first thought, be on the safer side and only eat half or a quarter of them back (if any). See how it works for your own body.

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