HRM question on net calories (Math question)

A_Valerie
A_Valerie Posts: 129 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Example: My HRM reads that I burned 400 calories in a 1 hour workout and my BMR is 1560/day (ie 65/hr)
Shouldn't I really record my calories burned as 335? (400-65)
I am already accounting for 65 of those calories in my calorie allotment for the day.
And if i am eating back my calories I could be miscalculating my deficit.

Note: I am just speaking straight numbers here because everyone has their diary set differently. Some of you let MFP calculate your deficit and some of you don't etc.

Note 2: If you don't use HRM or don't agree with them, well that is fine, but I am not asking if you believe in HRMs or not.

I am just looking for a sanity check here. thanks in advance for your constructive opinions/advice.

Replies

  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Some people do, some people don't.

    Think about it from the big picture... it's 65 cals in the face of day full of estimations and assumptions. We estimate portion sizes, we estimate cals eaten, we estimate workout length, we estimate workout intensity, we estimate cals burned. 65 cals in the face of all that is nothing (IMO), so I say it's not necessary to worry about.

    However, some people want/need to be THAT exact, so they do remove those cals for the estimated burn before logging.

    It's largely personal preference.
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 627 Member
    Some people do, some people don't.

    Think about it from the big picture... it's 65 cals in the face of day full of estimations and assumptions. We estimate portion sizes, we estimate cals eaten, we estimate workout length, we estimate workout intensity, we estimate cals burned. 65 cals in the face of all that is nothing (IMO), so I say it's not necessary to worry about.

    However, some people want/need to be THAT exact, so they do remove those cals for the estimated burn before logging.

    It's largely personal preference.

    ^^ This. I actually caught myself wondering the same question since as the HRM is logging, it is also taking into effect my BMR. Then I thought about it and came with the above posters conclusion, that nit picking that much is pointless as its all careful guesswork anyway.
  • photojunkie28
    photojunkie28 Posts: 292
    I'm glad i'm not the only one who has considered this numbers predicament. In the grand scheme of things its really not a big deal BUT it is enough to make a difference. It's a choice of how accurate you truely want to be or how flexible you would like to be.

    Personally, I have an HRM and when I log my calories burned for an hour workout I subtract 75 calories from it to account for things such as BMR. However, I often get up in the middle of the night and have a bite of something out of the cupboard that doesnt get logged so its just a matter of picking a choosing I think. Do what works for you. :)
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Yes, if you want to be "more" accurate, subtract your BMR. I didn't used to, but I recently started subtracting it. Because everything is estimation already, I wanted to be as accurate as I could be, even though it's a minor amount of calories. Every little bit of accuracy helps.
  • ksavy
    ksavy Posts: 271 Member
    I have always calculated the net calories burned rather than the gross amount. I like to try and be as exact as possible when I use my HRM.
  • furby1
    furby1 Posts: 114 Member
    As you're using a HRM it hopefully is fairly accurate with the number of cals you have actually used in an hour. I do not eat back my BMR because I do want to be as accurate as possible and I exercise every day.

    The people I do worry about are those who do not have a HRM and are using MFP's exercise cals or their own exercise equipment cals..... My HRM shows I normally use about 360 cals for 60 mins on the exercise bike, the bike shows that as being 1980 cals and MFP as it being 681.....if i was to use MFP cals I would be over eating by 321 cals for every hours exercise!
  • dogacreek
    dogacreek Posts: 289 Member
    I use to logged the total amount of calories burned, but changed about two months ago. I now log the number of calories burned in the Fat Zone, per my Polar download. After all, that is my target. It may or may not be correct, but that's what I'm doing.
  • mcrowe1016
    mcrowe1016 Posts: 647 Member
    I always take net calories, though lately I have been avoiding eating more than 50% of my exercise calories back so it doesn't really matter as much for me anymore.

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