Help! Frustration with HRM

Options
Alita2011
Alita2011 Posts: 265 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all,

I have a Polar F4 HRM that I wear to the gym. Recently I have only used the treadmill walking at 4 for 5 minutes and running at 4.5 for 2 minutes for a total of 45 minutes. My HRM calculates my calorie burn at about 700. I don't think this is correct. I only log about 316 which is the # MFP gives. I am 183, 5ft 5in. I also wore it for a couple days just to estimate calorie burn on the first day is was about 3000 calories (lol) and the other days was in between 1900-2500.

Question: Is there a way I can reset it? For the money spent I need this thing to work....

I know some believe I shouldn't use HRM to track calories burned but I have no idea what else to use. Please give me any help you can

Thanks in advance!!!!

Replies

  • Deweypc20
    Deweypc20 Posts: 68 Member
    Options
    Does the treadmill not calculate calories for you? Most will as long as you put in your weight.
  • kicklikeaGIRL
    kicklikeaGIRL Posts: 867 Member
    Options
    That is so odd, I also have a Polar F4 and mine went whacky a few weeks ago, but that was because I wasn't wearing the transmitter in the correct spot. Are you making sure the transmitter is in the correct place and that the little black heart is blinking? It could be that the transmitter is getting intercepted by something--another person wearing a HRM?

    I also use my HRM to help me calculate calories. I don't think of it as being 100% accurate, but I think it definitely helps compared to being in the dark. I do think there is a way to reset it, do you have the manual? If not, I think Polar has a PDF version of the manual online. just google it and you should find it on the Polar website. I'm sorry I'm not much help....but I hope you find out what is going on! I would be mega frustrated with my little Polar if he started pulling that stuff on me!!

    Also, did you insert all of the settings correcty? The weight/height/age/sex?
  • abatres7
    abatres7 Posts: 146
    Options
    Heart rate monitors can have some interference from others using them near you or from the machines. Check the user manual as to what can be done to minimize interference. I know mine said something like wear it on the other wrist and it also mentions that unusual readings come from interference.
  • Iceprincessk25
    Iceprincessk25 Posts: 1,888 Member
    Options
    Does the treadmill not calculate calories for you? Most will as long as you put in your weight.

    Sure they do but they are very inaccurate.
  • lt_mrcook
    lt_mrcook Posts: 389 Member
    Options
    That sounds like interference. Even the higher end Polar HRMs with the supposed code specific signal, only reduce the amount of interference. Do your work, and use this sites numbers. You can double check here: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc.

    Underestimating isn't a bad thing, since then you'll have burned more than you planned. The major thing is if you look at something (anything from HRM data, to food data, to your Dr's recommended treatment) and your brain instantly asks "WTF?" you should check around and make sure what you're seeing is legit.
  • kicklikeaGIRL
    kicklikeaGIRL Posts: 867 Member
    Options
    Does the treadmill not calculate calories for you? Most will as long as you put in your weight.

    Sure they do but they are very inaccurate.

    Some treadmills are more accurate-- that is, if the treadmill has a "Polar" symbol/logo on the treadmill. I was kind of excited when I made this discovery. If I wear my Polar transmitter belt on mychest, and enter in my stats on the treadmill. The treadmill will pick up my Heart Rate transmitter. Then I will usually compare what the treadmill says and what my wristwatch says. Kind of cool and I didn't realize that some treadmills could do that until I saw mine blinking the exact same Heart Rate as my watch. Sometimes the calories burned are pretty close, othertimes it is off 50-100 calories. I typically go with the lesser of the values, just to be safe. But, if that watch starts to get irritating and the treadmill has a Polar sensor, you can use your transmitter belt and still get some pretty accurate (well, accurate in comparison to your wrist watch) numbers.
  • Iceprincessk25
    Iceprincessk25 Posts: 1,888 Member
    Options
    THe treadmills I use (proform) are always WAAAAAAY off from what my HRM says so I just stick with that.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    Options
    Polar F4's are uncoded, thus not really the best options for a public gym with other HRM's in it. Basically F4's will pick up the first signal it hears, if there is more than one HRM around it, it will record other, and sometimes all of the heartbeats that it "hears". thus if your heart rate is say 135 BPM, and someone next to you has a heart rate of 120 BPM, the F4 could conceivably read a heart rate of 255 BPM (yikes!)
  • sportsqueen32
    sportsqueen32 Posts: 115
    Options
    I can vouch for the treadmill being most accurate and to the Polar being pretty precise. While working out tlast week on the treadmill I thought I would use my iphone to get my music (I ususally use my i-pod) and then just log my results on MFP immediately after instead of trying to remember the totals while I went up 3 flights of stairs to my apt. Well after 30 seconds of each song the iphone would move to the next, so i kept jumping off the treadmill to the side rails. As I was trying to fix the glitch I noticed that even with me off of it, it was still calculating my calories burned. Basically according to the treadmill I burned 6 calories that I didn't even workout to, and this was at the warm up stage of the workout.
    Now for the Polar HRM, my fiance wears his Polar F4) when he works out and when he went on the same said treadmill the difference was 100 calories which seemed a lot more accurate since he is 6'2 and weighs somewhere in the 240-250 range ( he won't tell me). When he uses the elliptical he burns between 450-500 calories in 1/2 hr. Again seeming pretty accurate as the machine had him at 300-350. I ordered my Polar F6 last week and I swore I wasn't going to exercise until it comes in the mail. I am not going to workout and not know what I truly burn.
    I definitely agree with another poster that you have to make sure your transmitter is in the correct position, and I hope our don't interfere with each other while working out together, although the 2 machines are across the room from each other.

    Hurry Mr. Postperson I need my HRM!!!!!!!
  • acakeforawife
    acakeforawife Posts: 207
    Options
    I'm not familiar with the F4 model, but I do have the F6 which is pretty similar, I think. Does yours allow you to input your resting heart rate and V02 max? If so, make sure those numbers are correct. An overly high calorie burn can be caused by having your V02 max set higher than it should be. (If you don't know yours, I think the 'average' is 34. But you can often test yours on some pieces of gym equipment, or google ways to do it on your own.)

    This is probably totally 'duh' but double check the rest of your settings as well, like height, weight, gender.

    Hope that helps!
  • Alita2011
    Alita2011 Posts: 265 Member
    Options
    Wow you guys are so much help....I go to the gym at 4am so I am the only one there So I am not really sure about it picking up other heart rate. I really appreciate the input!!!
  • AwMyLoLo
    AwMyLoLo Posts: 1,571 Member
    Options
    bump... so confused. :ohwell:
  • thumper44
    thumper44 Posts: 1,464 Member
    Options
    I'm not familiar with the F4 model, but I do have the F6 which is pretty similar, I think. Does yours allow you to input your resting heart rate and V02 max? If so, make sure those numbers are correct. An overly high calorie burn can be caused by having your V02 max set higher than it should be. (If you don't know yours, I think the 'average' is 34. But you can often test yours on some pieces of gym equipment, or google ways to do it on your own.)

    This is probably totally 'duh' but double check the rest of your settings as well, like height, weight, gender.

    Hope that helps!
    X2
    make sure, age, weight, and height, but one important thing to have set is your resting heart rate.

    If your resting heart rate is 60, and you workout at 140-160 that's 80-100 hb/m difference.
    If your resting heart rate is 85, and you workout at 140-160 that's 55-75 hb/m difference.

    The difference is part of the calculation for calorie burn.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    Does the treadmill not calculate calories for you? Most will as long as you put in your weight.

    Sure they do but they are very inaccurate.

    Some treadmills are more accurate-- that is, if the treadmill has a "Polar" symbol/logo on the treadmill. I was kind of excited when I made this discovery. If I wear my Polar transmitter belt on mychest, and enter in my stats on the treadmill. The treadmill will pick up my Heart Rate transmitter. Then I will usually compare what the treadmill says and what my wristwatch says. Kind of cool and I didn't realize that some treadmills could do that until I saw mine blinking the exact same Heart Rate as my watch. Sometimes the calories burned are pretty close, othertimes it is off 50-100 calories. I typically go with the lesser of the values, just to be safe. But, if that watch starts to get irritating and the treadmill has a Polar sensor, you can use your transmitter belt and still get some pretty accurate (well, accurate in comparison to your wrist watch) numbers.

    Just an aside--the presence of a Polar receiver in an exercise machine has absolutely nothing to do with the calorie calculations or display.

    Pieces that are "Polar compatible" have a Polar receiver module that plugs into the display controller board. It is a Polar manufactured piece that is the same for every piece of equipment. All it does is capture the HR signal from the transmitter and display it on the screen. Whatever calculations the TM or other machine performs to display calories are completely independent of the both the Polar receiver and your HR. Those calculations are based on body weight (either a reference weight or one you input) and intensity.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    I'm not familiar with the F4 model, but I do have the F6 which is pretty similar, I think. Does yours allow you to input your resting heart rate and V02 max? If so, make sure those numbers are correct. An overly high calorie burn can be caused by having your V02 max set higher than it should be. (If you don't know yours, I think the 'average' is 34. But you can often test yours on some pieces of gym equipment, or google ways to do it on your own.)

    This is probably totally 'duh' but double check the rest of your settings as well, like height, weight, gender.

    Hope that helps!

    Good suggestions. Someone posted here once that they discovered their Polar was set up for metric scale rather than english, so when they put in 150 lbs, it was actually reading 150 KILOGRAMS.
  • firepixie
    firepixie Posts: 65
    Options
    I have an F4 and it started reading a really high calorie burn (like double) when my battery started to die.
  • Magenta15
    Magenta15 Posts: 850 Member
    Options
    tagging to read later... still learning about my f6 :)

Categories