I KNEW I was burning more than that!

fiendiish
fiendiish Posts: 186
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I've been logging my walks on the trail everyday as walking 3.0 or 3.5 for 45-50 min which gives me a calorie burn of 304ish. I took my brand spanking new hrm with me today and sure enough...it says I burned off 492 calories! Average hr of 143. Which ALSO means I haven't been eating enough on some..if not most...days.

Moral of the story: Purchase an HRM as soon as you can manage it. I'm so glad I did.

Replies

  • fiendiish
    fiendiish Posts: 186
    Crap. Sorry...didn't mean to put this in Food and Nutrition LOL! :blushing:
  • xarrium
    xarrium Posts: 432 Member
    What brand do you have? I'd really like to get one, but I don't want to spend that kind of money on something that doesn't work very well or has a short lifespan...
  • fiendiish
    fiendiish Posts: 186
    What brand do you have? I'd really like to get one, but I don't want to spend that kind of money on something that doesn't work very well or has a short lifespan...

    I bought a Polar F6. It came HIGHLY recommended from some of the ladies and gents on this board. :) I LOVE IT!

    They are currently about $80ish right now at Amazon and Sears.
  • Yurippe
    Yurippe Posts: 850 Member
    Did you subtract the calories you would have burned in the same time period just sitting on your couch?
  • NikkiDerrig386
    NikkiDerrig386 Posts: 1,096 Member
    Polar is the best!
  • joneswife09
    joneswife09 Posts: 207 Member
    That makes a lot of sense. I have noticed that the calorie tracker on here subtracts the number of calories burned from sitting from the number of calories burned with whatever exercise you replace it with. Good Point! Made it pretty accurate. You might want to do the math and see if it doesn't put you closer to the calorie tracker.
    Did you subtract the calories you would have burned in the same time period just sitting on your couch?
  • fiendiish
    fiendiish Posts: 186
    That makes a lot of sense. I have noticed that the calorie tracker on here subtracts the number of calories burned from sitting from the number of calories burned with whatever exercise you replace it with. Good Point! Made it pretty accurate. You might want to do the math and see if it doesn't put you closer to the calorie tracker.
    Did you subtract the calories you would have burned in the same time period just sitting on your couch?

    It doesn't. I would burn appx 60-70 cals per hour so even subtracting that I burned well over 100 cals more than MFP says I have.

    My brother...(a huge fitness nut) told me subtracting your BMR is unnecessary because our bodies burn unevenly throughout the day and an hourly sedentary burn is within the margin of error anyway. He said our BMRs can drastically change for any given day.
  • mlally1014
    mlally1014 Posts: 119 Member
    I too just got an HRM this past week, I was shocked to see the calorie burn. I ran a little over 5 miles friday and my HRM said I burned around 1100 caloried. My average HR was 168 and peaked at 186. WOW! I was completely shocked. Happy, but shocked! If that is the case I really should have been eating alot more for the past 2 months. I hope that this is what caused me to stop losing. Hope to jump start it with a little extra calories.
  • Yurippe
    Yurippe Posts: 850 Member
    That makes a lot of sense. I have noticed that the calorie tracker on here subtracts the number of calories burned from sitting from the number of calories burned with whatever exercise you replace it with. Good Point! Made it pretty accurate. You might want to do the math and see if it doesn't put you closer to the calorie tracker.
    Did you subtract the calories you would have burned in the same time period just sitting on your couch?

    It doesn't. I would burn appx 60-70 cals per hour so even subtracting that I burned well over 100 cals more than MFP says I have.

    My brother...(a huge fitness nut) told me subtracting your BMR is unnecessary because our bodies burn unevenly throughout the day and an hourly sedentary burn is within the margin of error anyway. He said our BMRs can drastically change for any given day.

    It scares me a bit to not subtract them. I burn 100 calories an hour doing nothing. If I work out for an hour take what my HRM says then eat back all my exercise calories I could be overeatting by 100 calories. I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than it is.
  • wicca50
    wicca50 Posts: 4
    The polar is the best!! It helped me alot!
  • xarrium
    xarrium Posts: 432 Member
    Polar F6--duly noted. I've been reading that they have an "F4" model that has a thinner wristband and fewer features, so I'll check 'em both out when I get the chance.

    I think, with respect to the whole calorie subtraction thing, that heart rate itself needs to be considered... if you can do a 45-minute walk at 4.5mph and barely break a sweat (like some of my friends), your heart rate is going to be much lower than the heart rate of someone like myself, who has minimal cardio fitness. Following that logic, I'd burn more (net) calories on the same walk as my friend (who probably also has a higher BMR, making the difference in net cals even greater). I wonder at what point this difference becomes significant...
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