Quick HRM question

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ililexy
ililexy Posts: 9
in Fitness and Exercise
I just bought New Balance N4 HRM and love it! I just have a question though. I have a feeling it's over estimating the calories burned. I am 30 years old, 5,2 height and108 lbs. The hrm tells me I burn about 215 calories for 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Does that sound quite high? My heart rate is between 155-180 whilst working out.(resting is about 80) Or now I was just shovelling snow for 80 minutes and it said I burned 405 calories. I want to make sure I am not eating back too many calories as I seem to be stuck on the last couple of lbs that I would like to lose. I decided to wear the hrm just now whlst on the computer sitting here and it said I burned 120 per hour!!! Do I need to deduct those from my calorie burn per hour? Or does mfp already do that?
Thanks!

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  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
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    First of all, most HRMs are calibrated for steady aerobic activity like running, rowing, cross country skiing, and an elliptical trainer (they tend to exaggerate a lot for cycling), so they will be dramatically off for activities like sitting, sleeping, watching TV, weight lifting, and almost anything else that is not aerobic activity.

    The major determining factor of calorie burn is how hard you are working. Your heart rate might be 150, but if you are only moving at 2 mph, that won't burn many calories. If you are going at 6 mph, you will burn more. If you are going 8 mph, you will burn a lot (probably more of an interval workout, but some people can go that fast as a steady state). Your heart monitor just tries to guess at how hard you are working based on your heart rate.

    For a full body workout like an elliptical (assuming is has arm movement as well), I would not say 215 calories over 30 minutes (about 7 calories per minute) sounds high at all.
  • ililexy
    ililexy Posts: 9
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    Thanks for the reply! Glad that the calorie burn sounds about right. On the elliptical it says I am going 9mph, I just have it on the lowest resistance as it's a magnetic manual one (http://www.amazon.com/Exerpeutic-1000Xl-Heavy-Magnetic-Ellipticals/dp/B005OU4E62) It feels like a fast jog and I work up quite a sweat.
    I find that the calorie burn the hrm says matches almost perfectly with what mfp says so I guess I will go with it!

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