Diff. b/w equipment with HRM cal burn and personal HRM burn

squeakyfish
squeakyfish Posts: 109 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I did 30 minutes on the eliptical today. It was the first time I'd tried it with my new HRM. To my surprise the machine also read it. I checked several times and the HR shown on the machine and the HR shown on my monitor were the same. Both the machine and my personal HRM had age and weight entered, however; when I finished my workout, there was a 60 calorie difference between what the machine said I burned and my personal HRM.

Why would there be a difference since both the machine and my HRM were using the same data. Does the machine use a different algorithm? It's not a big deal since I'm going by my HRM (which was the lower of the two), but I'm very curious.

Replies

  • Campincatfish
    Campincatfish Posts: 3 Member
    I would love to know the answer to this as well!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Calorie burn is determined by math algorithms in the machine and your HRM. They probably are using different math giving different results. I'd go with your HRM for convenience.
  • SpringFever19
    SpringFever19 Posts: 180 Member
    I can tell you for myself, consistently, my calories burned is always higher on my HRM (Polar) than on the treadmill, and always lower on my HRM than on the elliptical. I know I certainly work harder on the treadmill, so I always believe the elliptical is overestimating the calories burned.
  • jkestens63
    jkestens63 Posts: 1,164 Member
    I have no idea why. You are lucky..the difference between my Hrm & most cardio equipment is usually at least 200 calories.
  • squeakyfish
    squeakyfish Posts: 109 Member
    I realized that the only difference was that my HRM knows I'm female whereas the machine never asks. Either way, today's workout reinforced that I find the elliptical super-boring and would much rather do a class instead! Thanks for the input.

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