THE POLAR HRM VS. THE MACHINE (AND MFP) CALORIE COUNTERS

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dallas4u
dallas4u Posts: 57
in Fitness and Exercise
I bought a Polar FT4 HRM. It is very basic and just gives me my HR and total calories burned. I entered all my settings (age 42, 4'11 and 161 lbs yikes!). I bought it because I was not losing weight. I was relying on the calories displayed on MFP and the Precor. Then, I was probably overeating my calories based upon those calorie counts.

I am amazed and actually pretty shocked at the reading from the HRM on the total calories that I burned today:

CXWorks - HRM said 110 calories (Les Mills Site and Instructors previously claimed that class burned up to 500 calories).

PreCor Elliptical 60 Minutes - HRM said 375 calories. Machine said 650 calories burned (note that the machine does read my HRM strap so the HRM on the machine and on my watch did match).

I felt the same amount of exertion and effort that I did prior to wearing the HRM. I am just so shocked at how low the HRM calories compared to readings on the machine and claims on the Les Mills site.

I am unsure which numbers to trust.
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Replies

  • KirstenTheFamilyCoach
    KirstenTheFamilyCoach Posts: 327 Member
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    trust your chest strap. I found the exact same things when I got mine and WOW what a difference it has made once I knew how much I was actually burning versus what I thought I was!
  • supercrushh
    supercrushh Posts: 3
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    You trust your HRM. It takes into consideration your age, gender and heart rate AS WELL AS your weight. I used to run on the treadmill and burn "755" calories when in reality, as per my HRM, I burn 482. Sucks, yep, but at least you know now.

    So trust your HRM. Eat calories according to your HRM, and if you are still hungry and worry your HRM may be underestimating, have a healthy snack :)))) But yes. More people need to understand/know that more often than not machines are tuned to an average MALE, and males burn more than females.
  • sardesc
    sardesc Posts: 34 Member
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    Trust your HRM with the chest strap. My recumbent bike says I burn three times the calories that I do according to my Suunto M4 HRM. MFP almost always overestimated cardio exercise calorie burn too. The good news is that with accurate information you can better control your net calories :-)
  • dallas4u
    dallas4u Posts: 57
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    Well, prior to the HRM, I was eating as if I was burning 800-1000 calories. LOL. No wonder I couldn't seem to lose weight. In fact, I gained some.

    Too bad there is so much misinformation on those machines and from others. If I was an instructor, I would be advising people to get an HRM for accurate calorie counts.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    I totally agree. Trust the HRM. If you have been eating back your calories up to this point, this should solve your problem of not losing.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I have a Polar ft4...it is pretty accurate. I knock off about 15% to account for BMR calories per session...when I do that and compare it to a VO2 calorie calculator, it's almost dead on. When it comes to calorie burn, there are just too many variable to simply take a number off a database. Numbers in a database were someone else's burn...they may or may not have been more fit..may be taller or shorter...heavier or lighter, etc. Too many variables. Trust your HRM.

    One of the reasons people struggle with eating exercise calories and losing weight is because they dramatically over estimate burn from their workouts using numbers in a database. Machines can be somewhat accurate, but only if you input all of your personal data...otherwise, it's just a formula based on averages.
  • 9jenn9
    9jenn9 Posts: 309 Member
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    Ditto on the hrm. On average I burn 1/3 less than what gym machines tell me. Gym machines are set to count calories for an average sized man. If you're an average sized man, that's great, but otherwise...
  • SueFromRI
    SueFromRI Posts: 206 Member
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    Trust your HRM.
  • carpar1
    carpar1 Posts: 211 Member
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    Until I purchased my FT4, I thought I was working out hard.......how quickly I learned that I had to really push myself in order to get the calories burned that I wanted. Wish I had purchased the hrm when I first started here!
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Then there are those folks who like the overly dramatic burns......if you use calculators based on average heart rate I can't see how they get 1000 calorie burns in an hour+/-. HRM is most accurate, if you can't afford one check your heart rate intermittently and utilize a calculator site like this one:
    http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/calculators/calories-burned-calculator-based-on-average-heart-rate/
    Be sure to put int he 35% O2 number for accuracy. I have checked the site against my HRM and it is reliable.
  • fjc1968
    fjc1968 Posts: 26
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    Same here, the Precor elliptical at my gym shows a calorie burn of 650/hour. My hubby bought me a Polar HRM for Valentine's day and I've used it twice now and the actual burn is just over 500/hour. I always find the machines grossly overestimate.
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,650 Member
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    Well, prior to the HRM, I was eating as if I was burning 800-1000 calories. LOL. No wonder I couldn't seem to lose weight. In fact, I gained some.

    Too bad there is so much misinformation on those machines and from others. If I was an instructor, I would be advising people to get an HRM for accurate calorie counts.

    Yep, before I bought my HRM, I was recording my exercise burns of twice as many by MFP database. I don't eat back my calories, so it wasn't making a difference in losing, but I was wondering why I wasn't losing 4 pounds a week like MFP said I should be. Before I joined here, I had never known of a weight loss program that told you to 'eat back' your exercise calories burned, so it didn't make sense to me anyway. The only time I knew of people eating back their cals, was when I was training with pro body builders who ate theirs back to make sure they DIDN'T lose weight.

    Apparently tho, for some people, the MFP numbers are fairly accurate, so they argue against any suggestions for changes in the way they are calculated on here.
    But I tell everyone I know, to get a good HRM like Polar.
  • grinner30
    grinner30 Posts: 122 Member
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    I had the same experience, Precor treadmill says 1100 calories YAY! HRM says 749.....boo! But I figure I will take the lowest to calculate. If is actually higher then it is all a BONUS!
  • dallas4u
    dallas4u Posts: 57
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    Well, prior to the HRM, I was eating as if I was burning 800-1000 calories. LOL. No wonder I couldn't seem to lose weight. In fact, I gained some.

    Too bad there is so much misinformation on those machines and from others. If I was an instructor, I would be advising people to get an HRM for accurate calorie counts.

    Yep, before I bought my HRM, I was recording my exercise burns of twice as many by MFP database. I don't eat back my calories, so it wasn't making a difference in losing, but I was wondering why I wasn't losing 4 pounds a week like MFP said I should be. Before I joined here, I had never known of a weight loss program that told you to 'eat back' your exercise calories burned, so it didn't make sense to me anyway. The only time I knew of people eating back their cals, was when I was training with pro body builders who ate theirs back to make sure they DIDN'T lose weight.

    Apparently tho, for some people, the MFP numbers are fairly accurate, so they argue against any suggestions for changes in the way they are calculated on here.
    But I tell everyone I know, to get a good HRM like Polar.

    Now - I am super suspicious of just about a lot of fitness information. I don't even trust the MFP thing that says "I will lose X pounds" if I ate 1360 calories every day. I pretty much just use this site to count calories and to log exercise. I look forward to what happens in the next month with the calorie counting and relying on my HRM :). I done eating 2100 cals a day lol.
  • Doodlewhopper
    Doodlewhopper Posts: 1,018 Member
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    This article may help.

    http://greatist.com/fitness/do-calorie-monitors-really-work/
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    *
  • dallas4u
    dallas4u Posts: 57
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    Precor ellipticals are known to overestimate calories, but not that much. I believe your HRM setup is also a little off, most likely it is underestimating your fitness level. Can't remember how or if that can be changed in the F4, but I would look at your setup and it they ask you questions about activity level, make that a little higher.

    I have the FT4 model. The only questions I recall during setting were: (1) height (2) current weight (3) type of metric system I wanted my information displayed (4) age and (5) sex.

    It is a pretty basic model and I don't recall activity level questions.
  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
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    I would trust the HRM. Keep using the HRM and see if the calories increase over time. Also, the machines are horrible. They aren't reading your heart rate the whole time. And the LesMills opinoin on calories all depends how hard that person puts into it. Someone told me that you can burn 400-500 calories in bodypump and my HRM reads about 250(MAX). But if I use heavier weights, very heavy weights, then the calorie burn tends to increase. It's what you put into the class.

    Also, I don't eat my exercise calories back, because it's not 100% accurate on what you are burning.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Precor ellipticals are known to overestimate calories, but not that much. I believe your HRM setup is also a little off, most likely it is underestimating your fitness level. Can't remember how or if that can be changed in the F4, but I would look at your setup and it they ask you questions about activity level, make that a little higher.

    I have the FT4 model. The only questions I recall during setting were: (1) height (2) current weight (3) type of metric system I wanted my information displayed (4) age and (5) sex.

    It is a pretty basic model and I don't recall activity level questions.

    Yeah, I downloaded the user manual and double checked and I couldn't find anything either. That's why you'll note that I deleted the comment.
  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
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    Same here HRM... My elliptical says I burn about 750 calories when my HRM says I only burned 300..

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