HRM and elliptical giving me VERY different numbers.

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neesono
neesono Posts: 61
in Fitness and Exercise
I did 60min on the eliptical today. The machine told me I burned around 500cal and my wrist HRM told me I burned in excess of 900cal.

I walked to and from the gym (a round trip total of 2.3mi) and my wrist HRM told me I burned around 800cal.

From what I've read you only burn 100-150cal per mile when walking at a normal pace. So with that in mind I really have no idea how to log my exercise calories for the day.

Being at a loss I just took the average between the machine reading and the wrist HRM reading giving me about 700cal. For the walk I just calculated it at 130cal.

Any advice?

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  • Colorfan
    Colorfan Posts: 230 Member
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    From what Ive read, a heart rate monitor is meant for strenuous activity. So low stress stuff like walking dont track accurately on a heart rate monitor.
  • JustinSLawler
    JustinSLawler Posts: 18 Member
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    I did 60min on the eliptical today. The machine told me I burned around 500cal and my wrist HRM told me I burned in excess of 900cal.

    I walked to and from the gym (a round trip total of 2.3mi) and my wrist HRM told me I burned around 800cal.

    From what I've read you only burn 100-150cal per mile when walking at a normal pace. So with that in mind I really have no idea how to log my exercise calories for the day.

    Being at a loss I just took the average between the machine reading and the wrist HRM reading giving me about 700cal. For the walk I just calculated it at 130cal.

    Any advice?

    Hi neesono,

    HRM were never meant to be accurate for calculating calories, the best you could do is average up how much you thought you've done in a day, and find out how many calories are burnt by doing specific activities.

    HRM are more for two kinds of people, those who wish to stay within specific zones, and athletes who need to record the data. For the rest of us, it's more just a convenience than a necessity.

    You can however use it to track your aerobic ability when doing HIIT, or to beep at you when you hit a target heart range.

    I hope this helped,

    Justin
  • Ant___
    Ant___ Posts: 38 Member
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    Clearly your HRM is beyond fecked for calculating calories :)
    i ran 6.3 miles during a league match at the weekend and burnt 896cal for instance.


    if it takes you 20minutes to walk around a mile, then you're walking at 3mph, which is roughly 100cal

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