Are heart rate monitors bogus?

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  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    Incidentally, my theoretical MHR is between 186 and 192 depending on which formula you take. During Insanity sessions I spend most of it in the 184-190 region (average for this morning's 40 minute session, including a warm up and 10 minute's worth of stretches, was 176, peaking at 190). Which is mildly scary, but there you go.
  • Cyclink
    Cyclink Posts: 517 Member
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    So here's the magic question: how do you know if your heart rate monitor is telling you an accurate number of calories?

    You can check the heart rate number. Just hold your finger on your artery and count. The calories, unless you have access to some serious lab equipment, you really don't know if the number is correct or if it's off by 40%.

    If you put the same numbers into 10 different online calculators for the same activity, you will get 10 different numbers over a range of 10 to 20%. Which one of them is right?

    Just because one monitor asks for body weight, fat %, VO2 max (like you spent the money on that test), height, and gender does not mean it's more accurate. It is just trying to fill in a few wild guesses with rough assumptions. They can still be wildly off.

    You want your heart rate monitor to know whether you are sitting walking, cross country skiing, or just nervous about a big date and give you an accurate calorie burn based on that? It's not going to happen.

    Heart rate monitors are great for telling you your heart rate. GPS units are great for telling you speed and distance. Neither is great for calculating calories burned.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    I use them to see how fast my heart is beating; it's accurate for that. I ignore the calorie burn estimates. When I see people recording enormous calorie burns for routine activities I know that their primary exercise is self-deception.
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    When I see people recording enormous calorie burns for routine activities I know that their primary exercise is self-deception.

    Beautifully poetic.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    So here's the magic question: how do you know if your heart rate monitor is telling you an accurate number of calories?

    You can check the heart rate number. Just hold your finger on your artery and count. The calories, unless you have access to some serious lab equipment, you really don't know if the number is correct or if it's off by 40%.

    If you put the same numbers into 10 different online calculators for the same activity, you will get 10 different numbers over a range of 10 to 20%. Which one of them is right?

    Just because one monitor asks for body weight, fat %, VO2 max (like you spent the money on that test), height, and gender does not mean it's more accurate. It is just trying to fill in a few wild guesses with rough assumptions. They can still be wildly off.

    You want your heart rate monitor to know whether you are sitting walking, cross country skiing, or just nervous about a big date and give you an accurate calorie burn based on that? It's not going to happen.

    Heart rate monitors are great for telling you your heart rate. GPS units are great for telling you speed and distance. Neither is great for calculating calories burned.

    I don't know why so many people don't get this most simple of points. These are not magical gadgets, although they can be very helpful. What's more, most of us don't need complex tools. We need education, we need to comply with our plans, and we need to monitor our progress. No one tool does everything.
  • jcmartin0313
    jcmartin0313 Posts: 574 Member
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    I use a combination of HRM and online calculators and adjust my time when I enter a workout into MFP to reflect an approximation. I used to always go with MFP but quickly determined it was bogus very often. That is why I tend to look at calories in/ calories out on a weekly basis rather than daily.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    When I see people recording enormous calorie burns for routine activities I know that their primary exercise is self-deception.

    Beautifully poetic.

    :flowerforyou:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    That is true, but I am asking whether or not heart rate monitors are evil little fibbers.

    It's all estimation, but HRMs are far more accurate than data bases and cardio machines. I usually just knock off 20% or so to account for BMR (what I would have burned watching spongebob) and estimation error. I think people get far too wrapped up in exact burns, etc.

    I also think people cheat themselves when they log activity that should just be included in their daily NEAT or TDEE. Even if I go out and spend half a day doing yard work that is outside of the ordinary, I don't log it...I might have an extra beer or two, but I don't log my 4 hours of yard work as exercise.
  • tryinghard71
    tryinghard71 Posts: 593
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    I used MFP calorie burn when I started then bought a HRM. I was burning much less than I thought or MFP said during exercise.
    I will say that when I was heavier and more out of shape I burned a lot more than I do today. One year ago doing an exercise for an hour gave me a 600 plus burn. Now I am only burning around 430. So the more in shape you are the less you burn. Maybe that is why people are burning higher numbers? I don't know. . But I did hear that you should minus 10-15% from your burn for logging.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    That is true, but I am asking whether or not heart rate monitors are evil little fibbers.

    It's all estimation, but HRMs are far more accurate than data bases and cardio machines. I usually just knock off 20% or so to account for BMR (what I would have burned watching spongebob) and estimation error. I think people get far too wrapped up in exact burns, etc.

    I also think people cheat themselves when they log activity that should just be included in their daily NEAT or TDEE. Even if I go out and spend half a day doing yard work that is outside of the ordinary, I don't log it...I might have an extra beer or two, but I don't log my 4 hours of yard work as exercise.

    You "might" have an extra 400 calories of alcohol and sugar if you do a lot of yard work, but you don't log it? Maybe you should log it if you're going to be consuming extra calories to cover it ;)
  • seanezekiel
    seanezekiel Posts: 228 Member
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    I have found many peoples calorie burn to be way to high but I think that it MFPs fault. I see people burning 1k plus calories doing the same thing my sports tracker tells me I am burning 300 from. I believe my 300.
  • seanezekiel
    seanezekiel Posts: 228 Member
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    I had a quiet hour at work so entered all my calories eaten and burned (measured by HRM) into a spreadsheet to see how accurate this whole food logging & exercise burn counting thing was.....
    Since Jan 2nd by my numbers I "should" have lost 6.5lbs - in fact I've lost 5lbs.

    So yes I would say that a HRM used properly is pretty accurate, certainly useful.

    But as others have stated I wish more people would use them as a training aid instead of a calorie counter!!

    Do you lift weights at all. You may have lost more but gained some better weight in its place. Explain the 1.5 difference.
  • Brittany3914
    Brittany3914 Posts: 258 Member
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    In my opinion.....

    No, heart rate monitors are not bogus. With that said, I do not wear it while I'm cleaning the house, walking around the mall, or lolly-gagging through my day. I'm sure you could strap it on while you're walking at the mall, but I usually don't walk at the mall. I browse. I stop. I meander. I digress....

    I only wear my HRM when I'm doing specific physical activity. Running. Spinning. Kickboxing. You get the idea.

    SO, to answer your question, HRMs themselves are not bogus. The options of cardiovascular exercise on MFP are bogus. No one really burns 1,000 calories from cooking/preparing food (unless you're doing cartwheels and lunges).
  • enigmaneo
    enigmaneo Posts: 61 Member
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    Sounds like some people are jealous I weigh 220 pounds and when I run for an hour I burn 1000 calories. If I dance for 5 hours I burn 2500 calories. If you want to burn like that gain weight.
  • enigmaneo
    enigmaneo Posts: 61 Member
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    I think my heart rate monitor is off If I"m not running, or elliptical, jogging biking etc..., numbers come off high.
  • dixiech1ck
    dixiech1ck Posts: 769 Member
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    I recently purchased a heart rate monitor and received a RUDE AWAKENING.

    Now, I'm 100 pounds overweight doing these exercises so keep that in mind when I give you my counts.

    1 hour on the bike - MFP tells me it's somewhere betweeen 900 and 1000 calories burned depending on my speed
    1 hour on the bike - my bike tells me it's about 750 calories burned (my bike doesn't take into account weight or height)
    1 hour on the bike - my heart rate monitor tells me it's about 350 calories burned

    I always thought MFP counts were high so I always subtracked 2-300 hundred from what it gave me but wow, wasn't expecting this!

    And this is why a lot of people are still hanging onto excess lbs. Because they think the readings on MFP are Gospel. Invest in a heart rate monitor, use it. It does work. I'm living proof. 87 lbs doing zumba, running and eating within my means. All in a year.
  • dixiech1ck
    dixiech1ck Posts: 769 Member
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    Sounds like some people are jealous I weigh 220 pounds and when I run for an hour I burn 1000 calories. If I dance for 5 hours I burn 2500 calories. If you want to burn like that gain weight.

    Yes, but you have to understand, everybody's heart rate, body make-up, etc. is DIFFERENT.

    A 220 lb person running for 1 hour may equal 1000 calories burned. And this could very well be true.

    A 120 lb person running for 1 hour may equal 500 calories burned. Both persons make-up's are different, they are carrying different weight, going different speeds, exerting different amounts of energy. The 220 lb person may have a heart rate of 170, while the 120 lb person may have a heart rate of 145. It all depends on the physical make-up of the body.

    When I run outside in the cold, I burn far more calories than if I run the same amount of time/distance on a treadmill. Conditions are different, I'm working harder because a treadmill is going to carry my run rather than me having to push off and carry my pace (tread does that for me). Plus, the cold means my body needs to justify for heat, which makes my heart rate go up automatically.

    This is why it burns me when I see people ask "What's your caloric intake at XX heigh and XX weight?" Everyone is DIFFERENT. You can't compare someone else to you. You both aren't doing the same job, same eating habits, same burn as the next person just because you are the same height. It's like comparing apples to apple pie. TOTALLY different. Though you have a common factor, you are not the same.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I had a quiet hour at work so entered all my calories eaten and burned (measured by HRM) into a spreadsheet to see how accurate this whole food logging & exercise burn counting thing was.....
    Since Jan 2nd by my numbers I "should" have lost 6.5lbs - in fact I've lost 5lbs.

    So yes I would say that a HRM used properly is pretty accurate, certainly useful.

    But as others have stated I wish more people would use them as a training aid instead of a calorie counter!!

    Do you lift weights at all. You may have lost more but gained some better weight in its place. Explain the 1.5 difference.

    I do lift weights (normally 3 cardio and 3 separate strength sessions a week). Strength and definition certainly improved but muscle mass - hmmm, not so sure. Don't really qualify for "newbie muscle gains during a calorie deficit" as I've been training for about 37 years now!! :smile:
    More likely the difference is forgetting to log those exra few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc. :drinker:
  • looopyloops
    looopyloops Posts: 84 Member
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    Depending on where you get the info some are correct, and some are not, things that effect the calories burned are your weight, a 300 lb person burns a lot more calories then 150 lb person doing the exact same activity. there are sites you can find that will help you figure out your burn as well , they are not 100 % but pretty good, I always err on the lower side, when I run I burn about 400 calories per hr, I have noticed some of the exercises listed in the data base that you can use give you a lot more calories per hr then that, you have to be careful where you get the info from. here are some sites to check out http://calorielab.com/burned/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/295151-calories-burned-from-jogging-four-miles-per-hour/ http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc
  • NutellaAddict
    NutellaAddict Posts: 1,258 Member
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    In 30 mins I usually only burn about 400-440 calories (according to my Polar FT4)...and that's doing HIIT..if they are burning 1000 calories in 30 mins doing cleaning, sign me up for that program.

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