tracking calorie burn with beta blocker

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SharonReitsma
SharonReitsma Posts: 27 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was just recently put on a beta blocker and because it artificially keeps the heart rate down, my Polar is no longer of any use to keep track of calories burned. wondering if there were any gadgets out there that don't just rely on heart rate to calculate calories burned. thanks!

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  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
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    I'm not sure that there is.

    One option would be to enter the exercise you do in the database/tracker here and half the calories it says you burned. I found with my Polar my burns were half the amount this website says.
  • perfekta
    perfekta Posts: 331 Member
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    Yep, a Bodybugg, or Bodymedia Fit. I have one. They don't use a heart rate monitor but go by galvanic skin response and other factors.
  • victoriannsays
    victoriannsays Posts: 568 Member
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    http://www.livestrong.com/article/29237-weight-loss-diet-people-beta/
  • weloveourboys
    weloveourboys Posts: 133 Member
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    All you have to do is lower the maximum heartrate that you input into your monitor. My understanding of how these devices work is that they estimate how hard you're working by seeing how many percent of your maximum heart rate you're working out at. I'm also on beta blockers, and when my doctor put me on them, I changed my maximum heart rate from 182 to 172 within my personal settings (I have both a Polar and a Garmin). Now when I'm doing a tempo run, my heart rate is 160-ish as opposed to 170-ish, but as a percentage of my maximum heart rate it is similar.
  • jghayes8
    jghayes8 Posts: 14
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    I was recently put on beta blockers and had the same problem in that my HR did not reflect the work I was doing and therefore my calorie rate was way off. I do p90x and sandbag workouts and typically burn 600 -900 calories respectively. After Beta Blockers I was down in the 250 range on my Polar R300X even though I was doing the same amount of work. After some research I found this website with a calculation to help you figure out your max HR while on beta blockers. http://www.3-fitness.com/tarticles/maxhr.htm
    This calculation took my Max Hr from 163 (57 yr old male) to 122. I changed the setting on my polar and did a sandbag workout. My calorie burn was 882 so it appears this method is pretty accurate. Hopefully I can get off these meds and go back to the old calculation but in the meantime I am pretty happy with the result.

    Hope this helps
  • CAS317
    CAS317 Posts: 267 Member
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    bump
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    You might talk to your doctor about changing medication or if it will affect weight loss. I have hypertension and am on an ace inhibitor instead. Doesnt affect my heartrate.
  • suz155
    suz155 Posts: 326 Member
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    Just went on the beta blockers, and seeing my caloric burn, drop in to nothingland, really bummed me out. Appreciate all the input. Lowered my max HR on the polar. We will see how that works, today. Thanks again.
  • suz155
    suz155 Posts: 326 Member
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    Oh well,,,didnt work. Still shows 1/3 calories burned pre-beta blockers. Crap.
  • SexyDexie
    SexyDexie Posts: 48 Member
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    Oh well,,,didnt work. Still shows 1/3 calories burned pre-beta blockers. Crap.

    I used to be on beta-blockers 2x daily, and I used a Polar HRM. What I found was that the best time to do cardio to get my heart rate up was an hour or two before my night time dose.
  • suz155
    suz155 Posts: 326 Member
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    On a positve note, I did lose 1.4 lbs since I started , last week. So, I think its going to be ok. I just have to let go of my need to know how many calories Im burning. I can live with that.

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