HRM help- did I really burn that much?

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dco17
dco17 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey, so I'm new to the heart rate monitor thing. I wore mine for the first time today and did 43 minutes of dance central 2 on Xbox and I sweating like crazy for the first time in about 6 months. My hrm said I burned 510 calories, is that possible?

A little background. I had a serious injury and then surgery that has kept my from exercise and this was my first time back to it. I'm 5'4 and I weigh 215 lbs. I did the dances full out for the entire time, and had to stop at 43 minutes because of my ankle, didn't want to push too hard. Thanks in advance :)

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    i have no idea. but if you're not going to trust it you should probably ship it back and get a refund
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    i have no idea. but if you're not going to trust it you should probably ship it back and get a refund

    lol. OP, if it helps, you could do -30%. That's what I do for mine to try to account for inaccuracies. but I have to go with what Dav said. It'd be the best time to figure out if you can trust the readouts or not....that way you can return it if you aren't comfortable relying on it.
  • hellokittymaui
    hellokittymaui Posts: 226 Member
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    Yes, it's possible when taking into account your height and weight. As long as you programmed your heart rate monitor accurately with your stats, it should be fairly accurate.

    For comparison, I am 5'4" and weigh about 135lbs. The last zumba class I took, I burned about 425 calories in the hour long class.
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    When I was 210 I would play dance central for about an hour and a half and burn close to 600 calories according to my HRM. If you set it up correctly you have no reason to disbelieve it.
  • em2102
    em2102 Posts: 4
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    Well it's hard to tell really, you only get a really accurate number when you have a doctor do it. HRMs are really just estimates and in studies they have been found to be between 15%-60% inaccurate (the polar ones were at the lower end) meaning you could have burned up to 60% calories more or less than HRM shows. Chances are you'll be somewhere in the middle though and may have burned a 100 cal or so less, if you're sceptical
  • debraran1
    debraran1 Posts: 520 Member
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    My old trainer used to tell me the heavier you are the more you burn, the more out of shape, the more you burn. I saw that as I learned to run years ago. See after a while, as the effort decreases a bit, if it changes.
  • dco17
    dco17 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks everyone. Except for the *kitten* the said to send it back. It was an honest question, as I have never used one before. Between these answers and my other mfp friends, it seems to be right on with what theirs say. I was just in shock to have burned that many calories. It's good to know that it could be somewhat off, I didn't realize it was based on estimations. Oh and I did have my stats all set correctly. Thanks again!
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    My old trainer used to tell me the heavier you are the more you burn, the more out of shape, the more you burn. I saw that as I learned to run years ago. See after a while, as the effort decreases a bit, if it changes.
    your trainer is wrong on second point. energy doesn't change to move xxxxx amount of weight..
  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Thanks everyone. Except for the *kitten* the said to send it back. It was an honest question, as I have never used one before. Between these answers and my other mfp friends, it seems to be right on with what theirs say. I was just in shock to have burned that many calories. It's good to know that it could be somewhat off, I didn't realize it was based on estimations. Oh and I did have my stats all set correctly. Thanks again!

    I got in a lot of trouble eating back what my HRM said. Gained a lot of weight.

    Good luck.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Thanks everyone. Except for the *kitten* the said to send it back. It was an honest question, as I have never used one before. Between these answers and my other mfp friends, it seems to be right on with what theirs say. I was just in shock to have burned that many calories. It's good to know that it could be somewhat off, I didn't realize it was based on estimations. Oh and I did have my stats all set correctly. Thanks again!

    You had a legit question and I gave you a legit answer. HRM burns are estimates, not some crazy exact science. Trusting them blindly can lead to over eating just like with anything else. And if you're going to eat back 30-50% of the HRM calories, you might as well not use it because that's guessing on the proper calories just like anything else is. And if you're guessing, you might as well spend that $100 on something else.

    You're welcome.

    Signed,

    The *kitten*.
  • Mommy_Time
    Mommy_Time Posts: 256 Member
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    if you set it up with all your info then yes it is right and it is possible to burn that much in that amount of time
  • dco17
    dco17 Posts: 5 Member
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    if you set it up with all your info then yes it is right and it is possible to burn that much in that amount of time

    Thanks :)

    Also, I don't plan on eating back all exercise calories. I do know better than that and understand that it can lead to over eating. I really want to use the HRM to make sure I'm moving enough during the week. I want to make sure I'm working hard. And I want to make sure I'm keeping my heart rate up and at a healthy level. It just sounded high to me because I have never used one before.

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