Is my HRM accurate?

francesca123456789
francesca123456789 Posts: 17 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a heart rate monitor but it didnt cost an obscene amount (about £40) and now I am doubting its accuracy. The number of calories I am burning don't appear too outrageous; for example in a 60 zumba class it gave me and expenditure of 550 calories. I thought that as fairly accurate because I was really trying. However, I was reading something about entering your gender, age and weight and I realised that I can't do that on mine. Does this factor severly distort my total amount of calories burned?

Stats:
- 5ft 3
- 109lbs / 7st 11lbs / 49kg
- Female
- age 18

Thanks

Replies

  • 1capybara
    1capybara Posts: 162 Member
    yes, weight affects calories burned. but your heart rate is what is irregardless of age sex and weight :)
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Nope
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Your age and gender dont factor into calories burned. Weight and intensity are the two main factors.
    That said, calories burned arent directly related to HR. the formulas used to estimate calories require additional information to make estimates, like age and sex. Since your HRM doesn't include those, it is more apt to be inaccurate.

    Tl;dr - see Dav's post.


    A couple of good reads.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/773451-is-my-hrm-giving-me-incorrect-calorie-burn
  • rachaellumpkin
    rachaellumpkin Posts: 11 Member
    You can actually enter your exercise in My Fitness Pal, where your weight is up-to-date. Plus, My Fitness Pal gives you net calories burned ( total calories burned during the 60 minutes of exercise minus the calories you would have burned during that same time just by being alive). It gives a more accurate amount of expended calories.
  • MORECHABLIS
    MORECHABLIS Posts: 164 Member
    Yes, weight is important, then age/sex... I expect your HRM does have a feature to add in those details...

    I have a HRM linked to a watch, I've used GPS loggers & websites to find my calories. I used all three to see what they said about my calories used during the exercise.

    EXAMPLE: (cycling over 160 minutes, 12-14 miles per hour)

    My age 43, weight 264 lb.

    Highest: GPS Logger (i-Gotu) = 3,921.calories
    Medium: HRM monitor (cheap one) = 3,234 cals (I have bought a Polar H7 for my GS3, am waiting for update software update to use it)
    Lowest: My Fitness Pal = 2610 calories
  • francesca123456789
    francesca123456789 Posts: 17 Member
    Thanks for the replies! I'm going to have a fiddle with watch and see if I can enter my weight! I don't always like using MFP calculators because I tend to do exercises that aren't listed. Thanks again

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