HRM Calories burned while running seem VERY high

joehempel
joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
edited February 14 in Fitness and Exercise
Well this is odd, and I'm curious to know if this is even close to accurate, which I seriously doubt.

I use a Polar FT4, and I went for my first run of the year, just a little 3.25 mile run. I've been doing Insanity since the beginning of the year.


I wore my HRM for the first time on my run and averaged a leisurely 10:19 pace with negative splits going from 10:50, to 9:50 as the run progressed.

It said I burned like 660 calories in 33 minutes.....um....what??

My heart rate maxed at 187, and averaged 175. At this rate, I was not dying, I was not feeling fatigued, I was just leisurely chugging along. To drive the point home a bit more I was singing to my music while running and gaining some really odd looks playing the air drums to some music. :D

I'm 35, my HR generally is high when I exercise, with a resting at like 65.

Any thoughts??

Replies

  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
    Bump
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    seems really higher to me too, I would have guessed in the 300-400 calorie range, unless you were close to 300lbs.

    That said the HRM could be off if your Max HR is higher than the estimated 220-age, which can make the estimate of Max HR much lower than it is, so the HRM would think you are working much harder than you are, as it is based off of % of Max HR.

    The FT4 does not allow you adjust this number like the 40 or 60 does (those 2 also allow you to adjust the V02Max, another thing that can hurt the estimation on the FT4 or 7)
  • swaymyway
    swaymyway Posts: 428 Member
    How much do you weigh?
  • cricket_77
    cricket_77 Posts: 165 Member
    Go through your settings and make sure something didn't get changed.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    A lot depends on your weight I use an FT7 and I weigh 209 pounds and for a 3 miler at 10.30 pace on a reasonably flat route I burn around 550 which is comparable with the figures I used to get on my FT4. All these figures need to be take with a pinch of salt. they are estimates they may be based on an algorithm but still an estimate. As your HR is higher than mine I'd guess it's not that far off
  • Fit_Fox88
    Fit_Fox88 Posts: 410 Member
    According to my HRM I can burn up to almost 1,000 calories in a workout. When I was using the C25K app last year I was burning upwards of 400 calories with just the level 1-2 jogs/walks. I record whatever numbers are on my HRM and I've been seeing results so something is working. Just do some trial and error and see what works best for you. You can always record those calories burned according to your HRM and then just not eat them back if you feel the number is too high.
  • Takes2long
    Takes2long Posts: 367 Member
    I have a Polar, too and my HR gets really high while I'm exercising, and in the 60's while resting. As high as 189 isn't unusual, it's pretty normal for me. Even as high as 92. I"m 44, so that's way higher than that standard 220 - age=MHR. For me, that would be 178 for max. LOL...um, no. I can burn 650+ in an hour when I'm pushing, but never that in 1/2 hour. That does seem high. Could your batteries need to be changed? Try that workout again and see if you get the same results. Maybe you are burning that much.
  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
    I forgot my weight in this oops! Im 5'9 181lbs.

    I burn upwards of 800 during MAX Workouts in Insanity, but this just seemed crazy high...I dont burn this much in 30 minutes of Insanity lol.

    Ive got new batteries in it already, so thats not it. I may invest in the wearlink+ and connect it to.my Nike+ watch.

    Just wanted to get thoughts. I ended up logging 15% less than the Nike algorithm for calories, so 394.
  • RachelRuns9
    RachelRuns9 Posts: 585 Member
    Mine has never been off like that. Maybe you have the wrong weight in there? Otherwise you might want to exchange it for a new one.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    Well this is odd, and I'm curious to know if this is even close to accurate, which I seriously doubt.

    I use a Polar FT4, and I went for my first run of the year, just a little 3.25 mile run. I've been doing Insanity since the beginning of the year.


    I wore my HRM for the first time on my run and averaged a leisurely 10:19 pace with negative splits going from 10:50, to 9:50 as the run progressed.

    It said I burned like 660 calories in 33 minutes.....um....what??

    My heart rate maxed at 187, and averaged 175. At this rate, I was not dying, I was not feeling fatigued, I was just leisurely chugging along. To drive the point home a bit more I was singing to my music while running and gaining some really odd looks playing the air drums to some music. :D

    I'm 35, my HR generally is high when I exercise, with a resting at like 65.

    Any thoughts??

    I'm more curious as to how "leisurely chugging along" goes with an average HR of 175. Irrespective of our different paces at that HR, when I hit 175, I'm hardly enjoying life.
  • tappae
    tappae Posts: 568 Member
    I stopped using my heart rate monitor because it was giving me really high burn estimates and also some spikes in heart rate that weren't real (it was jumping up over 200 when my actual heart rate was around 140). In the past, I managed to get it to work better by pushing an internal "reset" button, but this time I didn't bother, since I'm learning to run by feel and can easily take my pulse rate when I stop at lights.
  • tappae
    tappae Posts: 568 Member
    I'm more curious as to how "leisurely chugging along" goes with an average HR of 175. Irrespective of our different paces at that HR, when I hit 175, I'm hardly enjoying life.

    Yeah, for me 175 is my sprint at the end of the race when I very nearly throw up on the volunteer that's taking my timing chip.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    Make sure it isn't expecting you to input your weight in kg and you've entered that amount in pounds - I've seen that happen before!

    Make sure the connectors are good and moist and the chest strap is snug too.
  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
    at the end of the race when I very nearly throw up on the volunteer that's taking my timing chip.
    Oh my Lord how I HATE that, when they stop one immediately after crossing the line. . I mean let me stroll for a few seconds. . .
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    Well this is odd, and I'm curious to know if this is even close to accurate, which I seriously doubt.

    I use a Polar FT4, and I went for my first run of the year, just a little 3.25 mile run. I've been doing Insanity since the beginning of the year.


    I wore my HRM for the first time on my run and averaged a leisurely 10:19 pace with negative splits going from 10:50, to 9:50 as the run progressed.

    It said I burned like 660 calories in 33 minutes.....um....what??

    My heart rate maxed at 187, and averaged 175. At this rate, I was not dying, I was not feeling fatigued, I was just leisurely chugging along. To drive the point home a bit more I was singing to my music while running and gaining some really odd looks playing the air drums to some music. :D

    I'm 35, my HR generally is high when I exercise, with a resting at like 65.

    Any thoughts??

    I'm more curious as to how "leisurely chugging along" goes with an average HR of 175. Irrespective of our different paces at that HR, when I hit 175, I'm hardly enjoying life.
    We're all different. At age 47, 5'3" and 130ish pounds, my HR is 175 - 180 when I'm running around 6 MPH. I can carry on a conversation more or less -- no monologues or singing -- but I can definitely get out a couple of sentences without gasping for breath. My sister, on the other hand, never gets above 160 BPM, as hard as she can run.

    ETA: With the above stats, I burn about 100 calories per hour.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Well this is odd, and I'm curious to know if this is even close to accurate, which I seriously doubt.

    I use a Polar FT4, and I went for my first run of the year, just a little 3.25 mile run. I've been doing Insanity since the beginning of the year.


    I wore my HRM for the first time on my run and averaged a leisurely 10:19 pace with negative splits going from 10:50, to 9:50 as the run progressed.

    It said I burned like 660 calories in 33 minutes.....um....what??

    My heart rate maxed at 187, and averaged 175. At this rate, I was not dying, I was not feeling fatigued, I was just leisurely chugging along. To drive the point home a bit more I was singing to my music while running and gaining some really odd looks playing the air drums to some music. :D

    I'm 35, my HR generally is high when I exercise, with a resting at like 65.

    Any thoughts??

    Sounds about double what it should be
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I'm more curious as to how "leisurely chugging along" goes with an average HR of 175. Irrespective of our different paces at that HR, when I hit 175, I'm hardly enjoying life.

    Yeah, for me 175 is my sprint at the end of the race when I very nearly throw up on the volunteer that's taking my timing chip.

    Haha I had that on Sunday! I sprinted and the volunteers made a wall in front of me telling me to slow down/stop because I still had my chip
  • RenewedRunner
    RenewedRunner Posts: 423 Member
    I once heard a presenter at a half marathon say that a rough estimate is about a 100 calories a mile. At my weight right now, it is on average 140 calories a mile.

    SO unless you did 6 miles, it is probably wrong.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Net calories burned = 0.63 * body weight in pounds * distance run in miles

    Plug and play...
  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,543 Member
    well I know the heart rate monitor isn't broken because I check my heart rate against myself and it's pretty accurate within 3 to 4 beats per minute. Also everything is put in correctly and in fact I adjusted for my weight loss last week on Monday.

    I believe with the Insanity workout it's giving me an accurate burn as I'm going by those numbers and losing weight. 1 pound a week which is what I have it set for.

    I guess I'm just not going to worry about it use what I used last year and that was about 110 calories per mile although I will check that formula that's posted.

    As for the heart rate being high, I get to 170 in like a mile and dont break a sweat. Its not uncommon to be close to 200 when going all out. To me, its not really that big of a deal...my splits this run (keep in mind its my first run in 4 months) were 10:50, 10:20, 9:50, so I wasnt coming close to pushing. My 5k pace last year was 8:40.
    .
    At the end of a race last year I had a terrible start and to even be past 30 min in a 5k I had to do that last 1.1 mile down a trail in about 8:30 lol. I did it, but rode the vomit train at the end LOL
This discussion has been closed.

Categories