Heart Rate Monitor Calories Burned

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lorfuent21
lorfuent21 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just started using a heart rate monitor to more accurately track the exercise calories I've burned. Yesterday I used the elliptical for 33 minutes, had an average heart rate of 179 bpm but only burned 54 calories. Does this sound accurate? I know the machine really overestimates calories burned but is 54 calories really all I burned despite the fact that my heart rate was elevated so high?

Weight: 110.4
Height: 5'1
Age: 26

Replies

  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    No, that definitely is not right for a 33 minute workout with a HR that high.

    What kind of heart rate monitor?

    http://www.braydenwm.com/calburn.htm
    This calculator usually gives me a result statistically similar to my Polar ft40 HRM. It would result in 435.81 calories burned in 33 minutes at an average HR of 178 given your stats, which sounds fairly accurate.

    This all depends, of course, on your true HR max which we don't know unless it's tested, but 54 is definitely wrong.
  • lorfuent21
    lorfuent21 Posts: 7 Member
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    It's the mapmyrun bluetooth heart rate monitor.
    http://www.mapmyfitness.com/shop/hrstrap

    Thanks for your response! I figured it had to be wrong, I was red-faced and out of breath the entire workout!
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    It's the mapmyrun bluetooth heart rate monitor.
    http://www.mapmyfitness.com/shop/hrstrap

    Thanks for your response! I figured it had to be wrong, I was red-faced and out of breath the entire workout!

    I think something has to be wrong...does the mapmyrun app have a grid or something that shows if it was actually receiving your HR signal the entire time? I assume you've got it set up for your sex/weight/age?
  • jeffininer
    jeffininer Posts: 204 Member
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    Does your phone show you your HR real-time during the exercise? I'm wondering if the contacts weren't made correctly. Maybe the band is loose?

    Definitely not enough calorie burn for such a high HR.
  • SKME2013
    SKME2013 Posts: 704 Member
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    If I do 20 min with the elliptical with Polaris heart monitor I burn about 200 cal. My heart rate is somewhere around 160.
    Stef.
  • lorfuent21
    lorfuent21 Posts: 7 Member
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    It's the mapmyrun bluetooth heart rate monitor.
    http://www.mapmyfitness.com/shop/hrstrap

    Thanks for your response! I figured it had to be wrong, I was red-faced and out of breath the entire workout!

    I think something has to be wrong...does the mapmyrun app have a grid or something that shows if it was actually receiving your HR signal the entire time? I assume you've got it set up for your sex/weight/age?


    According to my results my heart rate was tracked throughout the entire workout. My stats have all been entered in the application so I assume it should be tracking my work out correctly. I purchased the heart rate monitor to get a more accurate idea of calories burned but after reading some other posts on here I've realized that there is no way to truly get an accurate number.
  • cm8416
    cm8416 Posts: 1
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    I just bought the map my run hrm too and I'm running into the same problem. The treadmill I did the workout on synced to the Bluetooth and tracked my heart rate the entire time too. The treadmill said 483 calories burned yet the app said only 93. I know there's no way my workout burned only 93 and the 483 is much more accurate. Did you figure out a way to solve this?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    It's the mapmyrun bluetooth heart rate monitor.
    http://www.mapmyfitness.com/shop/hrstrap

    Thanks for your response! I figured it had to be wrong, I was red-faced and out of breath the entire workout!

    I think something has to be wrong...does the mapmyrun app have a grid or something that shows if it was actually receiving your HR signal the entire time? I assume you've got it set up for your sex/weight/age?


    According to my results my heart rate was tracked throughout the entire workout. My stats have all been entered in the application so I assume it should be tracking my work out correctly. I purchased the heart rate monitor to get a more accurate idea of calories burned but after reading some other posts on here I've realized that there is no way to truly get an accurate number.

    HRMs do fairly well for steady state cardio, but not for other things. If I'm reading correctly MapMyRun was calculating your calories? I'm not sure how they do those calculations. It might be worth looking around on their site to find out. I know the Endomondo app will use the exercise type along with the speed and distance to figure out calories if you don't have a bluetooth HRM strap, but if you have a HRM strap it uses the HR information to estimate calories. I would assume Mapmyrun does the same, but I could not say for sure. Something is wrong, and you would likely be better served asking the Mapmyrun people.
  • jonibonnell
    jonibonnell Posts: 3
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    I had the same problem today with the MapMyRun HRM. It worked perfectly yesterday, and today, It showed I burned only 78 calories for a 5 mile run. But the heart rate reading was spot on. Did someone find a fix? I didn't change anything in the app between yesterday and today so I'm stumpped.
  • jonibonnell
    jonibonnell Posts: 3
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    I was having the same problem on the treadmill but not the elliptical. I then realized when I was on the treadmill, I had chosen "run" as the activity and not "treadmill run" and the calories burned are spot on. I think it may have to do with "run" being an outdoor activity and GPS and a "treadmill run" is indoor with no GPS enables. I truly don't know, but choosing the correct activity, (indoor versus outdoor), has corrected the problem for me. I hope this helps you, too.
  • gerla_k
    gerla_k Posts: 495 Member
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    I heard the most accurate HRM's are the ones withs a chest strap to track HR in real time. does mapmyrun has a chest strap?
  • jonibonnell
    jonibonnell Posts: 3
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    Forget my "fix" to the problem in my last reply. The calories burned are not accurate even after choosing "treadmill run" versus "run".
    How can the calories be counted and be correct when working out on the elliptical but not running on a treadmill?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,239 Member
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    How do you know either are correct? The science of calorie burns is murky at best. Even HRMs are not that accurate, and can have as much as a 30% error plus or minus.

    I used to use Mapmyride for cycling, but the calorie burns from the app were double what they should be. When I went to the website and had it recalculate them, they were correct. I stopped using the app because of that, and now use Endomondo. I much prefer it, and like that it is synced to MFP. However, I decided that I prefer including my intended exercise calories in my daily calorie goal, so I calculated my calorie goal myself. I did this largely because of the errors in calorie estimation, as this gets me close. Over the long haul including an average amount based on exercise duration of my intended exercise it will all average out. If I lose quicker than expected I raise my goal. If I lose slower than expected, I decrease my goal.
  • williamtudorkay
    williamtudorkay Posts: 3
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    Hi,

    Did you figure out why the calorie counts were so low? I think it is because it uses a calculation based on distance as its primary calculation factor and mostly ignores heart beat (although it should never be as low as your post said).

    When I commute to work mine reaches about 70kcal then I slow down and it actually starts counting backwards! This is when I cycle the last bit up a mega steep hill with a BPM of around 180 - makes no sense, literally breaking the laws of physics.

    I think maybe picking an 'activity' which doesn't enable GPS tracking such as 'Other Gym Workout' may help, as the app would then be totally reliant on heart rate? I am going to give it a go this afternoon.

    Let me know if you had any luck? Cheers
  • cphillips_iasi
    cphillips_iasi Posts: 1 Member
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    FYI, from MapMy:

    "Typically calories are determined by age, height, weight, gender, intensity of the workout, distance travelled, and activity type. Heart rate does not currently factor into the equation, but will as the app grows. "

    Link to FAQ: https://support.mapmyfitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/200118084-Incorrect-Calorie-Calculations

    Looks like our HRM's do not enter into it, which is disappointing, and will never be accurate until it does so...

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