Is my HRM lying to me?

csontos
csontos Posts: 76 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I went to the gym today for the first time in practically forever to use the Zombies, Run! app on the treadmill. I was there for an hour (2 missions back to back) and my HRM (not the one on the treadmill, the one that I wear) said that I burned 597 calories during that hour.

Now, I am 80lbs overweight and my heart rate during my moments when I was really pushing it was around 174 and would drop down to 130ish when I was going slower. 597 calories burned just seems like A LOT, especially for only one hour. I wasn't even running… I'd probably have a heart attack if I tried running right now anyway. I was sweating my nonexistent balls off the entire time as it was.

I want to track my exercise calories, but I don't know if I should really log 597. Do you guys think this sounds correct or I should log something else?

Replies

  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    HRMs are designed for steady state cardio, and the formula they use to calculate calorie burn is pretty much useless for interval training. *sad trombone*

    That being said, I also do interval training like that, and I log the calorie burn from my HRM. I just don't eat all of those exercise calories back; I aim for 50% or less to account for errors in calculation. It's been working for me in terms of weight loss.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Weight loss takes a whole lot of trial & error to find what works for you. And calorie burns are all estimates. So trust your HRM for two weeks, then reevaluate. If you haven't lost, start eating back half your exercise calories.

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • MagnumBurrito
    MagnumBurrito Posts: 1,070 Member
    An hour of heavy sweating will burn a good amount calories.. 600 seems legit.
  • csontos
    csontos Posts: 76 Member
    HRMs are designed for steady state cardio, and the formula they use to calculate calorie burn is pretty much useless for interval training. *sad trombone*

    That being said, I also do interval training like that, and I log the calorie burn from my HRM. I just don't eat all of those exercise calories back; I aim for 50% or less to account for errors in calculation. It's been working for me in terms of weight loss.
    My overall speed throughout the hour only varied between 0.5mph. During the "runs", I would just increase my speed by 0.5mph, and then drop it back down once they were over.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    How far did you run, how much do you weight? That's all you need to calculate calories burned running.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    174 is a fairly high heart rate, you would have been using some oxygen and burning stuff at that. Remember the HRM includes your calories that MFP already accounts for in terms of BMR and routine lifestyle, maybe take 80 off the reading for that.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Doesn't sound crazy to me. At 136 lbs I can burn 400 calories in one hour walking on the treadmill (3.5 mph, 5-6% incline).
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Delete.
  • csontos
    csontos Posts: 76 Member
    Thanks guys. I decided to allow myself to eat back only half of it. I was also on a 2.5% incline so hopefully it was kind of accurate.
  • blgmw2
    blgmw2 Posts: 171 Member
    Doesn't sound crazy to me. At 136 lbs I can burn 400 calories in one hour walking on the treadmill (3.5 mph, 5-6% incline).

    This!

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