Polar FT60 & Fat Calories

The "fat calories" burned is a gimmick (even more so than total calories burned).

Ignore it.

I believe this will help

http://www.polar.com/us-en/training_with_polar/training_articles/improve_fitness/exercise_zones

When you exercise, if you are using

60-70% of your maximum hr, you will predominantly burn fat for energy
70-80% burns fat and carb for energy
Above 80% and you will mostly be burning carb for energy

So, for example, you're 38. The most common used calculation for determining maximum heart rate is

220-age = 220-38, which gives you a maximum hr of 182bpm

60% - 70% of maximum hr = 109bpm - 127bpm fat burning zone
70% - 80% = 127bpm - 145bpm fat + carb burning zone(won't be exactly 50/50)
80%+ = 145bpm carb burning zone

So, if your hrm reported that 20% of your calories burned was from fat, that means the remaining 80% was from carb.

I believe this will help

http://www.polar.com/us-en/training_with_polar/training_articles/improve_fitness/exercise_zones

When you exercise, if you are using

60-70% of your maximum hr, you will predominantly burn fat for energy
70-80% burns fat and carb for energy
Above 80% and you will mostly be burning carb for energy

So, for example, you're 38. The most common used calculation for determining maximum heart rate is

220-age = 220-38, which gives you a maximum hr of 182bpm

60% - 70% of maximum hr = 109bpm - 127bpm fat burning zone
70% - 80% = 127bpm - 145bpm fat + carb burning zone(won't be exactly 50/50)
80%+ = 145bpm carb burning zone

So, if your hrm reported that 20% of your calories burned was from fat, that means the remaining 80% was from carb.

I'll repeat: for all of the fancy arithmetic, the fact remains: it is meaningless. It is a gimmick. It has no basis in fact.

This is an ex-parrot.

If the total calories burned is a gimmick, what do you believe is the best way to keep yourself accountable for cals in vs cals "out"?

Any measure of calorie expenditure is an approximation, whether a glorified pedometer like a FitBit, an exercise machine or a Heart Rate Monitor.

The HRM takes measured heart rate and extrapolates a calorie expenditure based on that, what you've told it about age, gender, build and current weight. At least with the FT60 it has an assessment of current fitness, which also plays a part.

The accuracy of the calorie count also depends on the type of exercise being done. For a long steady state session it'll be at its most accurate, for an interval session the algorithm used to extrapolate injects errors.

The main thing to think about is consistency, and an informed view on whether the measure is likely to be accurate or not. I have an FT60 myself and generally trust it for long runs, rides and rows, and treat it with some scepticism for interval training sessions.