Heart Rate Monitor and Calories burned

casshole
casshole Posts: 68 Member
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
So I have this Mio Drive HRM. I absolutely love it, but I'm concerned about what it says about calories burned during a workout. My height, weight, age, and resting HR are all in it correctly, but it shows that (at usually 75-80% of my max HR) I almost always burn twice as many calories as any of the calorie burn calculators you can find online. I was wondering if anyone had advice or inside info on if HRMs are generally foolproof, or if maybe this specific HRM has been known to have glitches, perhaps? Im just hoping that I am actually burning as many cals as it says! Thanks all!

Replies

  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    I'm going to guess that the HRM is correct over the online or on machine calorie counters. Which is good for you :) Give us an example of the numbers you are getting, and maybe we can tell you if it seems correct for us (for example, my hrm tells me that I burn 800 calories for an hour of zumba very consistently, so I believe it even though it's way more than the estimations you can find online)
  • casshole
    casshole Posts: 68 Member
    This morning it said I had burned 835 calories doing 60 minutes of walking, though I did do some running to keep my heart rate up. It also states that i burn about 650 calories doing 45 minutes of Tae Bo and such.
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
    Thats sounds about right to me with your elevated heart rate for 60 minutes.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
    The walking seems high to me too but maybe we all just burn differently. I know when I got my first HRM it was a bugger to set up. It used V02 max and when I first got it, it was set too high causing my calories to be crazy high. Not sure if that is your issue or you are just burning that much. I walked all summer long and never burned that many calories in 1 walk and for the most part I power walked.
  • iluvsparkles
    iluvsparkles Posts: 1,730 Member
    that sounds fairly accurate to me. As you know, weight is a factor in how the calories are counted. The more you weigh, the more calories you burn (it is all relative) So for example, a 130 lb tiny girl could burn 400 calories doing an hour of jogging, where a 200 lb girl might burn 700 calories doing the exact same thing.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,758 Member
    I did a quick search on your hrm. Is yours strapless? How often do you check your heart rate when you work out? HRMs with a strap tend to be more accurate since they continually monitor your heart rate instead of having to think about pressing a button when you change your intensity. That could also account for the higher calories burned.
  • Iceprincessk25
    Iceprincessk25 Posts: 1,888 Member
    It's super important to make sure you get a HRM with a strap. They're a pain in the butt unfortunately BUT.....they're waaaaay more accurate than just the wrist watch style.
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