HRM giving too high of calorie burn?

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RebeccaMae1983
RebeccaMae1983 Posts: 35 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I got a HRM because I starting mixing in some running with my walking and thought it would give a more accurate calorie burn then guessing with MFP.

I walked/ran for 1hr 25 min this morning more fast walking then running. My resting heart rate was 60 and after I had been walking awhile I checked and it was 115. After my short spurts of running I would check and my heart rate was always around 150 or higher. At the end of my walk I did a final heart rate check and it was 113 and it gave me a calorie burn of 1018 calories...... This sounds high to me but maybe not with the speed of my walking and running?

I have never used a HRM before and people say they are more accurate. This one does ask your weight, age, sex to figure in calorie burn also.

Should I go by my HRM or just use the MFP estimated calorie burn.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    you should use a HRM with a chest strap so that it's constantly monitoring...it will be more accurate than the other kinds. It's still an estimate though and big spikes in your HR are going to inflate your numbers...in reality, your HR doesn't determine your burn, it's just used in an algorithm to determine a reasonable level of VO2 max that you are working...which really also requires a steady state cardio event. The further you get from steady state cardio, the less accurate it will be.

    There is no way you burned 1000 + calories in a little over an hour of walking/running...maybe if you were running the entire time at about a 10 minute mile pace, but not walk/run intervals...no way.
  • Nitro2310
    Nitro2310 Posts: 37 Member
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    they all tie into it if you set it up right 85 minutes is a long cardio session and depending on your intensity its probally right I use mine all the time on StairMaster running and ,body attack classes me I would trust it
  • Cortelli
    Cortelli Posts: 1,369 Member
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    It is reasonably well-settled how many calories one burns when either walking or running. The basic formulas are:

    Walking Excess Calories Burned = Body Weight x 0.3 x miles walked
    Running Excess Calories Burned = Body Weight x 0.63 x miles run

    In your case, assuming you know the total miles traveled (drive your route if you need to, watching your odometer), plugging in your own body weight, and making reasonable estimates on how much of that was running versus walking should get you a pretty decent estimate of your excess calorie burns (beyond what you'd burn by just sitting at home).

    Good informative articles summarizing some of the research:

    Original article: http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single
    Follow-up 2014: http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/running-v-walking-how-many-calories-will-you-burn

    Note in the update he only provides "gross" calories burned (not net), but the most recent study's gross calories burned are remarkably close to the gross calories burned in the earlier studies.
  • RebeccaMae1983
    RebeccaMae1983 Posts: 35 Member
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    Just logging the walking at a brisk pace MFP says 465 calories at my current weight.
    I would say my walking falls between brisk and very brisk and there is walking uphill, downhill, and flat roads on my walk.
    Because I was mixing up walking and running and the entire walk is not even flat road I decided on the HRM to help get a better number.

    I will look into getting the chest strap HRM that constantly monitors though. I'm just at a loss as to what to record today's exercise as.

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