heart rate monitor- 6 hours of wearing it

I decided to wear my HRM for 24 hours to really see how many cal I am burning. I dont know why except to say that I gues there is a tech geek inside of me wanting to see what i would learn,

I dont know if anyone will find this interesting but so far I have found out:

For the 1st 6 hours of wearing it I have burned an avg of 111.16 an hour. (I have a mostly desk job with some walking around). just by standing up and walking around a bit- my heart rate increases about 10 points

For my exercise last night I ran and walked the hills near my house and burned 373 an hour. So technically about 261 more cal an hour from exercise.

When I am sitting at my desk- my heart rate drops almost 10 points- same with driving!

I will continue to wear it today and through the night and post more info tomorrow- I hope I am not boring the crap out of people.

But I assume I can really predict how many cal I need a day by doing this- that makes sense, right???

Replies

  • mlillie
    mlillie Posts: 302
    I decided to wear my HRM for 24 hours to really see how many cal I am burning. I dont know why except to say that I gues there is a tech geek inside of me wanting to see what i would learn,

    I dont know if anyone will find this interesting but so far I have found out:

    For the 1st 6 hours of wearing it I have burned an avg of 111.16 an hour. (I have a mostly desk job with some walking around). just by standing up and walking around a bit- my heart rate increases about 10 points

    For my exercise last night I ran and walked the hills near my house and burned 373 an hour. So technically about 261 more cal an hour from exercise.

    When I am sitting at my desk- my heart rate drops almost 10 points- same with driving!

    I will continue to wear it today and through the night and post more info tomorrow- I hope I am not boring the crap out of people.

    But I assume I can really predict how many cal I need a day by doing this- that makes sense, right???
  • You don't sound like a geek at all, in fact, I just started thinking how I'd start being obsessive if I got one of those things, which I plan on doing soon. BTW which brand did you get?
    Good luck.
  • OomarianneoO
    OomarianneoO Posts: 689 Member
    Shooot. Not boring me at all. I'm interested to see what you come up with in a 24hr. period. I plan to do the same thing when I get my own HRM.
  • petunia
    petunia Posts: 336 Member
    I don't think you're obsessive either... :bigsmile:

    I wore mine (Polar F4) for about 22 hours (I'm not sure because it fell off sometime in the night) and I logged about 2200 calories in that time frame... it was a day I didn't exercise... so, I'm about 100 calories an hour also...

    I plan on doing it again soon, but lately I've been exercising almost every day!!

    I have a mostly desk job also...

    Let us know what you find out!

    BTW, I love my HRM... it rocks! :heart:
  • Fab140
    Fab140 Posts: 1,976 Member
    Yup, I'm interested!! lol. I'm a nerd when it comes to that stuff. I wonder what mine would say after two venti coffees......
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    Did mine, too. YOu should wear it on a day you don't exercise though to get better idea of your needed maintenance calories.
  • Phoenix_Rising
    Phoenix_Rising Posts: 11,417 Member
    Actually, I plan on doing the same thing!!

    Talked to DH about it yesterday. Going to pop it on tonight after 8p and stop tomorrow at 8p. (I don't exercise on weekends.) I'd like to see what I actually burn. I might even do this every Friday night through Saturday night and take a long term average.

    I think it's cool! Let us know how yours turns out.
  • mlillie
    mlillie Posts: 302
    Ok- so I just spoke to a personal trainer friend and she told me that the HRM was not designed for this type of calculation and it will predict way more cal than I need.

    She suggested tracking my deficit instead.
    Cal by BMR x 1.1 (sedentary job- this is higher for me on the weekends because I am more active) = cal I need a day + amount of cal burned for exercise then subtract 500 a day (if I want to try to get 1 lb a day or just track my deficit in general.

    So if I exercise and burn 400cal a day then I need about 1400 a day to create the deficit, etc.

    So I am taking off the monitor and freeing myself from it.

    It was kinda fun to see the heart rate drop at my desk though and makes me realize how much a sedentary job really affects weight gain.

    have a great weekend!!
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member

    She suggested tracking my deficit instead.
    Cal by BMR x 1.1 (sedentary job- this is higher for me on the weekends because I am more active) = cal I need a day + amount of cal burned for exercise then subtract 500 a day (if I want to try to get 1 lb a day or just track my deficit in general.

    So if I exercise and burn 400cal a day then I need about 1400 a day to create the deficit, etc.

    So I am taking off the monitor and freeing myself from it.

    It was kinda fun to see the heart rate drop at my desk though and makes me realize how much a sedentary job really affects weight gain.

    have a great weekend!!

    MFP already does that for you. That's how it gets your recommended daily calories......
  • mlillie
    mlillie Posts: 302
    But it doesnt change if dont exercise. She said to add in the cal of exercise and then subtract 500. With MFP I wont have a deficit at all if I dont exercise it will just remain the same. I would have to manipulate the cal each day.

    Another words my cal are so low with a 500 deficit and no exercise that to create one I would go under so instead I could do a little exercise and eat a little less to create a deficit. Does that make sense?

    I could go ahead and include the cal with a 500 deficit which would put me at 1101(too low) so everyday I would need to exercise either 400 cal (to bring it up to 1416) or mentally add 200 cal to food and burn 200. Because it is a fixed amount and doesnt change it makes it a little tricky which is why it was confusing for me previously. when she said that, it made more sense to me. Maybe I am just slower to learn! ha.
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
    But it doesnt change if dont exercise. She said to add in the cal of exercise and then subtract 500. With MFP I wont have a deficit at all if I dont exercise it will just remain the same. I would have to manipulate the cal each day.

    Another words my cal are so low with a 500 deficit and no exercise that to create one I would go under so instead I could do a little exercise and eat a little less to create a deficit. Does that make sense?

    I could go ahead and include the cal with a 500 deficit which would put me at 1101(too low) so everyday I would need to exercise either 400 cal (to bring it up to 1416) or mentally add 200 cal to food and burn 200. Because it is a fixed amount and doesnt change it makes it a little tricky which is why it was confusing for me previously. when she said that, it made more sense to me. Maybe I am just slower to learn! ha.

    Not sure I'm following your logic but MFP sets a built-in deficit for you based upon the formula you mentioned earlier MINUS how ever many calories needed to provide the weight loss you selected.

    So, the amount MFP suggests you eat every day is not your RMR (which is what some call the number arrived at using the formula you used) but your RMR MINUS {x} amount of calories needed to provide the weight loss you selected.

    And, if you record your exercise into MFP, it adds those exercise calories back into your daily allowance, so your deficit isn't too low.

    Again, not sure if I"m following your logic but it still seems to me that you're doing formula work on your own that MFP already does for you--which is why I love MFP because it makes it easy!