Hrm vs machines (actual calorie burn)

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jackier19
jackier19 Posts: 24 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
To all my mfp friends, please invest in a heart rate monitor. I didn't realize how important they are until today. The curves computer said I burned 1031 calories. My hrm said......311!!!! What a MAJOR difference! This completely changes my daily amount. I was over eating to get to my 1200 net calories and had no idea! Hopefully I'll lose my last 5 lbs since I know what I'm really burning!
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  • dalbers
    dalbers Posts: 61
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    Machines quite often exagerate their caloric burn. Elipticals are famous for this.

    Keep training hard!!!
  • jackier19
    jackier19 Posts: 24 Member
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    Yes! My elliptical said after 4 min, I burned 60 calories and my hrm said 33! It's so crazy how they can be so off. Where do they get these crazy high numbers?
  • ChristineM1953
    ChristineM1953 Posts: 135 Member
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    Any suggestions on the best heart rate monitor to get? I have seen several different types, and wonder which is best.
  • lacotter
    lacotter Posts: 4
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    if you work out at the gym a lot, the POLAR brands are good b/c they are compatible with most of the machines and with the spinning bike computers (if your gym has those).
  • MTLumps
    MTLumps Posts: 82 Member
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    I totally agree. I love, love, love my HRM - I feel so much 'safer' putting in the calories it records. Machines and even websites have to use approximations with all the people using them.
  • emilytgs24
    emilytgs24 Posts: 90 Member
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    So true! My husband and I waited until we were in maintenance mode to buy HRM-and have regretted it ever since! I would recommend to anyone to buy them at the start of your program, not the end! One with a chest strap is a must because it will be more accurate.
  • jackier19
    jackier19 Posts: 24 Member
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    After research and asking other members on this site, I decided to go with the polar ft40! It's so awesome. It keeps track of you hr, calorie burn, and tells you which mode you are in (fat burning or fitness). It remembers 50 workouts and helps you monitor your progress. And the best part of a hrm is it's completely geared to you! It accounts for your height, weight, age, and gender (which all contribute to your calorie burn). The healthier you are, the harder your body has to work to burn calories!
  • chantalicious
    chantalicious Posts: 68
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    I bought the Polar F6 off of craigslist this weekend for $50.00 and I LOVE it! It's amazing how accurate it is when you set up your RHR and your THR zones.
  • sophieshaped
    sophieshaped Posts: 228 Member
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    Can I hijack this post and ask a question?

    I have just bought a HRM and burned 300 cals in a 37 min workout. Should I be deducting the number of cals I would have burnt had I been resting for that time? e.g. so that I'm only entering EXTRA cals burnt?

    And if so, shall I just wear it for an hour to get an idea of a resting burn rate?

    Thanks in advance for any help :o)
  • jackier19
    jackier19 Posts: 24 Member
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    It's so true! I wish I would have had mine from the beginning!
  • CaraRadz
    CaraRadz Posts: 169 Member
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    I have a Polar FT7, and I've actually found that it tells me that I am burning more calories than the machines say at the gym. I've also found that the number of calories I burn during spin class fall between the MFP calorie counts for "Spinning" and "Stationary Bike - Vigorous Effort."
  • Impala007
    Impala007 Posts: 293 Member
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    I just got done this afternoon with my first workout with my new HRM (Polar ft7). I was real curious to see how the cal burn would compare to my t-mill. I wrote down some numbers that I will share....
    mill vs HRM
    150 vs 88 cals
    300 vs 210
    410 vs 305
    742 vs 656 60minutes

    Closer than I thought it would be.... my theory is the t-mill doesn't take into account getting your HR up to speed hence it registers higher initially, but pretty much stays even after that. If you do a proper cooldown at the end of the workout the gap narrows as you can see from the last set of numbers. Had I continued to cooldown the gap would have narrowed even further.

    And there you have my unscientific 2 cents.
  • BobL436
    BobL436 Posts: 43 Member
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    This is true. I just bought a garmin HRM and the difference is huge! My stationary bike tells me I burn 1300-1500 calories per hour, my HRM is about 800-900 per hour. The HRM is the way to go...
  • baypathgradLyns
    baypathgradLyns Posts: 639 Member
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    When I had my HRM, it would tell me I was burning almost twice the calories than what the elliptical was telling me...I knew something wasn't right...not sure which was correct...
  • stevemcknight
    stevemcknight Posts: 647 Member
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    To all my mfp friends, please invest in a heart rate monitor. I didn't realize how important they are until today. The curves computer said I burned 1031 calories. My hrm said......311!!!! What a MAJOR difference! This completely changes my daily amount. I was over eating to get to my 1200 net calories and had no idea! Hopefully I'll lose my last 5 lbs since I know what I'm really burning!

    YES YES YES YES!!!!!!

    I've been trying to bash this into my clients brains for years now. They program machines to inflate the numbers to help sell them. Not only that - but many of these treadmills/ellipticals include the calories that you would have burnt just laying on the couch watching netflix. Never ever ever ever trust them! EVERYONE! Get a HRM that has a chest strap and even then, underestimate a bit!
  • stevemcknight
    stevemcknight Posts: 647 Member
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    Can I hijack this post and ask a question?

    I have just bought a HRM and burned 300 cals in a 37 min workout. Should I be deducting the number of cals I would have burnt had I been resting for that time? e.g. so that I'm only entering EXTRA cals burnt?

    And if so, shall I just wear it for an hour to get an idea of a resting burn rate?

    Thanks in advance for any help :o)

    Right on! We all need to remember to only adjust for ADDITIONAL calories burnt, not just total. Good thinking!
  • blakeym
    blakeym Posts: 97 Member
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    if you work out at the gym a lot, the POLAR brands are good b/c they are compatible with most of the machines and with the spinning bike computers (if your gym has those).

    I use a Polar F6 and a Sole F63 Treadmill. The treadmill compared to the chest receiver is drastically different. I have to believe that the best method is using the Polar watch and the chest strap.
  • cgsamp
    cgsamp Posts: 5
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    I got the Digifit app and connector for my iphone. Works well- I really wanted a graph of my heart rate as I do intervals.

    The biggest thing I learned from it was that I was sandbagging on my intensity. I'd feel tired and look- I was only at 73% of max. Time to suck it up! It helps me calibrate how it feels at different exertion levels as well.
  • sbussard
    sbussard Posts: 32
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    Good Morning Steve,

    Could you please recommend a few Hrm's.

    Thank you!
  • jackier19
    jackier19 Posts: 24 Member
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    Polar ft40 is what I have and I LOVE it! If you are in the beginning of your weight loss journey, I highly recommend it! I wish I would have gotten mine in the beginning. Any polar brand is supposed to be really good.

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