Heart Rate Monitor & Calories Burned

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sturchem
sturchem Posts: 15 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a HRM to get a more accurate picture of how many calories I am burning while exercising. My resting HR is 65 and the HRM says that at my resting HR, I burn appx 5 Kcal/min just sitting. That would mean that I burn 7200 calories/day just breathing. That doesn't seem right. Also, say I workout for 60 minutes and the HRM says that I burn 700 calories; should I deduct 300 calories from that total to factor in the 5/burned per min? Am I missing something here? Is there a difference b/t KCal and Calorie?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Emmy

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    HRMs are not accurate if your heart rate is not elevated. They only really work well during aerobic exercises. If you want to see calories burned druing the day you either need to get a body bug, or have your BMR tested.
  • SARAHWALKER25
    SARAHWALKER25 Posts: 50
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    I USED MINE LAST NIGHT ( WITH CHEST STRAP) i JOGGGED 3 1/2 MILES WITH AN AVERAGE HR OF 160-170 IT SAID I BURNED 600 CALS. THAT SEEMS LIKE A LOT!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    ... HRM says that I burn 700 calories; should I deduct 300 calories from that total to factor in the 5/burned per min? Am I missing something here? Is there a difference b/t KCal and Calorie?

    Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

    Emmy

    What you should deduct is the amount you would have burned had you not exercised. To get this take your maintenance calories divide by 24 then by 60 to get average cals burned per minute. Take that number and times it by the length of exercise and back those out. If your maintenance cals are 2300 you would have burned 1.6 cals per minute (2300/24/60) so in an hour that would be 96. Take your 700-96 to get extra cals burned from exercise.
  • dwazy
    dwazy Posts: 13
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    Hello there! I know it seems weird that you are burning that many calories by just sitting but it is true. If you want to make it simple just count the calories you burn exercising without making and adjustments. You will make yourself nuts trying to calculate everything else. Plus this is really your true calorie burn since you've already been doing something by just sitting there. What HRM did you purchase? I really want to buy one and don't want to spend a ton but also want a decent one. How do you like yours?
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Hello there! I know it seems weird that you are burning that many calories by just sitting but it is true. If you want to make it simple just count the calories you burn exercising without making and adjustments. You will make yourself nuts trying to calculate everything else. Plus this is really your true calorie burn since you've already been doing something by just sitting there. What HRM did you purchase? I really want to buy one and don't want to spend a ton but also want a decent one. How do you like yours?

    You do not burn that many just sitting there or your maintenance cals would be in the 6-7000 range when it is really in the 2000 range.
  • sturchem
    sturchem Posts: 15 Member
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    Thank you! That helps a lot!
  • sturchem
    sturchem Posts: 15 Member
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    dwazy,

    It's a new balance that I bought at Target. I have a friend who has a FitBit and after she uses that for a while, I may switch but I just wanted something more accurate than the MFP counts. It was telling me that an hour of kickboxing was burning 1200+ calories but the HRM showed closer to 800-900 depending on intensity.

    Overall, it's easy to use so far I like it.

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