calories burned and HRM

mazman83
mazman83 Posts: 12 Member
edited September 24 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi

I got myself a HRM and used it today at the gym.

I used the elliptical trainer as usual and on the machine it said I burned 250 calories, but my hrm said I burned 465 cal.

Which should I trust?

Replies

  • weeble2008
    weeble2008 Posts: 147 Member
    bump
  • phitme
    phitme Posts: 124
    As long as your HRM is set to your stats, trust it. Machines are notorious for being wrong.
  • Nataliethin81
    Nataliethin81 Posts: 315
    I would definitely trust your HRM!
  • Kristie18
    Kristie18 Posts: 332 Member
    If all your info is set on the HRM go with that. That has to feel good knowing you did way more then the treadmill said.
  • tashalamping
    tashalamping Posts: 1
    Mine is usually higher too.... I don't know why. Because usually they say the machines overestimate calorie burn. Have you calibrated you HRM? The directions say to walk for so long so fast and then pick up the pace for so long. I haven't done this and I hope it doesn't effect my results. I did enter my date of birth and other info when I first bought it. I usually try to just eat 1/2 of my exercise calories anyway just to be safe.
  • NanBar
    NanBar Posts: 283 Member
    Depends on whether you have a good HRM or not. Does it have a chest strap? Have you set it to your specs? There seems to be a lot of junk out there- so without knowing more- it would be hard to judge.
  • bethann1976
    bethann1976 Posts: 49
    My HRM (I do have one w a chest strap) is always approx 20% lower than what the machines say. Go figure. In any event, I would trust the HRM. Do you glance at it once in a while to make sure it seems to be functioning properly? Sometimes, and I have NO IDEA why, mine picks up interference and shoots up to a HR of like 250, when I'm barely doing anything. And god forbid you put your hands under an electric hand dryer while wearing the watch. It makes it go nuts!!
  • mazman83
    mazman83 Posts: 12 Member
    If all your info is set on the HRM go with that. That has to feel good knowing you did way more then the treadmill said.

    Ah yes it did :)

    I'm happy to go with the HRM but before I was loggin my calories based on what the machine told me. That surely must have affected my net calories. I've obviously not been eating all my calories if there is a big difference like that.
  • mazman83
    mazman83 Posts: 12 Member
    I got it for £30, and it does have a chest strap. It is coded as well so it shouldn't interfere with other machines and devices.

    I am pretty sure I set my stats properly but I'll double check that.

    I was constantly checking the bpm and there was continuous input, so it looked to be working fine.

    My concern is for the last month since I started MFP I have been going by the calories I burn on the machine. So for example I would have burn 800 calories and would eat as much of those back. But if I actually burned 1500 calories going by the hrm then I would be well under my calorie goal.

    True?
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    If it has been estimating x, and you burned x+400 then yep! You would still have been far under your calorie goals.

    In fact, check out how much weight you've lost so far... That is a great indicator that you are doing things well! Great work! :bigsmile:
  • mazman83
    mazman83 Posts: 12 Member
    Thanks :)

    I guess I will see what difference the hrm makes in the coming weeks.
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