My HRM made me sad

does your HRM have a chest strap?

More sad new, even the machines at the gym don't give an accurate reading...At least, now you are better informed about what your actually calorie burn is and you will begin to see changes based on accurate information.

DON'T WORRY...BE HAPPY

Last night I finally did a real workout with my new HRM. It set my minimum heart rate at 114 and my max at 152.

48 minutes on the stationary bike at the high end of my heart rate zone (average 144 bpm) + 14 minutes doing a Denise Austin workout on-demand where my heart rate was well over my max (avg 185).

254 calories burned.

Really? MFP says 60 minutes on the stationary bike at moderate effort would be 526.

This makes me sad, but perhaps this is why religiously eating right and finally exercising regularly for the first time in my life isn't getting me the dramatic results that it should?

That does seem a little low but the other number was way too high. What kind of HRM and does it have a chest strap? I'm only 5'2" and 123lbs and burn about 300 Jillian Michaels no more Trouble Zones for 40 minutes. And you probably have more lean muscle mass than I do.

Welcome to the real world. I sometimes see the number of calories some people burn when working out and think what world are they working out in because it is very unlikely they burned that much. I will stick with the lower numbers of my HRM and be happy that up to this point my weight loss has been pretty steady. Some upward blips, but month by month I keep losing.

Welcome to the real world. I sometimes see the number of calories some people burn when working out and think what world are they working out in because it is very unlikely they burned that much. I will stick with the lower numbers of my HRM and be happy that up to this point my weight loss has been pretty steady. Some upward blips, but month by month I keep losing.

Yes, I think you're right. It's just frustrating to see people post 1.5 hour eliptical workouts and burn 800 calories!

The lesson here may be to not covet thy neighbors' burns :glasses:

They are not burning that many calories. It frustrates me to no end when people overeat because they think they earned all of those calories. If it was THAT easy, everyone in the world would be thin.

You should be happy you have the CORRECT knowledge so you can make better decisions.

Welcome to the real world. I sometimes see the number of calories some people burn when working out and think what world are they working out in because it is very unlikely they burned that much. I will stick with the lower numbers of my HRM and be happy that up to this point my weight loss has been pretty steady. Some upward blips, but month by month I keep losing.

Yes, I think you're right. It's just frustrating to see people post 1.5 hour eliptical workouts and burn 800 calories!

The lesson here may be to not covet thy neighbors' burns :glasses:

They are not burning that many calories. It frustrates me to no end when people overeat because they think they earned all of those calories. If it was THAT easy, everyone in the world would be thin.

You should be happy you have the CORRECT knowledge so you can make better decisions.

I have a heart rate monitor that I wear around my chest and I HAVE burned that many calories in 90 minutes of intense elliptical workouts.

You stated that your HRM said you were averaging 144 for for 48 minutes (in the fat burning zone) and only 14 minutes where you maxed out at 185 (high intensity). While your body will burn a higher percentage of calories from fat in your fat burning zone at lower intensities, it is still better to workout at higher intensities as you will burn more calories in total which is what we all want when losing weight. So if you bring up the intensity you will notice that you are burning more calories in the same time frame.

I do agree with everyone else about MFP greatly exaggerating the amounts burned during workouts. I've used a HRM almost from the start so I feel more confident about what I'm logging.

Hope that helps :-)

Hi fellow horsey OP, :flowerforyou: I think the key will be to do as others also mentioned and kick the workout up a few notches. If you'd like to keep using the bike, it can still be done. I've burned 500-700 in 45 min spinning classes no problem. The key will be to elevate your HR with some good high resistance sprints. Try 3 mintutes at your nomral workout speed, and then haul *kitten* full out for 30-60 seconds...then back down to normal, and repeat That's what I do (except on the treadmill) a couple times a week, worked into my normal running. I run for at least an hour 6 days a week.