HRM & Tachycardia

OrangeBabelfish
OrangeBabelfish Posts: 67 Member
edited November 8 in Fitness and Exercise
How accurate are HRM calorie burn counters for a person with tachycardia?

I am easily at 120 bpm even when just standing up. I go on the treadmill at a reasonable pace, still able to talk, yet my HRM is at 190 or above.

Running a half marathon, I max out at about 207-208 and average 196 for the time I run. With gym machines and apparently MFP also overestimating calorie burn, would an HRM work for me or will it not work because of the higher readings my heart would give?

Replies

  • dazwan
    dazwan Posts: 81 Member
    edited November 2014
    deleted! (is there a way to actually remove a post?)
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    It won't work well, since your body doesn't work as hard as typical people with the same HR, so your calorie burn is lower. If your tachycardia is stable (no erratic swings) i suppose you could subtract a percentage of the HR, but finding that percentage would be difficult (an exercise lab at a university could help with that).

    Just curious - have you tried any treatments for it?
  • dazwan
    dazwan Posts: 81 Member
    You could just rely on the MFP guestimates for calorie burn. Its probably going to be more accurate than your HRM with tachycardia.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    I asked this question forever ago and never got an answer...been seeing so many people on here with tachycardia lately!

    I have personally opted not to get one, given that my HR can maintain around 190-200+ while exercising. I personally just use the guesstimates provided by the machine or MFP, and eat back a small portion of my exercise calories to accomodate the potential over estimation.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    If your HRM allows, you can estimate your actual max HR (rather than the default number) and enter your resting heart rate. This should set up a more accurate "scale" for your individual HR response. This might improve the accuracy somewhat. If you have an HRM that cannot make those adjustments, then I don't know if you have any options. even under optimal conditions, HRMs have limited use for estimating calories, so I don't know if you are missing much.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    missiontofitness wrote: »
    I asked this question forever ago and never got an answer...been seeing so many people on here with tachycardia lately!

    I have personally opted not to get one, given that my HR can maintain around 190-200+ while exercising. I personally just use the guesstimates provided by the machine or MFP, and eat back a small portion of my exercise calories to accomodate the potential over estimation.

    That's as good a plan as any.
  • OrangeBabelfish
    OrangeBabelfish Posts: 67 Member
    Thanks guys! I figured as much that it'd be pretty void of functionality due to my heart rate, but everyone is raving about it as being more accurate for burn, so I was keen to find out. I guess the MFP guesstimates are going to be the way to go. They are already generally about 10% below the machine, so I'll deduct another 25% off the MFP ones and hopefully that should be reasonably accurate!
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    OrangeBabelfish wrote: »
    Thanks guys! I figured as much that it'd be pretty void of functionality due to my heart rate, but everyone is raving about it as being more accurate for burn, so I was keen to find out. I guess the MFP guesstimates are going to be the way to go. They are already generally about 10% below the machine, so I'll deduct another 25% off the MFP ones and hopefully that should be reasonably accurate!

    Sounds like a plan! And if it doesn't seem to be working, eat back a little less. :)
  • OrangeBabelfish
    OrangeBabelfish Posts: 67 Member
    I need something that works. I started 2-3 weeks ago in earnest after coming back from a 3 week holiday in the States, and despite busting my gut, I am only gaining weight. Even when drinking gallons of herbal tea to flush out everything.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories