Zumba calories VS HRM

AngelWings0609
AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
Okay so here's the thing.... I wore my HRM while doing Zumba today and it said 100 calories for 25 minutes.. BUT there is a web site (MFP said the same thing) that said for my 25 minutes of Zumba should have been a calorie burn of 282-360! I don't know what to believe. I'd love to log the 200+ but I also don't want to over shoot anything either.. What would you do?

Replies

  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    Needless to say I logged the 100 calories in fear of over logging the calories. I am pretty sure I did the right things, but figured I'd ask for some advise! Thank you!
  • leanjes6886
    leanjes6886 Posts: 2
    following...
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    You will probably get a better estimate of your calorie burn from your HRM, assuming that its settings are accurate. MFP has no idea how hard you actually worked.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
    edited December 2014
    Use 60% of your HRM number. That should cover it no matter what you are doing. You have to understand that your HRM cannot truly measure calories burned .. it can only detect your heartrate bpm. The calorie number is just some fancy math calculation some programmer made up .. and is very very often over inflated. In your case .. I would check that your stats are correctly entered. But .. unless it is defective, and you can probably tell based on your HR displayed. A figure above 160 should be a reasonably good effort .. if you are at 120 not so much.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    So what would be the best thing to use to figure out calories burned for Zumba? :\
  • ShondaBihari
    ShondaBihari Posts: 14 Member
    Trust your HRM. Pre-determined calorie counts are just averages. They cannot tell how hard you are pushing yourself but your HRM can. Keep an eye on your HR as you exercise and you will notice immediately if it's off. Like for example my HR dropped from 168 to 79 because my chest strap needed to be adjusted.
  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    Sounds great! I figured the lower number was the best to stick with but wanted some confirmation! Thank you! :)
  • DaveC29
    DaveC29 Posts: 232 Member
    I use my HRM numbers as they are based on actual heart rate, VO2 max, age and weight. It normally is less than the MFP numbers as I get more fit (lower heart rate).

    This has been true for all the aerobic activities I do (cycling and running) and it is quite a bit different when I wear it for my core and workout sessions.

    Hope this helps!

  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    ShondaBihari wrote: »
    Trust your HRM. Pre-determined calorie counts are just averages. They cannot tell how hard you are pushing yourself but your HRM can. Keep an eye on your HR as you exercise and you will notice immediately if it's off. Like for example my HR dropped from 168 to 79 because my chest strap needed to be adjusted.

    Good idea, I'll check this. I've often noticed that it will lose its connection to the watch depending on what I'm doing. I've got a polar FT4.
  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    DaveC29 wrote: »
    I use my HRM numbers as they are based on actual heart rate, VO2 max, age and weight. It normally is less than the MFP numbers as I get more fit (lower heart rate).

    This has been true for all the aerobic activities I do (cycling and running) and it is quite a bit different when I wear it for my core and workout sessions.

    Hope this helps!

    Indeed it does! I've noticed that from weighing 279 pounds to 190-193, I don't burn as much, I've got to work twice as hard for the same high calorie burns I once had! Thank you!
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    angelwings22 wrote: »
    Okay so here's the thing.... I wore my HRM while doing Zumba today and it said 100 calories for 25 minutes.. BUT there is a web site (MFP said the same thing) that said for my 25 minutes of Zumba should have been a calorie burn of 282-360! I don't know what to believe. I'd love to log the 200+ but I also don't want to over shoot anything either.. What would you do?

    I would not believe anything that is posted on FB at least calorie wise. Make sure that the HRM is setup correctly. Height, weight, age et.

    I would then wear the unit 3 more times to zumba and take the avg.
  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    I'll try this! Thank you!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    What kind of HRM do you have? Does it have a chest strap? Because 4 calories a minute is what you'd burn walking 2mph at 160lbs. Zumba would have most people up closer to 10, and maybe more if they're obese.

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/weight-loss/in-depth/exercise/art-20050999?pg=2
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I'm sorry to tell you this, but the odds are pretty good that even your HRM is over-estimating.

    How far can you run in 25 minutes?
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    angelwings22 wrote: »
    Okay so here's the thing.... I wore my HRM while doing Zumba today and it said 100 calories for 25 minutes.. BUT there is a web site (MFP said the same thing) that said for my 25 minutes of Zumba should have been a calorie burn of 282-360! I don't know what to believe. I'd love to log the 200+ but I also don't want to over shoot anything either.. What would you do?

    Heart rate monitors are generally best for steady state cardio. Personally, I'd go with the HRM because the numbers at websites are generally inflated.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Kevalicious99 wrote: »
    Use 60% of your HRM number. That should cover it no matter what you are doing. You have to understand that your HRM cannot truly measure calories burned .. it can only detect your heartrate bpm. The calorie number is just some fancy math calculation some programmer made up .. and is very very often over inflated. In your case .. I would check that your stats are correctly entered. But .. unless it is defective, and you can probably tell based on your HR displayed. A figure above 160 should be a reasonably good effort .. if you are at 120 not so much.

    I eat all my calories back from my HRM, and I've been maintaining a normal weight for a year. I ate them all back too when I was losing.
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,895 MFP Moderator
    I have a fitbit and I log half of what it says. You would have burned some of those calories even if you were sleeping, so if you want to be accurate on what you burned for the Zumba you have to only count some of those cals. I think half is a little low, to be honest, but I would rather log a little low than too high (which I did for a long time when I first joined MFP).
  • AngelWings0609
    AngelWings0609 Posts: 105 Member
    I do have a HRM with a chest strap. It's set to my weight, height, and sex. I'm weighing in at 193 at the highest right now. I try not eating back the calories I work off anyways. I've got days where I'm more hungry then others, but I'm normally okay with the calories I have set (1460).
  • amwoidyla
    amwoidyla Posts: 257 Member
    I wear my non chest strap HRM to Zumba and I regularly burn an average of 550 calories in a 55 minute class. My instructor does almost exclusively hip hop and it's hard, which is why I get such a high burn. There's another instructor who does all "real" zumba and I burned around 250 in the same time frame, which was super disappointing. I've been doing it long enough that if my HRM reflects a number that I don't feel is accurate, I'll adjust it.

    I think sometimes Zumba gets a bad rap sometimes. It really comes down to your instructors choreography and what you put into it. I lost most of my weight when I went was going 2-3 times a week!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    amwoidyla wrote: »

    I think sometimes Zumba gets a bad rap sometimes. It really comes down to your instructors choreography and what you put into it. I lost most of my weight when I went was going 2-3 times a week!
    I hear great things about zumba, but it makes my hips hurt pretty bad so I don't do it. I am also nit big on exercise classes.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    That sounds low even if you are in shape. I burn around 300 calories for 55 minutes with my hrm. That's without jumping, but in the zone for most of it. I weigh 126.

    Also, don't jump if it hurts - it won't reduce the workout by much and it will not hurt hips, knees and other stuff.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Neither is accurate, but I would tend to believe the HRM because the other is probably based on someone who put in a more intense workout than you did.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    This is why most people only eat back half of the calories burned.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    That sounds low even if you are in shape. I burn around 300 calories for 55 minutes with my hrm. That's without jumping, but in the zone for most of it. I weigh 126.

    Also, don't jump if it hurts - it won't reduce the workout by much and it will not hurt hips, knees and other stuff.

    Not sure if the jumping party is in reply to my post about hurting hips, but there was no jumping. My knees felt fine, not my hips.

    I also won't do yoga because my lower back always hurts afterward, even though I've been told I'm using proper form. :)

  • OrangeBabelfish
    OrangeBabelfish Posts: 67 Member
    Zumba is pretty high energy though. What is your height/current weight?

    I can't use a HRM because I have tachycardia, so it'd majorly overestimate anything I do. But for me (5'5 female, about 140lb) if I compare my running cals to be about 600-700 per hour, I don't think estimating 200-300 calories per hour would be that much out of the realms of possibility because I do work up a proper sweat doing it!
  • leahcollett1
    leahcollett1 Posts: 807 Member
    i too use a hrm for zumba - last night i worked really really hard and burned 690 calories for the hour :)
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    Activity trackers that sit on your wrist also track heart rate, but not as accurately as HRMs.
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