New HRM - surprise calorie burn!

blobby10
blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
edited November 12 in Fitness and Exercise
Got a new HRM last week from my local Snap Fitness - it updates to my phone and pc on every visit . Was very surprised and not a little excited (!) to record a calorie expenditure of 692 from my morning workout (I was expecting around 400) I've heard of people overestimating the burn from their workouts compared to their HRM result but wondered how many others have had it this way round!! x

Replies

  • jen_2286
    jen_2286 Posts: 20 Member
    I had this too! Wore my HRM to the gym for the first time today and it was recording a higher calorie expenditure than the treadmill.. quite a bit higher in fact! My heart rate was really high though because I'm still so unfit.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    You don't give your stats or what your workout was so it is hard to say but almost 700 calories an hour is on the very high end.
    I'd be skeptical.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    jen_2286 wrote: »
    I had this too! Wore my HRM to the gym for the first time today and it was recording a higher calorie expenditure than the treadmill.. quite a bit higher in fact! My heart rate was really high though because I'm still so unfit.

    Ideally you want a HRM you can enter vo2 max which will allow it to account for fitness level.
    HR is not directly associated to calorie burn. Being unfit does not burn more calories.
    If you got quite a bit higher than the treadmill it is possible your HRM value is inflated
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I would be highly skeptical of an almost 700 calorie burn in a 60 minute workout.
  • ahoier
    ahoier Posts: 312 Member
    calorie burn will depend a lot on age, gender, and your weight.....i'd insure that your hrm is calibrated properly.....be sure the date of birth is set correct....and also that your weight is set correctly......obviously, a 300 lb male will burn more calories than a 178 lb male....i'm going through this now :) when i first started working out, a 30 minute elliptical session could clock in at/around 700 calories......now i gotta damn near hoof it hardcore to hit 500 calories......lol.

    with my properly calibrated hrm, and the machine set to the same calibration.....my hrm always clocks in a 'lower' calorie burn than mfp, and the machine......so i typically take the 'average' of all 3 values, and log that number :) gives a good ballpark estimate i suppose haha
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    blobby10 wrote: »
    Was very surprised and not a little excited (!) to record a calorie expenditure of 692 from my morning workout

    What were you doing?

    It sounds quite high, but that really depends on how fit you currently are and what type of training you were doing.
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
    edited February 2015
    My workout consisted of 15 mins arc trainer, 40 mins weights - squats, bench press, barbell row (5 x 5) then some additional chest exercise before heading to stairmaster for 20 mins on level 9 intensity when my effort went to 99%!! Total work out time of about 1hr 45 mins.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    blobby10 wrote: »
    My workout consisted of 15 mins arc trainer, 40 mins weights - squats, bench press, barbell row (5 x 5) then some additional chest exercise before heading to stairmaster for 20 mins on level 9 intensity when my effort went to 99%!! Total work out time of about 1hr 45 mins.


    HRMs are not effective for estimating calorie burns during strength training at all. You will get an inflated burn.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    blobby10 wrote: »
    My workout consisted of 15 mins arc trainer, 40 mins weights - squats, bench press, barbell row (5 x 5) then some additional chest exercise before heading to stairmaster for 20 mins on level 9 intensity when my effort went to 99%!! Total work out time of about 1hr 45 mins.

    that's not how an HRM is designed to operate, so you've got a massive overestimation.

    The linear relationship between HR and calorie expenditure that exists in the aerobic range doesn't exist in the anaerobic range.

    The research that underpins how HRMs estimate calorie expenditure are based on steady state aerobic range exertion.

  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
    Thanks for all the information - makes very interesting reading and Im very glad that I dont eat my exercise calories back! :p;)
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