Need help with HRM and calories burned

karoline8
karoline8 Posts: 14
edited September 27 in Fitness and Exercise
I have a question for those of you with heart rate monitors.

I just bought a Polar FT4 last night so that I can see how many calories I'm actually burning in a workout. I've heard many people say that they get different calorie burn readings from their HRMs compared to what is provided on MFP. So here is my question - how do you enter a workout on MFP? Do you still enter in the correct number of minutes or do you change the minutes to match your calorie burn? Or is there another option that I'm missing?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks :smile:

Replies

  • breezymom81
    breezymom81 Posts: 499 Member
    You can click on the calories burned box and enter your own number
  • foxxybrown
    foxxybrown Posts: 838 Member
    Or you can create your own exercise and add your minutes and calories burned.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    Enter the correct number of minutes but override the calorie field to match what your HRM shows. With one adjustment, you need to subtract the amount of calories you would have burned anyway without the exercise. Go to My Home>>Goals and look at the number of calories burned during normal activity (shown on the right-hand side). This is your maintenance calories.

    For example, if maintenance is 1600 calories, you burn 1.11 calories per minute. (1600/24/60). Multiply this number by the number of minutes you exercised. Subtract the result from the number shown on your HRM. For example, if you exercised for 45 minutes, subtract 50 calories. (1.11*45).
  • ZoeLifts
    ZoeLifts Posts: 10,347 Member
    bizco: I'm curious why an adjustment needs to be made each time to mfp goals if you are inputting your own calories burned based off of your HRM? Does it not calculate it correctly once you input your more accurate information? And is about 50 calories difference a big enough difference to need to adjust each time?

    I'm just curious because it seems like an awful lot of extra steps to go through for 50 calories.
  • marianne_s
    marianne_s Posts: 983 Member
    I've wondered the same thing - why subtract your BMR calories?

    The way I see it, if in a given hour you burned 100 calories doing nothing (BMR)... but instead exercised and burned 300.... why would you subtract the 100?

    Because at the end of the day, all the calories that you burn (at rest or during exercise) is still going into the same big pot to make up your total for the day.

    I have a KiFit (UK BodyMedia Fit), and when I check my history... I can see my calorie burn for the hour I exercised, after exercise, slept, or whatever... either way it still makes up the total calorie burn for the day (usually 2800+).

    confused...
    :huh:
  • karoline8
    karoline8 Posts: 14
    Thanks guys!

    I probably won't factor in BMR when inputting exercise because I think you burn those calories no matter what...it's my understanding that exercise calories are what you are burning on top of whatever your body would be doing at rest. I rarely eat back all my exercise calories anyway, so I'm not sure that it would make a huge difference.
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