Excessive calorie burn from driving

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cam891
cam891 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I've been driving for just over an hour in narrow roads and heavy traffic so i've been concentrating quite a lot and my heart rate was raised.

When driving my heart rate normally increased over my resting heart rate but this time it was between 100-125. I usually burn just under/over 100 calories when driving but according to my fitbit hr, I've burnt 558 calories!

I have noticed that when I occasionally drive Mon-Fri my weight loss is slightly higher.

I've posted a screenshot of my fitbit heart rate panel. Does anyone else experience a hr or calorie burn like this or is a) my heart rate way too high or b) could there be something wrong with my device.

Thanks!

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Replies

  • amyr271
    amyr271 Posts: 343 Member
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    I'm more interested about what happened at the start, did you die for a second?!
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    Sometimes people over think things like this. I do not count or even worry about calories from driving.
  • cam891
    cam891 Posts: 5 Member
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    amyr271 wrote: »
    I'm more interested about what happened at the start, did you die for a second?!

    :D Haha! Fortunately not, I was in the shower when it flat lined.
  • TommyC1234
    TommyC1234 Posts: 24 Member
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    I wish you burnt calories driving, I would find it hard to believe you burnt 600 while driving. I do about 3000 miles a month so it would be perfect!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    and that is the problem with wearable HR monitors

    the fitbit HR function is only of use during STEADY STATE CARDIO which driving isn't

    HR elevation <> calorie burn

    I hear there's some new HR monitors that are more supposed to be more useful outside the steady state field but have yet to see that
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    TomCraven1 wrote: »
    I wish you burnt calories driving, I would find it hard to believe you burnt 600 while driving. I do about 3000 miles a month so it would be perfect!

    I got a brand new car with 20 miles on it in November. I've put 6000 since ! And I thought I drove a lot but you take the cake !! Lol

    If driving really burnt all those calories then I would be stick thin. Lol !

    Don't get caught up in the small stuff op . count your intentional workouts as exercise and don't worry about the daily life stuff that burns calories . that is already accounted for in your calorie goal. Even if you listed yourself as sedentary, that still accounts for things like driving,walking to the car, walking to bathroom, showering and so on. It would be double dipping if you counted such activity.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
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    Don't confuse heart rate with calorie burn - you can't measure energy in heart beats.

    For cardio you can make a correlation between HR and estimated oxygen uptake and therefore energy expenditure but that doesn't extend to everyday life.

    Elevated HR from stress of driving doesn't mean you are burning a load of calories. You are still just sitting down (unless you are driving Fred Flintstone's car of course...).
  • vansnyder
    vansnyder Posts: 20 Member
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    I don't know, I think anything that brings your hr up that much for that long has to burn a little extra. As Tom said he drives a lot, but then he probably knows his route and it has become mundane, no big pulse changes. But if you are driving treachurous road conditions over a period of time it will burn extra calories. Unfortunately you can't plan that in or to keep that excitement up you would have to eventually be racing icy roads down mountains because you would need more and more stimulus. I had a 24 hour trip a couple years ago where I flew to boston and bought a truck and drove it back to Indiana non stop. I didn't eat well either but still dropped several pounds in 24 hours.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    vansnyder wrote: »
    I don't know, I think anything that brings your hr up that much for that long has to burn a little extra. As Tom said he drives a lot, but then he probably knows his route and it has become mundane, no big pulse changes. But if you are driving treachurous road conditions over a period of time it will burn extra calories. Unfortunately you can't plan that in or to keep that excitement up you would have to eventually be racing icy roads down mountains because you would need more and more stimulus. I had a 24 hour trip a couple years ago where I flew to boston and bought a truck and drove it back to Indiana non stop. I didn't eat well either but still dropped several pounds in 24 hours.

    If you dropped several pounds in 24 hours, this was a change in water weight. It wasn't calorie burns leading to fat loss.

    And while it seems like common sense that anything that brings your heart rate up that much has to burn calories, it isn't accurate. There are some good explanations above in this thread -- you should check them out.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    this can't be real …

    I mean you are going to try and count calories from "intense driving," are you kidding me? you are sitting down the whole time you are driving….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    some perspective - you did not burn 588 calories while sitting down operating a car ….typically you would need about a four mile run to burn that amount of calories and no way you were exerting yourself that much while sitting down ..
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    vansnyder wrote: »
    I don't know, I think anything that brings your hr up that much for that long has to burn a little extra. As Tom said he drives a lot, but then he probably knows his route and it has become mundane, no big pulse changes. But if you are driving treachurous road conditions over a period of time it will burn extra calories. Unfortunately you can't plan that in or to keep that excitement up you would have to eventually be racing icy roads down mountains because you would need more and more stimulus. I had a 24 hour trip a couple years ago where I flew to boston and bought a truck and drove it back to Indiana non stop. I didn't eat well either but still dropped several pounds in 24 hours.

    that's not how it works - sorry

    you burn calories by expending energy

    a HR to calorie conversion is based on, well basically look-up tables, where data was collected on Oxygen uptake during steady state cardio under lab conditions .. then a correlation was made under these conditions to the Heart Rate measured and a guestimate for the average person was created .. that's basically what underpins it in laymans terms

    not HR spikes but VO2
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    OP, I have never had this issue with my Charge HR but I have seen other people report it. You might want to check out the Fitbit group here or the forums on the Fitbit website for more information. I have heard that some people log "driving" as an activity for the time they are driving -- this will override any excessive calorie burn that is registered for this time.
  • cavanaughb
    cavanaughb Posts: 2 Member
    edited January 2016
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    If your FitBit HR is set to On or Auto, consider switching it to Off and sync before driving. Just be sure to turn HR back on when you resume normal activities.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited January 2016
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    this can't be real …

    I mean you are going to try and count calories from "intense driving," are you kidding me? you are sitting down the whole time you are driving….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Yup. Calorie burn while driving would only count if you were Fred Flintstone. ;)
  • vansnyder
    vansnyder Posts: 20 Member
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    You guys may have a good point. I guess we all get weird ideas from things we have heard in the past and make assumptions. I know I heard stories of people that were in intense pain and or had infections in their body for a long period of time and so they required more calorie intake then others that were sedentary. I guess I hear stuff like that enough and start believing just increasing hr and reving up the system to a more alert state can consume more calories. Thanks for the updates, and I didnt mean to sound misleading.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
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    Stress can be bad for your health.
  • Mjones23456
    Mjones23456 Posts: 57 Member
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    The heart rate is definitely stress induced and the calorie burn is probably correct. I went through a very stressful time over a period of a month or so and found the same readings you are having. Unfortunately I was eating a lot of comfort food and not exercising but I still lost 5 lbs. Go figure! :)
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    I have seen overweight school bus drivers and driving a bunch hormonal maniacs to school is pretty darn stressful. Ask me how I know?
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    When I was severely tachycardic from anaemia my resting heart rate was over 100 and would race to 140-160 while doing nothing. I guess I burnt tons of calories for those 6 months ;) ( in fact I gained a bit but I was severely underweight because of my disease at the time)

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