Beware of calories burned...

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  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    what about the machines that have HR sensors and display your heart rate on them? Do you think those are accurate? I always pick those machines out at the gym because I knew that without a heart rate, the other equipment would be less reliable... but the ones with the built in HRM should be better, right?

    They are only more accurate if you can enter your age. The one I used today also had the sensors and my hands were on them the whole time. The HR readout had the same exact HR on my HRM, that was no problem. The problem was that the calorie estimation was way off from my Polar's calorie estimation. Those machines are usually preset for let's say a 180lb male...just an example. I am no expert but I have read that to be more accurate you do need to enter at least your weight and age. :flowerforyou:
  • abillings9
    abillings9 Posts: 165
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    I agree. Even my elliptical at home doesn't calculate cals right. I bought a HRM at Walmart for $30 and it's great!
  • jhacker
    jhacker Posts: 301 Member
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    I checked ****'s Sporting Goods today and the F6 is $109 with free shipping! You can go to amazon.com or ebay too!
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
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    can you guys tell me about the HRMs? I have been watching Ebay and I think I want to get one, but I don't know much about them. How come some of them have a chest strap and some look like they are just a watch-shaped device? Where does the chest strap wrap around? I am kinda busty, it seems like it would be uncomfortable, do you wrap it around the ribcage or??? Help me:sad: The F6 which everyone seems to advocate looks like it is just a watch-loking thing, it doesn't show a chest strap on any of the ebay listings I have seen. Advice?
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    If I'm not mistaken all the Polars have a chest strap. The chest strap goes right under your breasts. It really does not bother you but it might take some people some time to get used to. I had bought a couple before, a Timex and another one I cant remember the brands trying to save $ and they were a pain to use....so I got me a Polar F4. It works for me!! :flowerforyou:
  • get_fit2009
    get_fit2009 Posts: 827 Member
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    If I'm not mistaken all the Polars have a chest strap. The chest strap goes right under your breasts. It really does not bother you but it might take some people some time to get used to. I had bought a couple before, a Timex and another one I cant remember the brands trying to save $ and they were a pain to use....so I got me a Polar F4. It works for me!! :flowerforyou:

    I got the F6 and it's been great. I would rather have the chest strap and know that I am being more accurate than the ones that are just a wrist watch alone. It sits right where the elastic from a sports bra sits anyway, so the feeling wasn't hard to get used to, just getting it ON took a while the first couple times (one side kept coming undone as soon as I got the other side situated), but now it's just part of my daily workout attire.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,994 Member
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    can you guys tell me about the HRMs? I have been watching Ebay and I think I want to get one, but I don't know much about them. How come some of them have a chest strap and some look like they are just a watch-shaped device? Where does the chest strap wrap around? I am kinda busty, it seems like it would be uncomfortable, do you wrap it around the ribcage or??? Help me:sad: The F6 which everyone seems to advocate looks like it is just a watch-looking thing, it doesn't show a chest strap on any of the ebay listings I have seen. Advice?

    F6 has the chest strap. You really want the ones with the strap for accurate HR. You won't even notice you are wearing it, the watch and strap even goes int the pool and the shower, no problem. Go to Amazon.com, look at all the Polars, compare features, read the reviews from people who bought them.
    Just type Polar in the search box on amazon.

    Be careful on ebay (and amazon) that you get the F6 strap, they do need Batteries replaced at the factory, so some people sell them without the strap WHICH YOU NEED. (and they rip you off by charging a couple dollars less so you think it's a deal) The straps are $50 (approx) by themselves - new. Also the straps come in different sizes. Check sizes on the amazon site or go to Polar.com for sizing.
  • msujdak
    msujdak Posts: 141
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    I love my HRM! My husband bought it for my for our anniversary 4 years ago and I can't live without either one!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,994 Member
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    what about the machines that have HR sensors and display your heart rate on them? Do you think those are accurate? I always pick those machines out at the gym because I knew that without a heart rate, the other equipment would be less reliable... but the ones with the built in HRM should be better, right?

    They are only more accurate if you can enter your age. The one I used today also had the sensors and my hands were on them the whole time. The HR readout had the same exact HR on my HRM, that was no problem. The problem was that the calorie estimation was way off from my Polar's calorie estimation. Those machines are usually preset for let's say a 180lb male...just an example. I am no expert but I have read that to be more accurate you do need to enter at least your weight and age. :flowerforyou:

    The HRM will transmit to the machine so the numbers you are reading are actually YOUR actual HR. You don't even need to hold the sensors. And the sensors don't always work, even on the newer machines. Nothing more annoying than wiping down the machine, entering all your stats, starting the workout and then five minutes, ten minutes in - finding out the sensors kinda/sorta work. Then you have to move to another machine and begin again.:noway:
  • gmpearse
    gmpearse Posts: 136
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    Another important key when considering eating ones exercise calories is that you do burn some of those cals whether you're exercising or not. If you have a HRM make sure you take a reading for, say, 30 minutes when you're just sitting watching a show or something quite sedentary. If you do 30 minutes, see how many cals you are said to have burned, divide that by 3 and you'll have an average number of calories for every 10 minutes. Around 15 to 30 is a fairly average range. Then when you work out make sure you subtract the resting cals before deciding how many you have to eat :wink: If you do a lot of working out or burn a lot of calories you may be over-eating this way too!

    For example (my current numbers):

    30 minutes resting HRM measurement = 57 cals
    divided by 3 = 19 cals every 10 mins

    work out for 50 mins and burn 450 cals
    50 divided by 10 = 5
    5 x 19 = 95
    450 cals - 95 resting cals = 355 actual work out cals (extra calories to consume)

    This actually did make a difference to me when I started subtracting my resting cals before entering it in my spreadsheet.

    I found this very helpful and interesting. Thanks for pointing it out.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    regarding the elliptical machines,,,,,a friend was working at a health club and said the ellipticals are the most popular machine ..says they are about the easiest but also that they giive high false readings on calories burned....said it is common for ellipticals to give false high numbers on cals burned
  • PedalHound
    PedalHound Posts: 1,625 Member
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    Even HRMs are only a best guess. And they're a pretty good best guess but it's important to keep that in mind. As for how I got the other calculations, it's just realizing that your exercise calories that you EAT shouldn't include the calories that you would have burned if you hadn't worked out. You wouldn't just take the same block of time and eat 20 extra cals for every 10 minutes that passes so you shouldn't do that when you DO work out.
    And I'll second that about elliptical machines. I'm a personal trainer and the bottom line is just don't trust them.

    I bought the polar f4 and purchased the f6 2 weeks later. def worth the extra $ :bigsmile:
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    a hrm was my best investment in this process!! I have a Polar F6 :heart: :heart: :heart:


    AGREED!!! I LOVE my F6!

    def the best investment!
    I just logged my ellip cals.
    MFP gave me 338
    Ellip gave me 388
    HRM-230!!
    ( I have to wonder if it actually reduces the total by your RHR)

    Okay I'm answering this with a rudimentary concept of the conversation and question LOL :laugh:

    If the elliptical has your age, weight, height, gender, resting HR, and working HR, it will give you the same values as your heart rate. If not, it won't, because it will have to use a different equation to figure out the calories burned.

    So the HRM isn't really reducing anything, it's just a better estimate than the elliptical. The elliptical probably just works off of METs, and there are other more accurate equations out there that use your VO2 and stuff, which a lot of Polars estimate based on your HR. But notice that I say the word 'estimate' a lot. :wink:
  • slieber
    slieber Posts: 765 Member
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    I looked at an article in this month's consumer reports mag and they happened to have HRMs in there. The Polar F6 wasn't given a very good rating (although being in that particular article meant it wasn't godawful). The rating was about 73% with a negative one for ease of use.

    I bought the Timex Personal Trainer SG971 online today for about $50. It's a wrist display with a chest strap. It had the highest rating of all the HRMs.

    The mag's out this month and still on the shelves. Has ratings on a load of fitness equipment.
  • weezie79
    weezie79 Posts: 13
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    I have a polar weight management 22 (WM22). I was wondering whether when it gives you calories burned, it automatically subtracts the "resting calories" to give a net... or is that just wishful thinking? :blushing:

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