HRM calorie question

annhjk
annhjk Posts: 794 Member
edited September 19 in Fitness and Exercise
For those of you with a HRM, do you enter the full calorie amount into your day or do you subtract what you would have burned just sitting on the couch? I saw a post the other day about subtracting 50 cal/hr that her body would have burned without exercise.

I'm just got my HRM on Wed and want to make sure I'm entering it in right.

Replies

  • annhjk
    annhjk Posts: 794 Member
    For those of you with a HRM, do you enter the full calorie amount into your day or do you subtract what you would have burned just sitting on the couch? I saw a post the other day about subtracting 50 cal/hr that her body would have burned without exercise.

    I'm just got my HRM on Wed and want to make sure I'm entering it in right.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Subtract the calories you'd use just sitting around. Those are already included in your daily non-exercise calories. :smile:
  • slieber
    slieber Posts: 765 Member
    How do I work out what that amount is if I burn, say, 400 cals during an exercise session - about an hour or so? Do I take my daily calories, divide by 24 and use that to subtract the bit from the exercise calories?
  • stevieg_fan
    stevieg_fan Posts: 51
    subtract your resting cals - but figure out what yours are... wear your HRM while just sitting around - for about 30 minutes - preferably more than once... then divide by 3 to get a number that's your cal burn for every 10 minutes... then you can subtract that number from your workouts based on 10 min. increments.

    soooo - my resting rate is 21 cals/10 mins.
    I work out for 60 mins
    6 10 min increments x 21 = 126 cals to subtract from my workout total.
    I also usually round up to a 0 number 'cause I like round figures.... so this morning I worked out for 65 mins, burned 1676 - 126 - I logged 1500 earned... but that's just me...
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    How do I work out what that amount is if I burn, say, 400 cals during an exercise session - about an hour or so? Do I take my daily calories, divide by 24 and use that to subtract the bit from the exercise calories?

    You'd just want to use your BMR, not what MFP gives you as a baseline. Those are two different numbers. Your BMR does not include any activity at all. MFP has a BMR calculator under Tools. Then yes, you divide the BMR by 24 and get the average hourly calories burnt.
  • slieber
    slieber Posts: 765 Member
    Thanks to both of you for such clear answers. I'm awaiting the new HRM that I ordered (returned the other) which does the calorie burn as well as HR. I assume I subtract the resting cals from whatever the HRM says, yes? Just confirming....sorry to be so dim!
  • porka29
    porka29 Posts: 868 Member
    Thanks I feel better about that now.
  • fjtcjt
    fjtcjt Posts: 199
    subtract your resting cals - but figure out what yours are... wear your HRM while just sitting around - for about 30 minutes - preferably more than once... then divide by 3 to get a number that's your cal burn for every 10 minutes... then you can subtract that number from your workouts based on 10 min. increments.

    soooo - my resting rate is 21 cals/10 mins.
    I work out for 60 mins
    6 10 min increments x 21 = 126 cals to subtract from my workout total.
    I also usually round up to a 0 number 'cause I like round figures.... so this morning I worked out for 65 mins, burned 1676 - 126 - I logged 1500 earned... but that's just me...

    In an attempt to maximize your results, I have to ask what exercise you are doing to burn 1676 calories in 65 mins. That is an average of 26 cal/min. According to some look up tables that I found, if you ran a pace of 10 miles per hour or a 6 minute mile (which is close to full speed for most of us) that burns around (depending on weight) 23 calories per minute. Looking at a more realistic pace of 5 miles per hour, again depending a little on weight a person burns around 13 calories per minute. I know you are getting your info from your HRM but you need to do a sanity check. I am quite certain those calories burned are too high, and not just a little too high but a lot.

    I am sorry to be Mr. Negative, but I think it is important to be realistic. If your daily consumption of calories is based off of that number, you may not be seeing the results that you should or could be seeing.

    Again, I am sorry...it is my nature I am an Engineer. I also have a HRM and use it as a very rough estimate, but I know in most cases the calories burned are much higher than actual.
  • 1Corinthians13
    1Corinthians13 Posts: 5,296 Member
    subtract your resting cals - but figure out what yours are... wear your HRM while just sitting around - for about 30 minutes - preferably more than once... then divide by 3 to get a number that's your cal burn for every 10 minutes... then you can subtract that number from your workouts based on 10 min. increments.

    soooo - my resting rate is 21 cals/10 mins.
    I work out for 60 mins
    6 10 min increments x 21 = 126 cals to subtract from my workout total.
    I also usually round up to a 0 number 'cause I like round figures.... so this morning I worked out for 65 mins, burned 1676 - 126 - I logged 1500 earned... but that's just me...

    In an attempt to maximize your results, I have to ask what exercise you are doing to burn 1676 calories in 65 mins. That is an average of 26 cal/min. According to some look up tables that I found, if you ran a pace of 10 miles per hour or a 6 minute mile (which is close to full speed for most of us) that burns around (depending on weight) 23 calories per minute. Looking at a more realistic pace of 5 miles per hour, again depending a little on weight a person burns around 13 calories per minute. I know you are getting your info from your HRM but you need to do a sanity check. I am quite certain those calories burned are too high, and not just a little too high but a lot.

    I am sorry to be Mr. Negative, but I think it is important to be realistic. If your daily consumption of calories is based off of that number, you may not be seeing the results that you should or could be seeing.

    Again, I am sorry...it is my nature I am an Engineer. I also have a HRM and use it as a very rough estimate, but I know in most cases the calories burned are much higher than actual.

    I thought the same thing.

    Also...I've never subtracted my resting # of calories burned...the HRM shows calories burned, period. Does that matter?
  • fjtcjt
    fjtcjt Posts: 199
    If you want to be precise you should subtract your BMR from your calories burned during that given time. If you burned 400 calories in an hour exercising you would have burned around 70 calories if you sat on your rear during that same time. So your net calories burned would be the difference 330 calories. Again, the calories you see on you HRM is only an estimate and I usually only count a percentage of those calories anyway so I don't bother subtracting my resting calories.

    I wish there was a general rule of thumb to multiply by, so only count 70% of you calories, but I think it is different for everyone and different for each HRM and may also depend on the exercise you are doing. I think the best thing to do is use a look up table that shows cals/min/kg for different exercises and use that as a guide. Over time you will figure out what the more realistic numbers are. I am still trying to figure it out for the different exercises I do.
  • stevieg_fan
    stevieg_fan Posts: 51
    I work out on average about 80-100 minutes during a session - I usually do circuit calisthenics with weight lifting/cardio in intervals, run about 3 miles outside, and swim... distances, order and time spent on each activity will vary and my workout burns range from 1400-1900 - yes it's high. No I don't eat it all - I'm losing about a pound a week. I've had a personalized resting metabolism rate test done twice - tend to fall at 1800 calls - this is essentially my BMR... but truly personalized based on my breathing.... I've got quite a bit of muscle mass - and still too much body fat - the cals burned can't be averaged out truly because every body is different.... with my personalized tested RMR my resting cal burn would be a bit over 20 so my HRM tested resting burn of 21 is about right on target,...

    never fear - I don't feel you're being negative - and I too am skeptical about the possibility of burning that many cals - but I can tell you when I didn't eat about half of them - I lost no weight 'cause my body shut down... my trainer insisted I eat more - so I did - I started losing - I never eat them all, though. heck - it's a lot of eating to get close.... and I simply don't have that much time with work and life getting in the way...

    and one of the fellow folks who trains for triathalons at the gym tends to burn high numbers too... not that high though 'cause he's got much less body fat to burn through...
  • hmo4
    hmo4 Posts: 1,673 Member
    subtract your resting cals - but figure out what yours are... wear your HRM while just sitting around - for about 30 minutes - preferably more than once... then divide by 3 to get a number that's your cal burn for every 10 minutes... then you can subtract that number from your workouts based on 10 min. increments.

    soooo - my resting rate is 21 cals/10 mins.
    I work out for 60 mins
    6 10 min increments x 21 = 126 cals to subtract from my workout total.
    I also usually round up to a 0 number 'cause I like round figures.... so this morning I worked out for 65 mins, burned 1676 - 126 - I logged 1500 earned... but that's just me...

    In an attempt to maximize your results, I have to ask what exercise you are doing to burn 1676 calories in 65 mins. That is an average of 26 cal/min. According to some look up tables that I found, if you ran a pace of 10 miles per hour or a 6 minute mile (which is close to full speed for most of us) that burns around (depending on weight) 23 calories per minute. Looking at a more realistic pace of 5 miles per hour, again depending a little on weight a person burns around 13 calories per minute. I know you are getting your info from your HRM but you need to do a sanity check. I am quite certain those calories burned are too high, and not just a little too high but a lot.

    I am sorry to be Mr. Negative, but I think it is important to be realistic. If your daily consumption of calories is based off of that number, you may not be seeing the results that you should or could be seeing.

    Again, I am sorry...it is my nature I am an Engineer. I also have a HRM and use it as a very rough estimate, but I know in most cases the calories burned are much higher than actual.

    I thought the same thing.

    Also...I've never subtracted my resting # of calories burned...the HRM shows calories burned, period. Does that matter?

    In 65 min you burn THAT many cals? I worked out for 140 min the other day, not all cardio of course and burnt just over a thousand. How high is your HR when you're exercising? That is shocking! What kind of HR monitor do you have? I do sprints twice a week, but haven't done it yet with my new HRM, I'm totally interested to see what I burn. As for subtacting numbers from the ones burned-way too technical. I just put in those burned from my w/o session and be done with it.:huh:
  • stevieg_fan
    stevieg_fan Posts: 51
    I have a polar F11 - my rate ranges - avg is about 155 - max is about 180 - keep my low at 130 - my circuit has very little rest - generally never more than 30 seconds - preferably 15... obviously there is down time between the circuit and getting outside to run - and getting in to the pool... but I try to be quick about it - keep it similar to a transition time as much as possible.
  • stevieg_fan
    stevieg_fan Posts: 51
    and BTW - where were you folks when I posted after my first week of using the HRM asking if my rates seemed ridiculously high???

    Regardless - 3 weeks in now I think I've got a pretty good understanding of how best to use it to help me, which really is the purpose of the HRM anyway - much like weight - the numbers themselves are rather superfluous IMO - it's about general health, treating your body well and living as strong as possible in every arena - as far as I'm concerned.
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