Beware!

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aprilvet
aprilvet Posts: 724 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just wore my new hrm (Polar FT40) for 1st workout. It said I burned 200 cals less than the treadmill calculated!:noway: Although I know the machines tend to over-estimate calories, I had no idea it was this off! So those of you w/o hrm, be careful using the machine cals!
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  • aprilvet
    aprilvet Posts: 724 Member
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    Just wore my new hrm (Polar FT40) for 1st workout. It said I burned 200 cals less than the treadmill calculated!:noway: Although I know the machines tend to over-estimate calories, I had no idea it was this off! So those of you w/o hrm, be careful using the machine cals!
  • Julie837
    Julie837 Posts: 84
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    Thanks, I've been thinking of getting one, so maybe I'll check it out.
  • TheGuardian
    TheGuardian Posts: 53 Member
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    Yup! I got a Polar F6 last week and my elliptical has been overestimating my calories burned by 50%

    Considering I was typically doing close to 800 according to the machine, that's a significant amount 6 days a week!
  • get_fit2009
    get_fit2009 Posts: 827 Member
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    I LOVE mine! My hubby and kids got me an F6 for Christmas. I am not only more accurate, I am also more motivated to burn more calories! :happy:
  • pixiestick
    pixiestick Posts: 839 Member
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    Yup! I got a Polar F6 last week and my elliptical has been overestimating my calories burned by 50%

    Considering I was typically doing close to 800 according to the machine, that's a significant amount 6 days a week!

    F6 is like a godsend, from heaven to mortal men (and women:laugh: ) I had a problem the other way: my treadmill was underestimating my cals by 100-150 every day, and I already never consumed all of my exorcise cals, so it explains why I was losing SO slowly.

    Starving... Bad. Polar F6... Good.
  • shar140
    shar140 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    I had the same situation as pixiestick - I found I was burning MORE than I thought! I :heart: my Polar F6!!!
  • mrsmojo82
    mrsmojo82 Posts: 54 Member
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    Thanks for the advice. How accurate is the calorie burn on this website?
  • Winter23
    Winter23 Posts: 142
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    How much do those cost and where do I get one.
  • meanness67
    meanness67 Posts: 366 Member
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    I just got one from amazon today; can't wait to try it out! :wink:
  • amyalwaysonline6
    amyalwaysonline6 Posts: 101
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    Mine is coming tomorrow, I'm stoked!
  • trritchie
    trritchie Posts: 25
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    This is freaking me out. Does this website calorie counter go along with what you hrm said? I use the heart rate monitor on the machines, n try to keep in the cardio zone, and always in the fat buring zone.
    i would hate to think im not buring as many calories as i think.
  • get_fit2009
    get_fit2009 Posts: 827 Member
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    Thanks for the advice. How accurate is the calorie burn on this website?

    My estimations using this website were pretty darn close to what I have been registering with my HRM. The machines at the gym...not as close.
  • LauraLane42
    LauraLane42 Posts: 6 Member
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    Thank you for sharing. I had never even heard of this product before. I will look into ordering one right away. I was leary of what my treadmil was saying also. Especially when I realized that the weight was not set . It thought that I was heavier than I am ,and was reading much higher calories burned than I actually was . Thanks for the insight.

    135308.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Online Calorie Counter
  • aprilvet
    aprilvet Posts: 724 Member
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    HRM can be fairly inexpensive or up to around $160. Beware, the less expensive ones don't calculate your calories. I splurged (my bday next week:drinker: ) and bought the new Polar FT40 for $156 from Amazon. Came in 2 days w/ free shipping! As for the accuracy of the exercise cals on the site, I'm trying to figure that out myself! :grumble: Will rely on the hrm, mainly!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    Any website (or gym equipment) is only going to give you a rough estimate based on averages. Thats why Heart Rate Monitors that have a chest or arm strap are so good.

    go to polarusa website to see their whole line (no I don't work for them, but if they wanted to send me a free RS400sd I wouldn't turn it down:tongue: )

    Polar makes a great HRM for any type of athlete. The F6 and above are all waterproof, all have great features including upload to a computer and file storage.

    There are pleanty of other brands that are good too, I wear a polar so that's the only brand I know in detail.

    Once you know what you want you can usually shave a few bucks off retail by getting them at amazon or ebay.
  • AmyNVegas
    AmyNVegas Posts: 2,215 Member
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    This is freaking me out. Does this website calorie counter go along with what you hrm said? I use the heart rate monitor on the machines, n try to keep in the cardio zone, and always in the fat buring zone.
    i would hate to think im not buring as many calories as i think.

    It was off by over 350 calories for me for a 30 min stationary bike ride. It said over 600 for me and the HRM said 250.

    Amy:bigsmile:
    118984.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Food Diary

    My favorite post for answers:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
  • janiebeth
    janiebeth Posts: 2,509 Member
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    thanks for the post - just ordered one from overstock.com
  • janiebeth
    janiebeth Posts: 2,509 Member
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    thanks for the post - just ordered one from overstock.com

    Quoting myself - :wink: :wink:

    Correction - ordered from Amazon - about $20 cheaper...
  • pixiestick
    pixiestick Posts: 839 Member
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    This is freaking me out. Does this website calorie counter go along with what you hrm said? I use the heart rate monitor on the machines, n try to keep in the cardio zone, and always in the fat buring zone.
    i would hate to think im not buring as many calories as i think.

    I found that the MFP was actually fairly accurate for me... always within 100cals. But the machine was off. I got my Polar F6 for $95 directly from a retailer because I am impatient and I didn't want to wait. Anyone in the UK, they sell the F6 at most of the ARGOS EXTRA.
    :flowerforyou:
  • pettmybunny
    pettmybunny Posts: 1,986 Member
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    I found that when wearing my HRM, the machines and sites were calculating low.

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