Calories burned? Using Motiv ring and Google Fit

Gwen7121
Gwen7121 Posts: 126 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi. I'm using the Motiv ring for heart rate and steps. It doesn't connect to MFP, so I connect to Google Fit, which connects to MFP. I also use the track workout feature on Google Fit, so I can get the stats on a workout, vs normal daily activity. Fit uses the heart rate from my ring. Anyway- my workouts are circuit training. Bike, treadmill, strength, bike, strength, treadmill . My heart rate stays elevated. I was in the 140 range for over half the workout. And I'm about 150 lbs overweight, so I think that makes a difference as well. Anyway, Google Fit said I burned 1,115 calories in the 1 hour workout yesterday. It was similar the last few times, since I started using it. Does that sound right? It seems very high, but my trainer doesn't think it's too far off.

Also - for weight loss purposes, I'm not eating an additional 1100 calories. But if the total calories burned is right, I'm netting zero for the day on circuit days. Which sounds awesome, but....

Replies

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    That sounds very high. But HRMs tend to overestimate. It takes a great deal of fitness to burn that many calories in that short a time.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    Are these workouts tracked by the ring? I’m not sure on how the integration with Google Fit works (I’m on iPhone) but I do have a Motiv ring. The calories burned number the ring gives is based on the how strenuous the workout is. And for workouts it tracks automatically-it seems to default to the highest setting. I slide the setting down so it more closely matches the actual level of exertion (my walks aren’t really strenuous).

    I don’t know if that is something that might help? I really don’t know how the ring works with google fit, but I know the ring does tend to over-estimate calorie burns when it considers everything as the most strenuous.
  • Gwen7121
    Gwen7121 Posts: 126 Member
    The ring is picking up the workouts. In a weird way - it says something like - 12-12:20 Active, 12:22-12:41 - Active... It's really odd. But it sends the heart rate to Google Fit. With Google Fit, before I start the workout, I tell it to track workout, and then stop at the end. So it looks at heart rate from start to finish. The two apps aren't that far off for total daily calories burned. Probably because I'm extremely sedentary outside of the workout. Anyway, Google Fit is the one that says over the 60 min workout, I burned 1100 calories based on high intensity activity
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    Ok. I wasn’t sure how it worked with Google fit. The ring is a little odd. Mine spends a lot of time asking me if I was active at such and such a time. Usually I was eating...vigorously I guess.

    I don’t know anything about google fit though or how calculates things.

    The number does seem quite high. But if you’re not currently very fit, your HR will probably be higher for activities now (than it will be as you get more fit). That will likely skew the calorie burn number rather high (if Google fit is using HR and there’s no way to give a fitness level).

    Also, how much you weigh plays a big part in how much “work” (in the high school physics sense) you’re doing.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Unfortunately at 150lbs overweight using heartrate to estimate calories is likely to be massively inaccurate.
    Would suggest you estimate another way.

    You would have to have very advanced fitness levels to burn anywhere near 1,100 / hour.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    That sounds very high. I'll burn about that on a 9-10 mile run, which takes me a little over 2 hours.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Gwen7121 wrote: »
    Google Fit said I burned 1,115 calories in the 1 hour workout yesterday. It was similar the last few times, since I started using it. Does that sound right? It seems very high, but my trainer doesn't think it's too far off.

    Your trainer really should know better to be honest!

    Thought of this thread while watching a world tour pro cycling race and they gave out the power figures of the guy at the front pushing really hard in a breakaway.
    That's a male professional cyclist at the highest level, pushing so hard he blew up before the end of the race and one of the fittest guys on the planet and he was burning 1,170 net calories an hour.

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