i don't have a hrm

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mattquit
mattquit Posts: 175
in Fitness and Exercise
I don't have a heart rate monitor and i was wondering if mfp overestimates the calories in exercising? please respond

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  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    I think it might vary person to person. But for me it over estimates for the elliptical but underestimates for treadmill.
  • kyrstensmom
    kyrstensmom Posts: 297 Member
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    The calorie burns on MFP are averages, so will be low for some people and high for others. I have found them to be high for me, but I don't generally eat back my exercise calories, so I don't worry about it much.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 593 Member
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    Some are too high and some are too low.
  • adjones5
    adjones5 Posts: 938 Member
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    MFP underestimates my calorie burns
  • Moriarty_697
    Moriarty_697 Posts: 226 Member
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    I've found them to be close but a little on the high side. I generally don't eat exercise calories so I don't get too worried about it, either.
  • Lindz2323
    Lindz2323 Posts: 261 Member
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    I just got an HRM for Christmas, only used it for 3 days so far but from what I can tell MFP overestimates all my workouts so far.. not always by much more than say 40-50 calories more for a half hour of elliptical than my HRM says but still a difference.
  • chickybuns
    chickybuns Posts: 1,037 Member
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    I have a bodybugg, and it seems to be close on most exercises such as cycling, circuit training, walking, running. But overestimates on Turbo Fire/Jam.
  • momtozmc
    momtozmc Posts: 418 Member
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    My 4.86 mile run today....

    HRM - 787 calories burned
    runkeeper.com (gps) - 635 calories burned
    mfp - 643 calories burned
    http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi - 573 calories burned

    All depends... I average them out sometimes...
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,191 Member
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    Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. There is not a blanket answer. I have had times when my HRM is higher than MFP and times when it is lower and still other times when it is pretty much the same.
  • mattquit
    mattquit Posts: 175
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    thank you for all the answers.
  • Kel3369
    Kel3369 Posts: 83 Member
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    HI! Please excuse my ignorance in this area but how do you tell how many calories you have burned from your heart rate monitor? I just got one for Christmas and all I thought I could do with it is monitor my heart rate for the range that would help me burn fat most effectively. Thanks! :)
  • hirensthenameliftinsthegame
    hirensthenameliftinsthegame Posts: 233
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    coming from someone getting their personal trainer certification(hopefully soon), heart rate is not a very good way to calculate calorie expenditure. it is like a crap shoot to be honest, but there are certain things it can tell you, for example any signs of overtraining can be picked up from keeping the same workout, but seeing increases in heart rate due to overtraining in a period of a week you can usually guage it. you can also measure your vo2 max, which is directly relevant to your energy expenditure(calories burned). you can also test to see whether your fitness program is helping your body become more efficient and stronger.

    however all of the above stated requires documentation every single day, every single workout, and the variables of workout have to be constant. If you are a beginner, then the best thing is to not worry about heart rate unless you have a heart condition, and also if your on blood pressure medications. I have one that i invested $400 on but i barely use it, maybe once in a year or so, because I find it to be too distracting, and i have learned to look out for signs.

    Hope that helped!
    (coming from 3-4 years of serious training experience, and certification knowledge)

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