Accuracy of Heart Rate Monitors

damore76
damore76 Posts: 17 Member
edited November 10 in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all,

I recently purchased a heart rate monitor and was extremely surprised to see how many calories I was burning. The big difference I see is when I am doing cardio workouts. In some instances what my heart rate monitor shows is almost double what MFP calculates for the activity.

What I am wondering is if MFP bases their count on my own personal data of if it is just generalized for everyone who uses MFP. I am concerned that the heart rate monitor is giving me too many calories. For example my heart rate monitor today allotted me with 915 calories burned for 55 minutes of general aerobics. My heart stayed at about the 170 -185 range throughout the workout and I took my heart rate every five minutes (it is the wrist strap heart rate monitor), because the instruction book said to take it regularly for accuracy.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am just wondering if I would be better off using the MFP to avoid using calories that I did not actually earn.

Replies

  • JennC831
    JennC831 Posts: 628 Member
    What is the brand of the HRM? Did it come with a chest strap? If it doesn't come with a chest strap IMO your calorie burn may be overestimated....

    I use a polar FT7 and it came with a chest strap... With any product you're not going to get an exact calorie burn, but when I compared my calorie burns from my HRM to what MFP or the machine calculates; MFP and the machine gave me ridiculous high calorie burns... I feel more comfortable using my HRM...
  • GoMizzou99
    GoMizzou99 Posts: 512 Member

    The big difference I see is when I am doing cardio workouts. In some instances what my heart rate monitor shows is almost double what MFP calculates for the activity.

    I also noticed the MFP calories burned is less than what I have with my chest-strap HRM. The HRM is more accurate when doing high intensity cardio, Insanity, Zumba, etc. I would use the MFP estimate of calories burned for low intensity exercises.
  • tasha72
    tasha72 Posts: 5 Member
    My heart rate monitor (uses a chest strap) always shows my workouts quite high as well. If your heart rate is between 170-185 the majority of the time you are working very hard and will burn a lot more calories. Also, your current weight really affects the calories burned. I Jazzercise and our instructor tells us she burns about 600 calories in a 1 hour class but I am much taller and weigh quite a bit more. My workouts are between 800-1000 calories consistently and my heart rate is usually in the 160's to 170's.
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