What do you burn with your chest strap HRM?

I just ordered a Polar FT60. Can't wait to use it! I will post my stats in this thread when I have it.

Ok im sorry if im posting here as I guess this is the female section or something but still i would like to answer your question i use ft7 and on a daily basis i am burning approx 900 calories currently my weight is 172.6lbs and im 5'11 i am burning this by doing turbo fire 55 ez hiit 20 and stretch 10 on a daily basis i dont know why i am burning that much maybe coz im only 18 or im male however the workouts are preity much intence.

I just got my HRM on Valentine's Day and it's a Polar FT7. I do the Leslie Sansone Express Walk 4 mile DVD (54 minutes) and today I burned 408 calories and yesterday I burned 430 calories (I guess I worked harder yesterday). I'm 45 years old; 5'6 and 200 pounds.

After reading this thread, I have some questions.
I've seen posts from all different weights, height, workout intensity --- why does any of that matter, if calorie burn is based on heart rate intensity? The percentage of your own max heart rate, and how long you stay there is what I thought this device was for, and that's how I thought calorie burn was calculated, is this not correct?

Let me give an example... many of you have said what your heart rate is (ex, 150-160, etc) - depending on age, that is a different PERCENTAGE for each person.
In other words, I am 40 years old. I am a woman. My max HR is 186. Working at 75% of this means my heart rate is staying at 139. Working at 80% it is 148. Obviously working at a higher percentage will yield more of a calorie burn. The difference is the EFFORT each person has to exert in order to get to this heart rate zone. Personally, because I'm out of shape and overweight, it doesn't take long or much effort to get to 80% of my max, whereas someone younger, lighter and in better shape may take quite a bit of effort to get to 80% and hold there for 45 minutes. That person is going to have to work harder than I will to maintain that level of exertion - whereas, since I haven't gotten my *kitten* off the couch for 6 months, it only takes me a leisurely pace to maintain that level. Once I get in better shape, I will have to work harder to get that rate up and keep it there. But isn't it apples to apples when we talk about calories burned at a certain percentage? If my friend Sara is 300 lbs, and I am only 160 - and we both walk for 45 minutes, me at 4 mph, her at 1 mph - but we both maintain that 75% of max HR, aren't we burning the same calories? I realize she is pulling more weight, but she's also walking much slower (exerting less effort) than I am to get to 75% and stay there.

Please tell me this makes sense to someone.......lol I'm just trying to get a handle on heart rate training and why/how it benefits me in my efforts to lose weight.

I don't trust what my new ft7 said I burned in step class this morning. I know I push, and I still have about 30 pounds to lose... but it seemed as though my heart rate seemed high... often high 180s and even 190. I found myself dropping my risers to bring it down... which it did... but only by about 10 bps. This is a class I have been doing for 4 years and is very intense... but not THAT intense... Even with my extra weight.

I read another forum that said to tighten your strap if your rate seems high so I am going to try that next time. My high was 193 with an average of 174 and that was because I was deliberately trying to bring it down which was a little boring for me... I like to get into it! I want to trust my HRM... bot I don't think I burned over 600 calories in 50 minutes of step... no matter how intense.... I am 42 and have all my stats entered correctly... and I even raised my max heart rate in the settings as advised on another MFP thread to get more accurate stats.... I know it will take awhile, but I really want to figure this thing out!

Have you ever used a HRM before though? The reason I ask is because out perceived rate of exertion is often much higher than what our heart rate says. In other words, we don't have to work as hard as we thought to stay in that fat burning zone. When we go above that percentage, my understanding was always that we were getting into protein stores to get the energy needed to sustain this higher heart rates. I only have interest in burning fat, and not working too hard. When we work too hard, we run the risk of overtraining, injury or just plain hating the exercise we are doing. This is exactly why I bought one, because as I suspected, I was working harder than I needed to be and since I am genuinely trying to make this a way of life, I want don't want to burn out.

BTW does anyone know how to transfer workouts to computer for an ft7? I can't figure it out.. is there another part I need? lol probably sounds stupid!

Yes u need polar flowlink in order to transfer your data to polar website

i'm getting the same numbers you are for the same types of exercises, done for the same amount of time. we just have to get used to the fact that MFP and treadmills/ellipitcals/etc. were all overlogging how many calories were really burned during the workout. after i got the heart rate monitor, it became very obvious to me that i really wasn't burning all those calories MFP said i was. sometimes it's wrong by 200%!

I have the ft7 & mine is a little higher then mfp...Make sure u wet the ele. bands well... I do Bob's boot Camp from the biggest loser & burn around 350 for 30 mins. I am 5 7 237lbs.. 30 yrs. old!

I have the Polar FT7 and tend to burn between 400 and 450 cals per hour depending on the intensity- for cardio I mostly do zumba classes, tabata-style interval classes, and stairmill. I am very petite though at 5'2" and 100-103 lbs. My heart rate averages 150 and maxes around 175. I always knew I was not burning what mfp says simply because I am smaller than average.

If you follow the Jillian Michael's school of thinking...there is no such thing as a "fat burning zone". in order to get the best results, you need to push yourself as hard as you can go. you will burn more calories and lose more weight overall if you push to your max, rather than try to stay in your fat burning "zone".

I am in the low 200s and my heart rate gets pretty high. For an hour of Zumba, and I go all out...it tells me I burn anywhere from 800-1000 calories.

I also have the Polar FT4 which I received this week. Today was the second time I have used it. It kept saying to check the signal while I was working out. Maybe I didn't have it positioned properly?

Anyway, the first time I used it, I was surprised at the calorie burn. It was way lower than what MFP has set and also way lower than what my treadmill said. I guess I have been over-estimating my calorie burn all this time.

See and I've been wondering the same thing because mine says I burn way more than I thought I did. I jogged for 20 minutes and it said I burned 350 calories... I usually take whatever the machines at the gym tell me and cut it in half, but my HRM says they were right on all along. I'm 193 and 5'8" I have always had a really high heart rate though, even resting, so IDK how accurate it really is or if I am just a freak of nature haha. As my doctor always tells me, my body does things that aren't supposed to be physically possible, but usually when I'm jogging even if I'm not super winded my HR is around 195...

The HRM will estimate your calories burned as a function of what percentage of your maximum HR your average measured HR was. If you naturally have a high heart rate, then you may need to up your estimated max HR in the HRM to avoid skewing your results.

I have a Suunto T1 that I've had for years. The heart rate is accurate- it always matches up to the machines at the gym. I use the activity class 5 on it. The Activity Class describes overall physical activity. It varies from 0 to 10 and is needed to calculate the most accurate kcal and training effect. My average burn is 100 calories every 10 minutes. Yesterday I only had 30 minutes to work out before my second job so I pushed it and did 510 calories in that half hour. I don't think you should compare yourself to other people too much, since everyone is at such different levels. If we all work hard, we will see results eventually. Looking at others who might be getting to where they want to be to what looks to us as quicker or easier would only be discouraging.

I don't know what your size is or what fitness level you're at, but both of those things seem to play a role (the bodies of people who are larger or have more muscle burn more calories, even at rest) - so I believe your HRM!