Accurate Calorie Burn from HRM?

secoke
secoke Posts: 69 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone else who uses a HRM get a wildly different number for calories burned during your workouts than what mfp gives you? For my runs mfp says I burn around 280 calories and my HRM says I burn 525-580. It takes my heart rate fairly constantly and I have all my age/weight data imputed but a number so high just seems to good to be true. Any thoughts?

Replies

  • happystars82
    happystars82 Posts: 225 Member
    I always rely on my HRM once i've been using it a bit i then know what i've burnt roughly... i normally take 100 off what my HRM says just to be careful.

    I wanted to ask (if u don;t mind me barging in on your thread) is... when u have done a workout, jog etc.... when do u count what you have burnt? the point where u have stopped exercise or after your heart rate has return to resting?

    Take care!
  • silverbullet07
    silverbullet07 Posts: 100 Member
    Sometime my numbers a way higher and sometimes they match up depending on the exercise. MFP numbers are avererages and your HRM is based upon your hard work. Everyone is different and and burn calories defferently. Go by your HRM.
  • secoke
    secoke Posts: 69 Member
    Well I have to say, I like those answers :)

    Happystars82, when I run or do a spin class I usually have a good 3-5 minute cool down where my heart rate goes to 50-60% and that is when I stop counting but I now everyone picks a different point.
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    I always trust my HRM over MFP, the closest machine at my gym is the stairmaster, the rest are way off
  • Maggie821
    Maggie821 Posts: 55 Member
    For Cardio, I definitely get much higher numbers on my HRM and on my Bodybugg! Strength training is pretty much even; just slight differences unless I am doing circuit training.
  • EllieMo
    EllieMo Posts: 131 Member
    Do you take off your "background calories" i.e. those ones that you would be burning even if you were doing no exercise (i.e. your BMR/1440*your exercise time in minutes)?
  • shadowkitty22
    shadowkitty22 Posts: 495 Member
    My HRM was giving me wildly different numbers 3-4 times the amount as everything else! So I returned it to get a different one because it just seemed really odd to me. I'm hoping that the other one works out better.
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
    i don't usually take my bmr off but wonder if i should? I turn my hrm off when my heart rate goes below 100, and yes i do think the hrm is the most accurate. x
  • RebeccainMI
    RebeccainMI Posts: 16 Member
    I rely on my HRM for my calorie burn because I can never seem to find exactly what I did in the database.
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
    Do you take off your "background calories" i.e. those ones that you would be burning even if you were doing no exercise (i.e. your BMR/1440*your exercise time in minutes)?

    From what I gather, calorie burns on hrms are only accurate for aerobic exercise as the formulas used draw a direct correlation between heartrate and oxygen intake, so if you're doing something that puts your hr up but you're not actually doing cardio based exercising (for example you might be sitting in a sauna - your hr goes up due to the temperature increase, but you're not actually working your cardiovascular system), the calorie burn it gives would not be accurate.

    Hope that helps :)
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    It depends on what HRM you have and what activity you are doing.

    HRM's are designed to be used during steady state cardio.. and not during rest, weight training, etc. When they have all info and are used during steady state cardio, they are 80% accurate at estimating calories burned. If you fool around a bit with it(add Vo2max or change the max heart rate) then it can go up to 90%, I believe.

    Also some HRM's are better at estimating then others.. Polar is one of the best at estimating calories. TImex on the other hand can be way off. Also if it does not have a chest strap, it will be way off compared to one that does have a chest strap.
  • Larry0445
    Larry0445 Posts: 204 Member
    MFP uses average numbers,for average people. If your build is different,etc..the MFP figures are bogus. I have had my HRM checked against a monitor in our ambulance,and it was spot on...so... :-) I have a Polar FT4,by the way.

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