heart rate monitor!!!

If the treadmill is also listening to your heart broadcast from the chest strap, then numbers should be close. But if the treadmill is coming up with a number with no respect to your heart rate, then the Polar F6 monitor will be much closer to true

I've got a Polar F6 and I believe there are other settings besides age/weight/sex that affect the calorie calculation, one I know for sure is "VO2 max", it's buried somewhere in the user settings menu, default is probably fine unless you're extremely fit (for example Lance Armstrong will burn thru a lot more calories than a regular guy who matches him in age, weight and heart rate because Lance's body is more efficient in turning food into energy output that is his VO2 max is much greater than the average guy). I believe there's also a resting heart rate setting called "HR sit" under the user settings, unsure if this also affects the calorie calculation.

First of all, check the setup:

1. Age, weight must be accurate.
2. Resting HR
3. Maximum HR--this is the first thing I would check. If you let the Polar HRM calculate your target HR, then you need to check your actual HR vs perceived exertion and percentage of HRmax. Probably 15% of the population (esp female) has a true HRmax that is at least 20 bpm higher than the age-prediction formulas calculate. If HRmax is too low, then the HRM will assume you are working at a higher percentage of your max (maybe 85%-95% instead of 60%-65%) and count a higher number of calories.

4. VO2 max. This is tricky, because most people haven't got a clue about this number and they have no easy way to discover it. Polar has the resting HR fit test, which may or may not be useful for you. I would at least check this number against the table in your manual for any gross discrepancies (e.g., it has a number that puts you in the "elite" category, when you know you are not an elite athlete).

Also look at your treadmill. How is the setup? Are you inputting your weight? Is the treadmill a reasonably well-known brand?

Here is one way to test your treadmill's "calibration": Input your information like you were doing a regular workout. Set the speed at 6.0 mph. If your display shows "calories per hour", check that number. Now, multiply your weight in kilograms by 10. That number should be within 5%-10% of the calories/hour display on your treadmill. If it is way off, then either: a) your treadmill is not using standard ACSM prediction equations, in which case it is off or b) you may not be good at arithmetic so you might want to check the numbers again. :laugh:

If the treadmill numbers match the calculations, then definitely look at your HRM setup.

i must get myself a hrm