HRM All Day?

I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

Well, funnily enough, I am wearing my HRM all day today as an experiment to see how many calories I do actually burn. Today is a "rest day" so i am just going about my normal daily activities - getting ready for work, school runs, a day at work, cooking dinner, entertaining a 6 year old and getting him off to bed, any other chores and then watching telly. I'll have it on from about 6.45am until 10pm. Obviously I'll burn cals when sleeping as well! I have no idea how accurate it will be but it will be interesting to see the result anyway. I do normally only wear it for exercising.

I'm hoping santa will bring me a Fitbit......so santa, if you are out there..........:flowerforyou:

It's not going to be accurate at all... so any number you do get, should be disregarded.

to OP:
HRM's are meant for exercise only.. and only cardio exercise at that. Not strength training or anything else.

I am not looking for a BMR or a "sedentary setting" I am just looking to see how many cals I burn from normal daily activity. MFP says my maintenance cals on sedentary (which is what i have set it as) are 1750. My HRM is set for my weight, height and age and has a chest strap and therefore reads my heart rate regardless of what I'm doing. I appreciate it won't be accurate but no HRM is accurate. Like I said anyway, its just an experiment and for my own interest.

Bump. Curious to see what your results are. Please report back!

Wear my HRM doing cardio workouts and Nike fuel band all day long. However, I only log the calories burnt from my exercise and NEVER from the fuelband. It seems pointless to me to say I burnt over 1,000 calories on a ' rest' day...which is what the fuelbands and fitbits of this world will show...they arnt engineered to measure aggressive cardio but I'm AMAZED the fuelband readings for exercise are out by only 20 calories compared to the HRM reading.

Curious about the fuel band - is it like a fit bit or bodymedia device? Don't worry, I am not going to be logging any of today's calories as exercise cals! I usually only wear my HRM for exercise and in that case I do log them.

I wear it all day...I don't really care about the amount of cals I burn in a day, but when I do certain things I like to know how many cals I burned. Also I'm in love with my HRM

Hmmmmm. feeling like a bit of an idiot here...... but what is a HRM?? Heart Rate Monitor? Her Royal Majesty? Huge Red Moobs? I'm sorry lol but the more i try to think of what it could be, the more silly things I come up with and end up imagining u all wearing while exercising....... Hairy Randy Monster........ pleae put me out of my misery and tell me!!!!!!!!!! xx

I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!

I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!

I don't wear mine when swimming either as the reading is just far too low for it to be correct! MFP and various other calorie calculators say I should burn about 300 cals in 30 mins doing breast-stroke but HRM only says about 100!

I have a Bowflex Precision 7.0 HRM and tried the all day experiment yesterday. My HRM must be different than the FitBit or Nike. It does not specify it in the instructions, but it does not register any calorie burn when resting. You have to enter all of your vitals into it before starting. From the way it behaves, it appears that it calculates your BMR and does not start counting calories until you exceed that. The upside is that I get an accurate count of the 'after-burn' since it stops counting once the heart rate returns to normal.

Which brings up the question I wanted to ask today: Does anybody know if there is a difference in recovery time between cardio and lifting? It seems like when I do cardio my heart rate recovers pretty quickly, but when I lift my heart rate recovers much more slowly.

I was wondering the exact same thing. I just ordered the Polar FT60 and should have it in a couple of days!!

Thanks for posting!

The only HRM watch on the market that can accurately read your HR + calories burned under water is the Polar RCX5. That is why I ordered it!

I could be mistaken, but I think the common wisdom on HRMs is that they are only accurate during elevated cardio activities. But then I think the Bodybug or that Nike Fuelthingy are supposed to do better jobs of monitoring non cardio calories than standard HRMs.

This is correct, the calorie burn calculations HRMs do are based around your weight and gender and a fairly steady, elevated heart rate, not everyday activities. They are also inaccurate during HIIT, weight training and swimming (as even if waterproof they don't transmit properly through water).

I wondered why I always burn next to no calories swimming when I think I'm working so hard. Thanks!

I don't wear mine when swimming either as the reading is just far too low for it to be correct! MFP and various other calorie calculators say I should burn about 300 cals in 30 mins doing breast-stroke but HRM only says about 100!