Heart rate monitors

Misskacy1988
Misskacy1988 Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,
I have a question on how accurate heart rate monitors are? I'm using one from Bowflex with the chest strap (yeah, it's not a polar I'm working on getting one) . My question is when it says how many calories you have burned for your workout is that the amount you are suppose to put in for calories burned in your exercise diary? This is a stupid question but I would like to know if I'm really burning what my hrm says.
Thanks for the advice
Kacy

Replies

  • anaju61
    anaju61 Posts: 34 Member
    Yes to your questions, those are the calories in put. I have a Polar and love it. The machines at the gym are way off on the calorie burn
  • Gapwedge01
    Gapwedge01 Posts: 494
    I have used the same Polar HRM for several years (the F7 which is not outdated and replaced by the FT7) and I find my calories burned to be accurate. You will find that the MFP Exercise Calories Burned for a given exercise are quiet generous. So I rely upon my Polar HRM to record my calories burned for all of my activites whether it is mowing the yard, riding my bike, or walking. I am not familiar with the Bowflex HRM however. Others may offer their opinions on it.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    With the HRM are you putting in YOUR stats: height/weight/sex/age/max hr/min hr etc in order to get an "accurate" reading? I'm skeptical about the calorie burn that those things show.
  • Misskacy1988
    Misskacy1988 Posts: 11
    Yes I put in my height, weight and gender. The amount of calories just seems high or I, really working my butt off.
  • sluedu09
    sluedu09 Posts: 107 Member
    Bump because I'm leaning towards buying one and I want to know how accurate they are too...and if they are really worth the money.
  • xxzimmer
    xxzimmer Posts: 37
    I trust mine. My HR stays at 65%-85% and I manually matched the HR displayed with a manuel HR. Mine had an error of +/- 1-2% so I use it.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    If I sit still at the PC for 15 mins my Polar HRM clocks up the equivalent of about 2000 cals/day, so it is including my resting metabolic rate. It would be wise to subtract 60 - 100 calories per hour esp if you plan to "eat back" the calories or use that in your energy calculations.
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    If I sit still at the PC for 15 mins my Polar HRM clocks up the equivalent of about 2000 cals/day, so it is including my resting metabolic rate. It would be wise to subtract 60 - 100 calories per hour esp if you plan to "eat back" the calories or use that in your energy calculations.

    I did wonder if it would do that. I've just bought a Polar FT7 so I will be interested to see how it works for me.

    I would have thought it would measure your resting rate and hence ignore calories burned during that time. Doesn't sound like it does though

    My plan is to log myself as 'sedentary' to get my BMR and 'living' calorie burn, then use the HRM for anything that raises my heart beat (with maybe one notable exception - I can't imagine a watch and chest strap is conducive to romance!)

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