How many calories am I burning???

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carrie2020
carrie2020 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I take "pure barre" classes (that I love)! I want to get an idea of how many calories I am burning. I have a heart rate monitor that I wore to class today and it said I burned 21 calories!! There is no way this is correct. Pure barre is small isometric movements and holds, but trust me you work up a sweat! How can I get an accurate # of calories burned? Would a chest strap work better?? Thanks for any insight.

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  • pranaynanda
    pranaynanda Posts: 5 Member
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    What HRM do you use? I have a Polar FT7 that I use for my classes and depending on the intensity, I lose about 400-600 cals in an hour.
  • carrie2020
    carrie2020 Posts: 5 Member
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    Its a sportline solo 925 (i think) (from best buy).
  • carrie2020
    carrie2020 Posts: 5 Member
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    PS 400-600 calories sounds more like it!!
  • Tubby2Toned
    Tubby2Toned Posts: 130 Member
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    A moderately strenuous yoga class burns about 300 calories an hour. That's a rough estimate only.
    Don't know if this helps, but we generally know that 10 minute of moderate aerobics (can still talk with your neighbor on the treadmill some) burns about 100 calories every 10 minutes or so.
    I often use my own perceived level of exertion and then find a comparative activity on a "calories burned" website. In general I give myself 100 calories burned every 10 minutes for any activity in the moderate exertion range, and figure more or less from there...
  • pranaynanda
    pranaynanda Posts: 5 Member
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    Yeah, maybe you can look into getting a Polar. I read up a lot about it on the forums here and elsewhere. Have had mine for about 6 weeks and it really helps me keep a track of heart rate and calories. Worth every penny of the $78 I spent on it.
  • warpet
    warpet Posts: 9
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    I have a heart rate monitor but it doesn't give me calories burned. I average 160 and keep it there for about an hour with distance of 4.5 to 5 miles. how many calories does that actually burn?
  • jameyjam
    jameyjam Posts: 14 Member
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    I have a heart rate monitor but it doesn't give me calories burned. I average 160 and keep it there for about an hour with distance of 4.5 to 5 miles. how many calories does that actually burn?

    I also need to know this. I stupidly didn't realize my hrm doesn't tell calories burned!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    I have a heart rate monitor but it doesn't give me calories burned. I average 160 and keep it there for about an hour with distance of 4.5 to 5 miles. how many calories does that actually burn?

    I also need to know this. I stupidly didn't realize my hrm doesn't tell calories burned!

    Don't feel bad. None of them actually do. They just use an algorithm to fabricate a guess on what you may have burned. They only put that feature on as a marketing ploy. The owners manuals barely even mention the "calorie burn counting" properties of the devices. It'll be on like page 47 and just be one paragraph.
  • mcherri
    mcherri Posts: 22 Member
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    I have a heart rate monitor but it doesn't give me calories burned. I average 160 and keep it there for about an hour with distance of 4.5 to 5 miles. how many calories does that actually burn?

    I also need to know this. I stupidly didn't realize my hrm doesn't tell calories burned!

    Don't feel bad. None of them actually do. They just use an algorithm to fabricate a guess on what you may have burned. They only put that feature on as a marketing ploy. The owners manuals barely even mention the "calorie burn counting" properties of the devices. It'll be on like page 47 and just be one paragraph.

    i know that the machines (like ellipticals and treadmills) at the gym use algorithms also to calculate calories burned... there really is no other way to do it unless someone is measuring the amount of oxygen you're breathing out while you exercise, and algorithms are truly a smart way to estimate calories burned, i mean its pretty much the best we can do.... anyways, my question is this, do you suppose that the machines at the gym are just as accurate calorie counters as a HRM?
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Options
    I have a heart rate monitor but it doesn't give me calories burned. I average 160 and keep it there for about an hour with distance of 4.5 to 5 miles. how many calories does that actually burn?

    I also need to know this. I stupidly didn't realize my hrm doesn't tell calories burned!

    Don't feel bad. None of them actually do. They just use an algorithm to fabricate a guess on what you may have burned. They only put that feature on as a marketing ploy. The owners manuals barely even mention the "calorie burn counting" properties of the devices. It'll be on like page 47 and just be one paragraph.

    i know that the machines (like ellipticals and treadmills) at the gym use algorithms also to calculate calories burned... there really is no other way to do it unless someone is measuring the amount of oxygen you're breathing out while you exercise, and algorithms are truly a smart way to estimate calories burned, i mean its pretty much the best we can do.... anyways, my question is this, do you suppose that the machines at the gym are just as accurate calorie counters as a HRM?

    I'm going to try to word this right. I feel the machines at the gym are just as accurate and HRMs and MFP. And just as INaccurate. All of them are using an algorithm to formulate a guess. It may be right for one person but way off for another, or right on a particular exercise but not so much with other forms of exercise. I do know that most of the machines have their algorithm tuned for what an average person of a certain size or weight would burn *on that particular machine*. So even though the elliptical and stairclimber might be made by the same company and have the same hardware, they are tuned to give a different number to try to be more accurate. By accurate I mean a closer guess.

    I'm not trying to imply that HRM's are evil or even deceptive. Just saying people put a lot of faith into a feature that the devices aren't made to do. They don't even advertise that they do it on the packaging. So I guess I'm saying don't take the number from an HRM on blind faith. Monitor your progress and adjust accordingly, like I'm sure most people do.

    Last thing and I'll stop hijacking. I've seen some people say they don't trust their HRM or MFP, so they average the two and eat that back. Isn't that just taking 2 guesses and creating a 3rd guess?

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