Fitness

I've recently bought a HRM (Polar F4) and have been using it for the last week and a half or so, i use it each time at the gym and i go to the gym 4-5 times per week.

My concern is, its saying i burn a lot of calories, sometimes higher than what the gym machines say (Depending on what machine i'm using) and i was under the impression the gym machines say we burn much higher than what we realy are??

Ok so today I did cardio, including 10 mins walking and 40 mins running on treadmill (running ranges between 5-6.5 mph,occasionally 7mph for a couple of minutes), 10mins on elliptical, 10mins on stepper machine, 10mins on bike. So when i pressed stop on my HRM it said i burnt a total of 820 calories.

A couple of days ago i did cardio again and worked out for 1 hour 30/40 mins (cant remember exactly right now) and it said i burnt just over 900 calories.

I'm 148 lbs, 5 ft 2.5". Can this be right? I hope it is because somtimes seeing that i burn so many calories results in me eating an extra couple hundred calories or so on those days... but it seems so high :S heelp!! :)

Anyonee ? :(

That actually sounds about right.  How long have you been working out?  I found that when I first started, everything required so much effort - and my HR was pretty high for most of the time I was exercising (ie: between 160 and 170 for over 50% of the time I was moving). 

The higher your HR during exercise, the more calories you are going to burn.  The machines aren't very accurate, in terms of calories burned. They don't take your gender, your age or your HR into account - which results in numbers that can be higher or lower than your actual calorie burn.

It takes me about 70 minutes to burn 600 calories when I run.....I average somewhere between a 6.0 and 6.5 mph speed, and my HR is usually around 150 to 155 bpm. It takes me way longer to burn that many calories doing the elliptical trainer or using the bike - because I can't ever seem to get my HR above 120 or 130.

Burning about 1000 calories in about 90 minutes when you are running is probably pretty accurate - so I wouldn't worry too much.

Happy working out!!

Yay thats good 2 read thanks for the reply :) i now don't have to worry that i've been adding in an extra snack because of the high amount of calories i burnt at the gym ;) a healthy snack of course but still = extra calories!

I've been working out for about 11 weeks now, when im running at about 6.5 - 7mph my HR can go quite high, to around late 170's to early 180's. Im 19 btw. And i find on the elliptical i burn quite a lot too, i did 20mins the other day and burnt about 215 calories,and HR was around 140-160 max.

Thanks agen for the reply :)

When you work out in the higher end of your target heart rate you will burn more calories.  You want to work out between 65-85 % of your max heart rate.  If you are on the higher end as you work out- your burn could definitely be in the 800's.

I have an F4 as well but my "scores" are not as high as that. But then my heart rate doesn't go up really fast. I start at around 60 and i have to cycle like mad to get it up to 116 (where my fat burning level starts). My highest heart reat is 140. So 160 or 170 I think I would fall down or something :D

After 90-105 minutes I score around 500-600 calories burned. So I'm jealous of you :D

Lol yay thanks every1, i feel a bit better now, and i'm gettin used to my F4 after a couple of weeks, i love it!

I'm glad i can actually see how much i'm burning now, seeing the numbers go up is so much of a motivation, i try do a bit more so i know i can have that 'treat snack' once in a while hehe :)