My HRM said I burned 1023 calories in an hour HUH

My HRM said I burned 1023 calories in an hour, is this even possible? I usually go by the Elliptical which I've heard is usually off by over 20%

I just bought the HRM about a week ago, it's a Sportsline brand I bought it at walmart. I put in my vitals, age 27, female, weight 148.

Well today I figured I'd use it while on the elliptical, stair master, etc I started it and periodically checked my heart rate which was anywhere between 150s to 180s. I stopped it at 1:00.01 and it says 1023, that just seems too high. Someone please provide any insight, thank you.

Wow. That's awesome. What does it say if you wear it for a day but do not exercise?

I am thinking of getting a bodybugg because I am skeptical of the calorie count on the elliptical at my gym. I'm super interested in what you learn.

It depends on how fit you already are or aren't and how long you are keeping such a high heart rate.  I used to burn close to that easily when I started cardio.  I will say, I'm not an expert but you may be really pushing your heart.

It is possible to burn that much in an hour but not very likely unless you rate of exertion was extremely high the whole time.  You may need to experiment with your HRM a bit to get the settings right so it will give you better estimates of calories burned.

Thanks for the input.

I guess I'm in moderately good shape. When I'm on the elliptical I kind of do an HIIT on multiples of 9 for 1 minute each. Example moderate pace from 0-9 minutes 9-10 as fast as I can 10-18 moderate pace 18-19 as fast as I can, etc.

I tried to just wear the HRM one day for 24 hours but it accidentally stopped at 15 hours and I was already over 1900 calories. It was a saturday and the most I did was walk around the mall not at a fast pace or anything just window shopping.

Original Post by amayou82:

Thanks for the input.

I guess I'm in moderately good shape. When I'm on the elliptical I kind of do an HIIT on multiples of 9 for 1 minute each. Example moderate pace from 0-9 minutes 9-10 as fast as I can 10-18 moderate pace 18-19 as fast as I can, etc.

I tried to just wear the HRM one day for 24 hours but it accidentally stopped at 15 hours and I was already over 1900 calories. It was a saturday and the most I did was walk around the mall not at a fast pace or anything just window shopping.

A HRM monitor is not programmed to be able to estimate calories when you are not exercising so wearing it for 24 hours will tell you nothing. 

Use some of the calculators on the internet to cross reference what the HRM is telling you.  You burn about 5 calories for every liter of oxygen you consume.  Since HR is an indirect measure of this volume, calorie burn is only an estimation at best.  Some products/web sites are better than others at guesstimating.

I think so.  I'm a runner.  I burn just over 150 calories a mile  ...  at 9 minute pace  ...  roughly 1,000 calories an hour.  So if you were working the eliptical at a vigorous rate  ...  for an hour  ...  sure.

Original Post by trhawley:

Original Post by amayou82:

Thanks for the input.

I guess I'm in moderately good shape. When I'm on the elliptical I kind of do an HIIT on multiples of 9 for 1 minute each. Example moderate pace from 0-9 minutes 9-10 as fast as I can 10-18 moderate pace 18-19 as fast as I can, etc.

I tried to just wear the HRM one day for 24 hours but it accidentally stopped at 15 hours and I was already over 1900 calories. It was a saturday and the most I did was walk around the mall not at a fast pace or anything just window shopping.

A HRM monitor is not programmed to be able to estimate calories when you are not exercising so wearing it for 24 hours will tell you nothing. 

 Thanks. But why wouldn't it tell you how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period, I mean what would the diffrenece be? Would you have ot get a 24 hrm to find out but you burn in a days period?

Original Post by cpa_pfs:

I think so.  I'm a runner.  I burn just over 150 calories a mile  ...  at 9 minute pace  ...  roughly 1,000 calories an hour.  So if you were working the eliptical at a vigorous rate  ...  for an hour  ...  sure.

 I'm not sure how familiar you are with ellipticals but here is the info. At my moderate pace I'm "jogging" at around 160 RPM and when I speed up I jog at about 224 RPM.

Original Post by amayou82:

Original Post by trhawley:

Original Post by amayou82:

Thanks for the input.

I guess I'm in moderately good shape. When I'm on the elliptical I kind of do an HIIT on multiples of 9 for 1 minute each. Example moderate pace from 0-9 minutes 9-10 as fast as I can 10-18 moderate pace 18-19 as fast as I can, etc.

I tried to just wear the HRM one day for 24 hours but it accidentally stopped at 15 hours and I was already over 1900 calories. It was a saturday and the most I did was walk around the mall not at a fast pace or anything just window shopping.

A HRM monitor is not programmed to be able to estimate calories when you are not exercising so wearing it for 24 hours will tell you nothing. 

 Thanks. But why wouldn't it tell you how many calories you burn in a 24 hour period, I mean what would the diffrenece be? Would you have ot get a 24 hrm to find out but you burn in a days period?

You need a device like a Bodybugg or Gowear Fit that is designed to give you a 24 hour calorie burn by monitoring several different body functions.  A HRM counts heart beats and then uses the same exertion tables that are used on sites like this to determine calories burned during exercise.  If you are not exercising the number are meaningless and even when you are exercising the HRM will give you an educated guess but not an exact number. 

As Wes pointed out above, Heart Rate training was developed because it is much easier to measure heart rate than VO2.  VO2 Max and Max Heart Rate occur simultaneously and conveniently the percentages of max of both coincide.  So if your coach calls for an effort of 75% VO2 max you can use a heart rate monitor and work out at 75% of Max heart rate for the same result.  Manufacturers of HRMs took the calorie burn tables (like the ones on this site) that were based on exertion levels while exercising, averaged them, and programmed them into HRMs and the sale of HRMs took off.  But what they don't tell you is that Heart Rate is affected by many uncontrollable factors so 75% VO2 Max is not always 75% Max HR.  So given that the HRM calorie burn has a fairly broad margin of error at best the margin of error is even broader on days when your heart is not cooperating. 

Bottom line is that using a heart rate monitor to get a 24 hour calorie burn is a lot like like using a screw driver to pound a nail.  You'll have better results if you use the right tool.

Just as a follow up, in order to get the most accurate information from your HRM you need to make sure that the settings are as accurate as possible.  Some models will take you through a "fitness test" to assign a VO2 max for you and use that information to determine your level of exertion when estimating calories.  Some will ask you to enter you maximum heart rate which you will need to determine.  If you have one like mine, it will ask for your age and not you MHR.  In this case it will use the old formula that does not work to figure out your MHR and will base exertion and also calorie burn off that which will most likely be wrong. 

For example, I'm 50 and my HRM only asks for my age.  Then it calculates my MHR by subtracting my age from 220 so it assumes my MHR is 170.  So if I'm working out at 135 bpm it thinks that I'm am working at 80% of my VO2 Max (or of 80% MHR).  But my MHR is 195 so 135 bpm is really only 70% of my VO2 Max and therefore my HRM is overestimating my calories burned by quite a lot.  So in order to get a more accurate estimate from my HRM, I need to tell it that I am 25 so it will calculate my Max at 195 instead of 170.  Then at least the exertion levels that it is using for the estimates will be more accurate on most days.

If the HRM doesn't have a strap to do constant monitoring of your heart rate then it isn't going to be very accurate at all.  Also the VO2 is a very important factor in determining calorie burn.  I have a polar F11 and when my VO2 is elite it gives me a big calorie burn I reset it to "good" so my calorie burn won't be so high

It's true.  Your heart rate monitor needs a chest strap in order to be truely accurate.  I use a basic polar heart rate monitor I got off ebay.  After I have my average heart rate from my monitor then I plug that into this formula.

Using VO2max
Men: C/min = (-59.3954 + (-36.3781 + 0.271 x age + 0.394 x weight + 0.404 x VO2max + 0.634 x HR))/4.184
Women: C/min = (-59.3954 + (0.274 x age + 0.103 x weight + 0.380 x VO2max + 0.450 x HR)) / 4.184

Without VO2max
Men: C/min = (-55.0969 + 0.6309 x HR + 0.1988 x weight + 0.2017 x age) / 4.184
Women: C/min = (-20.4022 + 0.4472 x HR - 0.1263 x weight + 0.074 x age) / 4.184

Weight is in Kg.  This gives you the amount of calories burned per minute.  So just multiply this by the amount of time and it should give you a fairly accurate estimate.