More help from Polar owners please :)

So I got my watch...after some initial confusion with the transmitter and the watch being switched ON when I opened the box....I finally got everything working.

But uhh...do I need to subtract my BMR from the # of calories burned from the watch to get an accurate measure? And just to clarify, the number I would subtract is BEFORE I multiply by 1.2 to account for sedentary activity, right?

And is it okay to ignore this 'adjusting' step because I think the afterburn from my cardio is making up for it....

Thanks so much! These forums are such a great resource!

 

 

 

I personally dont subtract it.  when you add it to your burned calories, Calorie Count automatically subtracts what you would of burned at sedentary during that time, then adds whats left to your total for the day..  :)

CC does it automatically, but do HRMs do that too? It doesn't seem likely b/c my watch counts calories all day...

What model do you have?

A Polar F4

no your hrm doesnt do that..  it just counts exactly how many calories you burn during the time you have it on.. well not exactly, i am sure its off by a little bit.. but generally around the amount you burn during that time..

Actually your heart rate monitor does not count how many calories you are burning, it counts heart beats.  It estimates calories burned based on an algorithm.  As they say on Madison Avenue, "Your actual mileage may vary."

You don't need to subtract your "living" calorie burns  LIke others have said its done automatically. 

And as tr said all HRM are estimates = granted its going to be a better estimate than say a generic website calculaton.  I have an F11 which has a fitness test which gives a bit of a better calculation since it knows how fit or unfit I am any given week.

thanks TR for saying exactly what i meant to say.. i knew it didnt count actual calories..  just that it estimates the calories burned..  etc..

My polar hrm only counts (estimates) calories when my heart rate is 100 and above. So if i wear it all day, it doesn't count calories all day. hope that helps.

 

Original Post by barby150:

My polar hrm only counts (estimates) calories when my heart rate is 100 and above. So if i wear it all day, it doesn't count calories all day. hope that helps.

Mine counts it if I press the 'OK' button on the side ... so if I left it on, it counts calories so long as the electrodes are moistened on the transmitter and there isn't any interference nearby.

But I guess from the rest of the responses, it's okay not to subtract my BMR for the time I'm working out. Great news :)

I hate getting interference. Sometimes when i walk on a park trail near my house it throws my monitor all out of wack for weeks, even if I stop walking there. It will read 220 all the time and then go to blank. Does anyone know if cell towers would interfer or possibly police radios? There are cell towers nearby and sometimes a police car is parked in the lot. It doesn't happen all the time. It is very frustrating to look down and see wacky numbers and not get my calorie count. I did have the battery changed. Sent it back to polar (PIA). Anyone else have this problem?

I'm sure any of those things could potentially cause interference.  I notice the most interference from power lines, especially high voltage power lines.

edit: I don't own a Polar and I would assume that some makes and models are more susceptible to interference than others.

I have a polar F11 and I love it. It is working fine so far after about 2-3 months *knock on wood* I have the one that came with the encoded strap so that it doesn't get interference from other machines or other peoples' straps. Awesome gadget. Well worth the money spent.