Well chick,
I know that my weight and everything is set in my hrm. The watch then sets my zones to the info I entered.
The machines at my gym are way off on cals compared to my hrm, but when I check my hr with the machine it may be a few off!
I am doing weights & cardio. Lately a little more weights, since you burn more cals after your workout.
I guess if it is wrong---- It's keeping me going, so whatever works!! ha/ha
I really think it is set right!

I'm sorta puzzled like Chick is, on this one.

I plugged in a random weight into a calories-burned calculator to get a general idea of what you burn during vigorous weight training.

According to it, at a weight of 180 (i don't know how much you weigh, but the more you weigh i think the more you burn) you would have to do 3 hours of nonstop vigorous cardio weight lifting in order to burn about 1400 calories.

On the elliptical, at 180 lbs you'd have to do 90 minutes nonstop to burn 1400.

So, if you are doing either one of those for that length, that's probably about right. I wish I could do 90 minutes on an elliptical! I think I can do 1/10th of that! hehehe

Can't argue with ya there, AmyC.

Darn, you guys are making me feel bad!!
I thought I was doing so awesome!!!
I know on the elliptical 45-50 mins/ 600 cals for me! (per machine)
Then I have went and done some strenght training after that!
I havent done this since I have had my hrm!!!
I am going to do more checking into this!!

I entered my info on this site! (hope this is ok to list here)
I got it from another section on 3fatchicks.
http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/index.html
#'s dont seem to be that far off actually!

The count on the ellyptical sounds about right - it's a little higher than for me but you are prolly kicking more butt than me.

It was the count of 3171 after an hour and a half when you were done working out that blew me away...I didn't mean to make you feel bad...

ok, well normally I wear it about hour and half after.
maybe yesterday was a bit longer!!
That was truely what it said!!
I had not eaten that much, to be honest, I think I would have been passing out!!
I have just been wearing it around somedays, just cleaning wanting to see how many cals I burn.
chick- you didnt make me feel that bad!

You go girl - that's what I call an active lifestyle!!

Also thanks for the link - that was an interesting site...I checked out dog washing...I don't think it counted chasing the dog...

that is 2 funny about the whole dog thing!
PROBLEM SOLVED: I forgot to mention earlier, I have 2 WILD boys 3 & almost 6.
Maybe that would explain those EXTRA cals

I try to hit at least 500 cals for a workout, I work out in the morning so I'm usually a little time pressed. I usually do cardio till 400 (about 35-40 minutes, and then I do my weight training. I'm trying to set a pace I can stick to. Yesterday was my day off so I went for broke and did 700 calories.

I have a polar A4, i think it's a 4, and I love it to death. I had a cheap omron one but it wasn't very accurate, it was way overstating my heart rate. My polar one is great, bpm, % of target, Calories burned, etc.

I've used both a Polar HRM with chest strap and a Speedo wrist HRM / watch. I've actually got on much better with the wrist monitor, especially as I can just take my pulse impulsively throughout the day during different activities, rather than have to remember to put the chest strap on, which I never found very comfortable.

I got mine on Ebay too!

I was looking for plain old continuous heart rate counting. I've grown very pessimistic of anything that counts my calories for me. And it had to be affordable. I found my Omron HR-100c on ebay
The chest strap takes a few minutes to get used to each time I put it on.
I'm with those who said that it was enlightening. I was not working near as hard as I thought I was.

I have a polar (around $70 at target) I love it. It came with the strap for your chest. It stays put well, even better for women i think since we wear a sports bra. Only thing I'd change about mine is I'd like a light on it and also I'd like a timer that counts backwards (beeps when certin about of time has past) Mine counts calories, avg heart rate, max heart rate, and how many minutes spent excersizing. The more expensive you go the more features. But all polar watches I belive are equal in their heartrate accuracy which is most important.

I use mine mainly to keep a steady pace jogging. If I see my heartrate is going above where I know I can maintain then I can slow down. Otherwise I will be out of energry. I also use it to determin aprox about of calories while doing my excersize dvds at home.