Is my HRM estimating too few calories?
 

I realize that the gym equipment is notorious for overestimating calories burned in a gym session, but my heart rate monitor (which syncs with the gym equipment) seems like it may way underestimate my calories burned when I compare what it says to online sources. For instance, today I spent 62 minutes on the elliptical. I'm 5'7'', 147 lbs, and maintained a good speed, keeping my heart rate in the 125-145 range the whole time. According to the elliptical, I burned approximately 480 calories, but according to my heart rate monitor, I only burned about 255.

Which one is right? Or at least, more likely to be accurate? After some googling and a few calculations, I think I should be somewhere in the 380 calories/hour range, but neither piece of equipment is close to that!

Thanks in advance for the help - I want to be as accurate as possible since I'm counting calories! :carrot:

Fist of all, are you sure the elliptical was synching with your heart rate monitor and no one else's? I ask because I don't own a heart rate monitor and all the time at the gym my machine will synch with my workout partner's monitor. I probably wouldn't even have noticed because we are both roughly the same size and at the same intensity but since we often read each other's machine since we work out together, we noticed it one day. If she was a stranger and I wasn't checking out her settings and stuff I probably wouldn't have known.

this is why ive always hesitated to get a HRM....when i'm on the treadmill, I put in 30 minutes keeping my heart rate at the lowest about 150-160 (after warm up) and max about 190 (during sprints) and the treadmill says I burn about 230 calories...i'm 5 foot 4 and about 185 pounds

Unfortunately, yes, pretty sure it was synced with the right equipment... I was the only one in the cardio/machine room at the gym today, and since I work out at a place that's also a physical therapy place, most people don't use heart rate monitors at all. :( At my old gym I did have occasional problems with that, but I would just re-sync it and it would be fine.

I think it's a great investment if it works (hah!), but I hate using the elliptical without mine and having it want me to grab the silver handles every minute or two to update my heart rate.