[philana]

Hi people,

There's this thing I am wondering about for weeks now. I have a heart rate monitor and it tells me how many calories I burned also. I lean towards not believing a word it says because it seems just ridiculous. When I go running my heartrate averages around 165-170 so the calories burned are pretty high, like 400calories per 30minutes.

Today I went to the gym and used both my HRM and the HRM on the machine, and they both gave me the same outcome, av HR of 170, calories burned 400 in 30minutes. When I just ride my bike lazily my HR is around 130, and when I sit being bored it's around 60-70. However, 170 doesn't feel like I am about to keel over and die. 185 doesn't feel like that either. Maybe around 190 I feel like I should get my HR down within a few minutes or it will get uhg.

Anyway, a whole lot of words to ask you guys what your experience with HRM are and if you believe their calorie count. And just what to you feels like a pretty maintanable heartrate for long exercise, like 30 to 60minutes.

Thanks in advance! I mean, i'd be super happy if I justed burned 750 calories with 20mins of running and 30mins of crosstrainer, but it sounds ridiculous. LOL!

[Mollewogg]

I don't know about heart rate, but I've always heard an average of 100 calories per mile for running. Granted this is going to vary depending on your height/weight.

[chickadee32]

I saw this article recently and thought it was interesting, and it might help answer your question: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/...8402-0,00.html

According to the calculator at the end of the article, at your current weight you'd burn 400 total calories in 30 minutes of running if you ran at roughly 7-7.5 mph (8-8.5 mins/mile, or something around 3.5 miles in 30 minutes). That's definitely do-able for some (though not for me!), and so the numbers you quoted don't seem all that off!


On the heart rate question... I definitely can't sustain something in the range of 170 bpm for anything close to 60 minutes. I'm not sure of your age, but I'm 33 and by a standard heart rate calculator 170 bpm is 90% of max for me. I can get to that and go over it for short periods, but it's not sustainable. I don't wear an HRM and so only have the one on the machines at the gym to go by... but when I finish a ~40-45 minute run by sprinting, my heart rate a minute or so later is typically in the high 160s, so I likely get over 170 bpm during the final sprint. By the way I typically feel during my runs, I'd guess my heart rate is in the 150-160 bpm range for most of the run - or 80-85% of max. When it starts to get hard closer to the end of the run, that's when I know I'm hitting the ~165 bpm range where I find it tough to stay at for longer than maybe 5-10 min.

The calculators for target/max heart rate are just averages though... and so it's entirely possible that, even if you and I are the same age, we have different max heart rates. If you are comfortable sustaining 170 bpm, your max heart rate could be something more like ~200 bpm. Edit: I just looked at your age on your profile, and according to a standard heart rate calculator your max would be something like 194 bpm. Again, your personal max could be higher than that.

[philana]

Thanks for your replies, it really helps.

chickadee: I run around 11.5min/miles at a heartrate of 170. I only recently started running so not that fast yet. I think it is maybe my fitness level. Even though I've been exercising for a while now and never feel like I push myself super hard I could still be less fit than average I guess.

snaggly: thanks for that, it must be my fitness level I think. Though even when my heartrate is up that much, I might sweat but I won't fee like I have trouble breathing. I find it very difficult to establish when I am pushing myself and when it's just easy peasy.

--
Just checked my rest heartrate by checking it first thing when I woke up and it's between 65-70. That's not even in the high catagory.

[chickadee32]

philana: That's the same speed I run, and I've only *just* gotten to that speed after working up to it very slowly over the last 6 months. I work hard during my runs and am soaked in sweat by the end, but I don't push myself to my limits and that's a conscious choice; I want to keep enjoying my exercise, and when I push too hard I just end up frustrated and miserable. I think whatever is working for you is perfectly fine.

I don't think your heart rate indicates that you are less fit than average (not at all), just that you're capable of comfortably sustaining a higher heart rate during exertion than many people. I'd love to be able to do that - I could run faster, sooner, without feeling like I'm killing myself to do it!

And I could be wrong, but I don't think resting heart rate has any bearing on max heart rate. Your resting heart rate is excellent (indicating better fitness than most!). Again, you may just have a higher max hr than average. Seems like that's a good thing!

[Only Me]

Does the gym equipment or your heart rate monitor consider your weight or your maximum heart rate when they're telling you how many calories you burned? It sounds like you have a higher than average maximum heart rate, which will throw off a calculator that's using averages.