Quote Originally Posted by Catrin View Post
I am unsure how accurate my Polar HRM is where calories are concerned, but I do know that it shows I burn far less than, say, a year ago. I know it isn't exact, I use it as a rule of thumb. I use that in combination with how my body feels and what my blood sugar says. It has been a combination that works well.
Before I read this post, it was exactly what I was thinking in scanning your thread.

Have you re-set your HRM lately?

That's one of the things I check with my students in spin. If their weight has changed, re-set that. Plus, their fitness level. And diff types of exercise, impactive vs non-impactive, run diff heart rate efforts compared to perceived exersion.

The "stock numbers" in the HRM as usually set for 220 - ur age = Max HR... then the percentage of effort... which should match your perceived exersion... which from there gives you a total calories estimation burn.

As regular exercisers, we are generally fitter than the 220 - ur age theory. The fitter you become, the higher your threshold becomes.

Best way is to compare your perceived exersion with what that number should be for your HR percentage. You can take that number you see and work backwards to re-set Max HR.

For me, 220 - age42 = estimated Max HR 178. So, 75% max would be 178 x .75 = 133bpm. HOWEVER... say my Garmin stats when riding chatting w my partner outside... still working, but able to speak short sentence etc. (roughly endurance about 75% effort) is 155bpm. When I re-set my hrm, I took 155 divide by .75 = 206mhr.

Where my students get in trouble is that they leave the monitor settings, assume they are burning all these calories, keep eating them, and it's falsely high.

Sorry that's a long blab on... hope makes some sense, though.