Spinning off the calories

[kajero]

When I started with the spinning classes last February, my heart rate monitor showed I consistently burned at 475 or more calories during the class. Now it seems I can only burn up to 375 calories even working harder. What gives?

[Eden]

Do you perceive that you are working harder or is your heart rate actually higher for longer periods of time? A hr monitor estimates the calories that you've burned based on your HR. Now that you've been doing the workout for a while it is possible that you've become a bit more efficient and your hr is lower for the same intensity of exercise so the monitor now reads fewer calories burned... or there could be a more simple explanation..... did you have to put your weight into the monitor? could it have accidently been changed or reset? Maybe your hr monitor thinks you weigh a lot less and is estimating your calories burned as fewer now.

[greycoral]

have you updated your user info on the watch? I know with my Polar, every 5 lbs I lose, I go through and change the settings to be as accurate as possible. I also try to maintain the same % of heart rate as I used to when I started. My numbers ARE a little bit less, but not that big of a difference.

[kajero]

it is possible that you've become a bit more efficient and your hr is lower for the same intensity of exercise so the monitor now reads fewer calories burned... or there could be a more simple explanation..... did you have to put your weight into the monitor?

My resting heart rate has decreased to 57 from around 68. I've also lost about 10 pounds. Everything is correct on the monitor as near as I can tell. I finally asked a trainer today. He said that I would burn less calories than someone working just as hard but weighed more and/or had a higher resting heart rate. Oh well. I guess in order to burn more calories I will have to:
1) Gain the weight back.
2) Quit Exercising so I can get my resting heart rate back up there
3) Push myself harder.

I think I will go for #3.

[greycoral]

lol yeah, option 3 looks best to me!

[Dogmama]

There have been recent studies showing that intervals lead to more fat loss (not muscle loss) even when calorie usage is the same. When the instructor is having people grind out a hill, I'll adjust the tension up & down so that I'm doing 30 second intervals. I keep the same pace as the class, so I'm not disruptive.

[kajero]

Our instructor is fantastic. He does interval training and all kinds of different stuff so I don't need to worry about anything.

[SuperSteph]

As you get fitter your resting heart rate gets lower and thus it becomes much more difficult to reach the same high heart rates you were able to reach before with less difficulty. You do have to push yourself harder to get to 80% of max and beyond. You will definitely feel it, trust me.

But that doesn't mean you're not burning as many calories. Your body is supposed to be burning calories more efficiently the more fit you are. But your HR monitor is only recording the lower heart rates you have which translate into fewer calories burned overall. Push yourself harder or change your workout to reach those high heart rates.

I myself only burn less than 400 calories (450 if I really push it) per spinning session (no matter how difficult!) but that's because my resting heart rate is in the mid 40s. I am fit, but I also naturally have low resting heart rate.