Polar heartrate monitor question



gigemaggs99

New Member
Jul 6, 2003
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:confused:

I have a Polar A5 heartrate monitor. I have a question about one of the values it records. It can measure you calories burnt durning a workout. It measures them in kcal. Is this kilo-calories? I did a 40 mile ride yesterday and the watch said I burnt 3013 kcal. Does this mean I burnt 3013 calories? That seems like a lot. I have my height, weight, age, data, etc, entered in the watch so I hope it is calculating it correctly.
I checked the Polar website and all it says about this feature is how it works and explains concepts like running/jogging will burn more calories than walking if all variables (time, duration, etc) are kept the same. I understand that part of burning calories. I just wondered if anyone would know if kcal is the same as calories or do I need to convert the units similar to the difference between meters and kilometers.
I'm trying to lose weight and I am trying to burn more calories than I take it or close to it.

Thank you!
 
gigemaggs99 said:
:confused:

I have a Polar A5 heartrate monitor. I have a question about one of the values it records. It can measure you calories burnt durning a workout. It measures them in kcal. Is this kilo-calories? I did a 40 mile ride yesterday and the watch said I burnt 3013 kcal. Does this mean I burnt 3013 calories? That seems like a lot. I have my height, weight, age, data, etc, entered in the watch so I hope it is calculating it correctly.
I checked the Polar website and all it says about this feature is how it works and explains concepts like running/jogging will burn more calories than walking if all variables (time, duration, etc) are kept the same. I understand that part of burning calories. I just wondered if anyone would know if kcal is the same as calories or do I need to convert the units similar to the difference between meters and kilometers.
I'm trying to lose weight and I am trying to burn more calories than I take it or close to it.

Thank you!
sounds a bit strange, I also use a Polar HRM and it does measure in Kcal....even if you were flat out you wouldn't burn that many. I average 800-900kcal/hr when working hard. Was your HRM reading correctly thoughout?....sometimes mine gives bad readings if not positioned correctly or if the batteries are on their way out.
 
gooders said:
sounds a bit strange, I also use a Polar HRM and it does measure in Kcal....even if you were flat out you wouldn't burn that many. I average 800-900kcal/hr when working hard. Was your HRM reading correctly thoughout?....sometimes mine gives bad readings if not positioned correctly or if the batteries are on their way out.


I thought about this, my heartrate monitor is about 1 1/2 years old. Is there a way to tell if the battery is low? I checked on Polar's website for this as well, they just give information on how/where to get the battery replaced.
I think my battery may be low, if I use the screen that shows my training zone and it's supposed to show my heartrate in terms of a blinking circle and it adds more circles the higher my heartrate is, well if I get my HR up to the high end it doesn't always fill the circles, they come and go. Any thoughts on this?
 
gigemaggs99 said:
I thought about this, my heartrate monitor is about 1 1/2 years old. Is there a way to tell if the battery is low? I checked on Polar's website for this as well, they just give information on how/where to get the battery replaced.
I think my battery may be low, if I use the screen that shows my training zone and it's supposed to show my heartrate in terms of a blinking circle and it adds more circles the higher my heartrate is, well if I get my HR up to the high end it doesn't always fill the circles, they come and go. Any thoughts on this?
sorry gigemaggs not a clue take it in to your local dealer and see what they reckon.
 
gigemaggs99 said:
:confused:

I have a Polar A5 heartrate monitor. I have a question about one of the values it records. It can measure you calories burnt durning a workout. It measures them in kcal. Is this kilo-calories? I did a 40 mile ride yesterday and the watch said I burnt 3013 kcal. Does this mean I burnt 3013 calories? That seems like a lot. I have my height, weight, age, data, etc, entered in the watch so I hope it is calculating it correctly.
I checked the Polar website and all it says about this feature is how it works and explains concepts like running/jogging will burn more calories than walking if all variables (time, duration, etc) are kept the same. I understand that part of burning calories. I just wondered if anyone would know if kcal is the same as calories or do I need to convert the units similar to the difference between meters and kilometers.
I'm trying to lose weight and I am trying to burn more calories than I take it or close to it.

Thank you!
I too have a Polar A-5 I often wondered what a kcal was and why it was such a high value.
Before I got the Polar I found this website to calculate burned calories, it might be a little general but right now who knows what the standard is. Check out the: Activity Calorie Counter section.

http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/index.html
 
When you push the light button and the digits fades away, then it's a good time to change the battery
 
gigemaggs99 said:
:confused:

I have a Polar A5 heartrate monitor. I have a question about one of the values it records. It can measure you calories burnt durning a workout. It measures them in kcal. Is this kilo-calories? I did a 40 mile ride yesterday and the watch said I burnt 3013 kcal. Does this mean I burnt 3013 calories? That seems like a lot. I have my height, weight, age, data, etc, entered in the watch so I hope it is calculating it correctly.
I checked the Polar website and all it says about this feature is how it works and explains concepts like running/jogging will burn more calories than walking if all variables (time, duration, etc) are kept the same. I understand that part of burning calories. I just wondered if anyone would know if kcal is the same as calories or do I need to convert the units similar to the difference between meters and kilometers.
I'm trying to lose weight and I am trying to burn more calories than I take it or close to it.

Thank you!
It all depends at what intensity you are training at.
 
Sounds pretty darn high to me, but I have often wondered the same thing, exactly what do they measure? Heart rate as a measure of exertion? Speed?

Where I live, I do 30 - 40 mile solos pretty regularly at around 18 - 19 mph pace. These rides include several pissers of hills, with usually 2000 - 3000 feet of climbing, and usually a good bit of wind.

i will usually see 1300 - 1800 or so Kcal. on Polar.

Sometimes I will do 65 - 75 milers that have some Really ugly hills, and 5000+ feet of climbing and will break 3200 - 3600 or so.

For me at least, burning more than 3000 kcal in a ride really feels like a SERIOUS workout. I am pretty weak and dopy the rest of the day.

Then again I am 43 years old, and pretty weak and dopy even in the best of times :D

The Kcal thing, by the way is just what we have always been talking about when we talked about calories. An actual calorie is a very small unit, the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water one degree, or something like that. Anyway, when we talked of burning calories, it was always a kilocalory, it's just that nowadays, the write it kcal, cause it's more correcter! :eek:

Anyway I am constantly angry at my Polar for one thing or another, but at the moment I had to send it off to be fixed, and I really miss it badly! Life's tough!




Whit
 
What many people don't realize is that a calorie is a very small amount of energy. On the back of food, they list Calories with a capital C which is equivalent to kcal. Thus it creates confusion. I hope this helps.
 
atomicrc11 said:
What many people don't realize is that a calorie is a very small amount of energy. On the back of food, they list Calories with a capital C which is equivalent to kcal. Thus it creates confusion. I hope this helps.

Yep, my understanding was that 'calories' is simply the abbreviated or short way of saying Kilo Calories (or kCal).
 
gigemaggs99 said:
:confused:

I have a Polar A5 heartrate monitor. I have a question about one of the values it records. It can measure you calories burnt durning a workout. It measures them in kcal. Is this kilo-calories? I did a 40 mile ride yesterday and the watch said I burnt 3013 kcal. Does this mean I burnt 3013 calories? That seems like a lot. I have my height, weight, age, data, etc, entered in the watch so I hope it is calculating it correctly.
<snip>

Thank you!


There is an article Here that goes into the research behind the OwnCal function its a bit deep for me but I get the impression that its not perfect but its better than almost anything else that mortals can get hold of (without a sports lab anyway) I find that mine gives me a consistant reading so it helps me to guage how my workouts have gone, I suspect that its a bit high on the actual kcals expended but I have no scientific way of proving that.

Its probably worth remembering that unless you are weighing your food religeously you will be taking in more than you think.

Steve D