This morning's workout was on the elliptical. Talk about a wide variety of numbers for calories burned, during a 50 minute session, keeping my heart rate between 135 and 145.
Precor Elliptical (with my heart rate signal, weight entered, and age entered): 850 calories
Polar FT-7 HRM: 540 calories
SparkPeople: 1058 calories
Seriously!?!?!
Now, before anybody thinks I'm getting hung up on numbers, I'm not. I'm just a geek, and wonder why the numbers vary so much. I tend to think the real number lies somewhere above what the Polar is telling me, but not much more, maybe 10% more. Each system has it's own limitations. I think the Polar would be the most accurate IF it were also taking into account my BF%. But, now that I think about it, it may be worse. I'm a 350 lb guy right now. If I were this weight but 20% body fat, my lean body mass would be somewhere around 280, vs the 37% body fat that I actually am and my lean body mass is around 220. Which engine burns more fuel? The 220 or the 280? Obviously the 280. None of these systems asks me my body fat %, and are probably making assumptions to arrive at a number. I'm going to keep digging into this.
Not that any of this matters anyway if I'm not tracking my calories - which I have done a really bad job at lately. Must resolve to do better at that. Usually if I'm not tracking my calories, it means I'm not eating right.
In the end, all that matters is moving more and eating right. These number tools are fun to play with, but none of it matters unless you are doing those two things.
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