Your heart rate may just be a simple beat, but it contains loads of information. Your heart rate is a measure of your health, your activity level and numerous other wellness-related issues. When exercising, you can use your heart rate to calculate how many calories you are burning.
Heart Rate
A standard heart rate is a basic indicator of your exertion level. When you exercise, your body increases blood flow to supply your muscles with the increased oxygen they require. The harder you work, the more calories you burn. Your heart does not burn calories, but it is a direct indicator of how hard you are working and how many calories you are burning.
Equations
You can calculate the number of calories burned using a standard heart-rate measurement after completing an activity or exercise regimen. Input your heart rate, age and weight into one of the below equations.
Women: [(-20.4022 + (.4472 x heart rate in beats per minute) + (.278 x weight in lbs.) + (.074 x age in years)] / 4.184
Men: [(-55.0969 + (.6309 x heart rate in beats per minute) + (.438 x weight in lbs.) + (.2017 x age in years)] / 4.184
The resulting number is how many calories you burn in one minute of exercise. Multiply by the number of minutes you exercised to find total calories burned.
Considerations
Using a standard heart rate to calculate calories burned is only a baseline measurement. The equations above do not take into account a person's fitness level. Depending on your fitness and your individual body characteristics, your heart rate's link to calories burned may be different.
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