You can calculate your calorie expenditure based on your heart rate and a few other factors. Your heart rate has a relatively close correlation with your calorie expenditure rate while your heart rate is between 90 and 150 beats per minute (bpm.) You therefore will need to keep your heart rate within this range in order for a calculation of your calorie expenditure to be reasonably accurate.
Step 1
Weigh yourself on a scale. The calorie expenditure equations will require you to provide your weight in pounds in addition to your age and your gender.
Step 2
Wear a heart rate monitor and begin exercising. Record your heart rate once it rises above 90 bpm. Speed up or slow down as needed to keep your heart rate between 90 and 150 bpm. Stop exercising and stop recording your heart rate once it drops below 90 bpm.
Step 3
Compute the calories burned if you're male. You can accomplish this with the following equation: calories burned = (0.2017 x age in years + 0.09036 x weight in pounds + 0.6309 x average heart rate - 55.0969) x elapsed time / 4.184.
Step 4
Calculate the calories burned if you're female. This is given by the equation calories burned = (0.074 x age in years - 0.05741 x weight in pounds + 0.4472 x average heart rate - 20.4022) x time elapsed / 4.184.
For an example calculation, a 43-year-old female weighing 143 pounds exercised for 45 minutes with an average heart rate during the session of 141 bpm: (0.074 x 43 - 0.05741 x 143 + 0.4472 x 141 - 20.4022) x 45 / 4.184 = 405 calories during your exercise session.
Things You'll Need
- Scale
- Heart rate monitor
- Calculator
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