HR monitors and calories?

My DH recently bought me a Timex heart rate monitor (the kind with the chest strap). Along with heart rate (obviously), it calculates an assortment of things, including calories burned in the timeframe set by the stopwatch.

Just for kicks and giggles, I put it on when I came home, a couple of hours before we went to the gym. After walking the dogs, watching TV for about a half-hour, taking out the trash, 40 minutes of weight training and 25 minutes of cardio, the watch said that I had burned 2017 calories.

Is that even possible?? It's way cool if it is, but it sounds insane!

Does anyone use a HRM that shows calories? Are they reliable? The rates shown by the watch are based on age and weight, so it seems that they are at least based on some kind of reality. . .

I'm also thinking of wearing it for a day to see what it says I burn in 24 hours, so I can make sure if I'm eating enough. Good idea? Don't bother? Anyone??

It sounds high. Do you have it set for the correct height, weight and sex? My exercise physiologist at my doc's office says not to put too much into the calories that were burned but to concentrate on the amount of time that you are in your target heart rate zone. As a comparison to when I run for at least 1/2 hour to 40 minutes I only burn about 375 calories. So that is why I am saying that you might not have it set correctly. Chris

(laughs) Oh, I'm not setting much store at ALL in the calculation. I think it's so staggeringly high that it's amusing. The monitor takes into account age and weight, but not height or sex. (giggles) I assume you mean GENDER, not HOW OFTEN. . . :-)

 Yeah, right gender as opposed to sex, but not often enough my husband would say. There are a couple good HRM that I can recommend to you. My first one that I ever bought was a Polar brand. I cannot remember the model number but it took into account, gender, height, weight and age. I found it to be very accurate. I still use it on occasion when I run inside at the gym. The one that I use right at the moment is made by Garmin and is model The Forerunner 305. It is a GPS unit and it downloads all the data to my computer at the end of a run, biking or walking/hiking event. It can also be used for downhill skiing. It is the most accurate for distances and HR. I have yet to buy an accessory for it yet called a foot pod. It attaches to your shoe and you can use it inside away from satellite signals. It has a slightly oversized wris****ch (for a woman) type of receiver and a chest strap. I actually have two units, the 205 and the 305. The 205 I use mainly for walking; I bought that first before I even started running. Have fun, Christine PS the cheapist I found them was on Amazon.com and that is where I bought both of mine, Garmin's that is.