More Activity Tracker Questions

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I have seen and read different responses to the activity trackers on here like Fitbit ans Up.
I have 2 questions:
1. With Body Media, do you have to have the subscription to use it? Can I get it to sync with MFP without the subscription?
2. I am curious about the Polar Fitness trackers. Does anyone use them or have compared them to Fitbit or Body Media? Are they considered good?

I'm considering getting one, just to help me see the whole picture. I'm a data/numbers kind of girl and yes, this gets me in trouble quite often!!! Thank you in advance for your insite! :smiley:
Angie

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  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    1. I'm not up to date, but used to be that you HAD to renew the subscription. (A subscription comes w/ initial purchase.)

    2. My husband has been using the Polar Loop for a little over a month now. He also bought the chest strap to use with it. He likes it - and in all honesty if I didn't already have a Fitbit One, I'd probably want the Loop. It shows steps, calories burned, etc. Approximates for daily activity but w/ using the strap for cardio he feels the workout burn is more accurate. He sets an activity goal, and it shows him where he is in meeting it. If not there, it tells him to walk for X minutes, or jog for Y minutes, etc. Puts it into real life terms of this is what you can do to meet your goal. Also its water proof, so he doesn't have to take it off except to charge. He did say syncing thru Bluetooth is a battery killer, so he mostly just syncs once a day to the website.

    Polar DOES not sync w/ MFP but he has a work around. MFP assumes he will burn a certain # of calories a day. Such as if you set up MFP for a 1 pound loss and MFP tells you to eat 1560 calories, then you know MFP expects you to burn 1560 + 500 or 2160. He enters a 1 minute workout 'Polar Loop Adjustment' to add in the extra that the Loop shows he burned for the day. If he's doing this at 9-10pm, he estimates his rest of the day burn based on BMR and factors it in as well.