Heart Rate Monitor

ChandalNicole

Do you own one? Or any kind of device that tracks it? I'm not extremely familiar with FitBits or any other popular fitness trackers so I'm not even sure what all they do lol. However, someone in my friends list made a post that reminded me of the difference one of these bad boys can make! MFP just has average calorie burns for their exercises. It could be off by hundreds of calories! Which leads to you overestimating your workout and possibly eating back some of those calories you thought you burned but didn't. When I put in "45 minutes of Zumba", MFP generally put it at 550 and some calories I believe. Depending on the level of intensity that day, it could be as low as 400 actually burned or sometimes slightly more, if it was a real tough one!

They're not extremely expensive. Don't get me wrong, there are some very expensive models on the market but mine was only about $30 at Walmart and it's done me good so far! I had much better success once I started using it. I highly recommend investing in one!!

KenziesFrenzies

YES, I love my heart rate monitor, and they are SOOOOO IMPORTANT!!!

I got the economy Polar FT4 watch (in pink, naturally) from Amazon, and it was one of the best fitness investments I've made so far.

You're totally right, MyFitnessPal WAAYYY overshoots your calorie burn, which can be so ridiculously detrimental to your tracking!
In other words, you're going over your calories every day because you think you have the extra calories in your day. But you don't. Because it's insane (to me) to think that 45 minutes on the elliptical burns 800 calories.... Yet that's what I see on my feed all the time, and I'm like, you guys... Please get heart rate monitors!!
(I burn about 100 calories every 10 minutes when I do sustained cardio, so 45 minutes on the elliptical is about 450 calories for me. You also burn fewer calories the more in shape you get, I've noticed. When I was bigger, burning 500-600 calories came a lot easier than it does now. )

ChandalNicole

KenziesFrenzies wrote: »

YES, I love my heart rate monitor, and they are SOOOOO IMPORTANT!!!

I got the economy Polar FT4 watch (in pink, naturally) from Amazon, and it was one of the best fitness investments I've made so far.

You're totally right, MyFitnessPal WAAYYY overshoots your calorie burn, which can be so ridiculously detrimental to your tracking!
In other words, you're going over your calories every day because you think you have the extra calories in your day. But you don't. Because it's insane (to me) to think that 45 minutes on the elliptical burns 800 calories.... Yet that's what I see on my feed all the time, and I'm like, you guys... Please get heart rate monitors!!
(I burn about 100 calories every 10 minutes when I do sustained cardio, so 45 minutes on the elliptical is about 450 calories for me. You also burn fewer calories the more in shape you get, I've noticed. When I was bigger, burning 500-600 calories came a lot easier than it does now. )

Very true! I've noticed that too! I used to burn about 600 at my Zumba classes (when I went to actual classes) and now it's literally about 450 every time. It gets harder to burn, for sure!

curves2j

Yes! I love love love- my Heart rate monitor. I have Vivofit2 which I can't stress enough love love. I got mine from Amazon 1 year ago. I like this model because it tracks steps, miles and any activity (workout) of your choosing. At the end of each day I can look back at my total active calories and just do a garmin adjustment on my mfp. So far seems to be very accurate as I am on target with -2 to 2.6 lbs per week. I recommend it to anyone- especially since you don't have to charge it! I had the fitbit flex previously and loathed having to charge it. Vivofit fits my on the go life and I don't have to worry about charging it.