Heart rate monitor vs sports trackers??

joolsmitchell

Hi there, up until yesterday I had been using one of the apps to track my workouts and cals burnt, when someone suggested that it didn't look very accurate, so since then I have been using my heart rate monitor and I have to say the difference is quite big! Which would you guys suggest is more accurate...I am thinking the heart monitor as its tracking my heart beat...would I be right? Thanks for any advice :-)

kellehbeans

Most definitely the heart rate monitor will be the most accurate! I use a heart rate monitor, and my Zumba instructor was using a sports tracker - let's say there was about a 400kcal increase in her apparent calorie burn! :noway:

joolsmitchell

Great thanks..I have found the difference to be very big too! thankfully I very rarely eat my calories back so I wouldn't have undone any good work I had put in.

kellehbeans

I eat mine back, so I find my HRM very, very useful! And I've lost a good amount by tracking exercise burns with mine, so I'm pretty confident in the calories it tells me I've burned! :flowerforyou:

3dogsrunning

What kinds of workouts are you looking to track?

HRMs are greatly misunderstood in here and their accuracy is often over stated. Their calorie estimations are based on steady state cardio only so using in other situations will affect accuracy. For strength training, with the exception of high intensity circuit training, they are essentially useless.

A good blog to read
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

In the end, all of these tools are still estimates. There is no one ideal solution.

ETA - MFP already has you at a deficit. Eating back at least some of your calories does not undo any work and is recommended for good reason.

joolsmitchell

I do mostly walking either outside with the dog or on the treadmill.