New Fitness Bands/Which are accurate?

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DeadZip2010
DeadZip2010 Posts: 111 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm sure everyone has seen the new trend sweeping the fitness world. Fitness bands from FitBit, Jawbone, and Nike have been a huge hit lately.

My question is how accurate will these be for tracking calorie burn for programs like P90X act. that are not based on sets taken? These bands don't have heart rate monitor chest straps, which to wear all day would be a pain.

Which band is the most accurate? Has anyone had success with any of them? and how well do they work with programs like P90X / Insanity / or just regular weight training?

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  • DeadZip2010
    DeadZip2010 Posts: 111 Member
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  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
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    I have a fitbit one and with the help of that and MFP I have 6 lbs. Most of these activity trackers are good for step based activities so I don't think they would work as well as for what you're looking for. However there is a new one coming out soon called Moov which might be better for those activities. Because it is new I haven't seen any reviews on it so I can't comment on the accuracy of it. It's worth at least looking the website.

    http://preorder.moov.cc/
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    None of them for those types of workout - they are all step based. They even call out the workouts they won't be good for, including what you mentioned. Well, Fitbit does, hopefully the others are honest too.

    That workout type is near anaerobic if not going over in to it frequently, along with Insanity and similar, so even a HRM isn't going to be valid for that non-steady-state anaerobic type workouts - opposite of what the calorie formulas are valid for.

    The activity trackers will let you hone in on rest of the day though, and several have found interesting correlations in their own experience - mirroring what studies have found.

    Eat too little for your level of activity, and your body will slow down your spontaneous movements, your NEAT level of calorie burn.

    So while you may burn this extra 600 calories from that program, your body slowed you from burning 200 calories you might otherwise have burned, meaning net increase was only 400 calories.

    So the bad effect is taking too steep a deficit, but correctly eating back exercise, calories, means you removed 200 calories from your deficit that day. (you ate 600, only burned 400 net for the day though)

    So what I've seen several comment on is doing the Fitbit first, starting one of those programs, and then seeing their other daily activity slowly started to decline. What they saw that caught their attention was TDEE came down on rest days.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I have a fitbit one and with the help of that and MFP I have 6 lbs. Most of these activity trackers are good for step based activities so I don't think they would work as well as for what you're looking for. However there is a new one coming out soon called Moov which might be better for those activities. Because it is new I haven't seen any reviews on it so I can't comment on the accuracy of it. It's worth at least looking the website.

    http://preorder.moov.cc/

    Motion sensor, same thing. Though it pairs with a BT HR strap. But no comment if they will use formula to estimate calorie burn from that, or merely display the HR like machines do now.

    https://moov.cc/faq#daily-activity-tracker

    On top of being an artificial-intelligent coach that provides real-time feedback on your form, Moov also incorporates the basic features of a fitness tracker including tracking your activity levels and calories burned.

    When used as a daily activity tracker, it tracks the frequency of your activity and non-activity, like time spent moving, activity levels as well as calories burned. Why is this useful? Moov is hyper-intelligent and provides personalized insights and suggestions. During long periods of inactivity, for instance, when you are sitting at your desk for more than two hours at a stretch, Moov picks that up and sends a reminder to encourage you to get up and move - it may suggest activities like doing 12 repeats of jump squats.

    You don't need to wear Moov on your wrist all day long to use it as a daily activity tracker. But it does have to be able to have 'contact' with your body, so that it can track your motion. You can place Moov, for example, in your pocket or your shoes.

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