Heart rate monitors

Clarecbear82

Do you really need them? or are they just another expensive thing that we think we need but could really do without?

crepes_

I really like mine because it helps take the guesswork out of calorie burning. I wear it every time I exercise to be more sure of what I've done. Sometimes, MFP over-estimates caloric burn, and the cardio machines are entirely unreliable.

They may be expensive, but weight loss is important to me and I feel like it's a sound investment for my situation.

mrsdizzyd84

Of course you don't need them just like you don't need MFP.

Human beings have been gaining and losing weight without the benefit of technology since time immemorial!

I like using a heart rate monitor. It gives me a more accurate reading vs. guessing or relying on the equipment. To each his or her own.

blink1021

I love mine I have the polar ft7 best $80 I ever spent. MFP database usually calculates the calories way to high. This is bad if you eat back your exercise calories. I use mine no matter what exercise I do and it helps me keep my heart rate in check so I do not harm myself. Its the most accurate way I have found to track my calories.

tananichelle

LOVE mine! Polar FT4. Takes a ton of the guessing out of figuring out how many calories you've burned. But I wouldn't say I NEED it. Although I do think it's the best money I've spent on weight-loss thus far... Got it slightly used on Amazon for $40 (retails around $80).

trimom10

I would say you need them. It's helpful in that you can analyze your workout and get the actual amount of calories you personally burn by working out. There are different heart rate zones (1 to 5) and depending on if you want to burn fat or get into shape aerobically (burn sugar instead of fat) you need to make sure you are in the right zone (zone 2 is fat burn, zone 4 is aerobic, zone 5 is breathless). Right now I use mine to record the calories I burn because the standard calorie settings in MFP's exercises are just a gauge/estimate (and usually higher than what I do). I always record the minutes and then erase the auto entry and enter my calories from the heart rate monitor. Hope that helps.

RAFValentina

It depends on what you're trying to achieve....

If you work out hard regularly, its a good tool too to prevent you overtraining... or if you're aspiring to a particular event, prevent you undertraining...

Many uses, could do without but takes out some of the guess work!

ToBeSmaller

would LOVE to know what heart rate monitors you all are using. I am looking for one that's simple not too expensive but is reliable. I'm not gonna swim in it or need it to be bulletproof, its not going skydiving lol - just need to it to tell me the calories i've burned while exercising. Be it running on a treadmill or zumba in my living room. I searched on google a few times and come out of it more confused than ever!

Know what i mean?

vguynes

I don't have a heart rate monitor, but I sure WANT one! I plan to get one as a reward for losing 10 pounds!

luvbwfc

dont need to be expensive. got mine for 20 quid

Tropical_Turtle

I am currently looking for one to take the guess work out of my work outs. I dont want to be over estimating, and to be honest I dont trust what others put in the database. I have found way too many errors in things. I want to remove all doubt of what is going in and what is going out!

runbyme

I just got mine yesterday and I really like it! I could have gone 1 step down from the one I bought though and it would have done everything I needed it to. Oh well! The next step down was $39.99 and free shipping. I have spent that in much more foolish ways!

SithZombie

I just bought a Polar FT7 yesterday! I bought it so that I could count calories while working out at home & weightlifting at the gym! It's an awesome gadget to have!

karenmi

I love my Polar FT4 and never exercise without it. Not only does it give me a more accurate representation of how many calories I've burned, I always know that I'm working hard enough.

I know people who are only concerned about the duration of their workouts, not the intensity....e.g. they will spend an hour on the treadmill but they aren't working hard enough.....they could have worked harder & burned the same amount of calories in 45 minutes had they known what their heart rate was.

I think I paid abour $125 for my HRM, money well spent!

mmuzzatti

I track all my calorie burning with a HRM.

lgerweck

I also have a Polar FT4... love it. Paid $62 for it. I kind of think it makes working out more fun to see how many calories you're burning. It also makes me work harder toward my goal of burning at least 12 calories a minute.

jrich1

Its a Tool to use to get a better estimation on calories burned, and the more information you have the better decisions you can make.

vguynes

I just got mine yesterday and I really like it! I could have gone 1 step down from the one I bought though and it would have done everything I needed it to. Oh well! The next step down was $39.99 and free shipping. I have spent that in much more foolish ways!

What's the name of your monitor and where did you purchase it? I'm currently looking for one, and the price you stated sounds great!

hedgiie

Go for Polar brands, though there are lots of HRM brands but many are getting to fancy or bulky. Polar fits nicely which is suitable during exercise, it also offers lots of variety from simple ones up to a more fancy ones, and they are in for many years now.
Avoid the ones with GPS and other fancy features, go for the simple ones, usually they are more reliable.

dfborders

Love mine - I just use it for more accurate readings. I got mine for around $30 on Amazon (Pyle). Could have spent more and probably gotten a better one - but since I am not training for anything - just exercising for me and to be healthy - figured why? I also found the machines highly underestimate the calories you burn and MFP highly inflates the calories. Also, with my HRM I can enter my weight training under cardio.

Di3012

Do you really need them? or are they just another expensive thing that we think we need but could really do without?

I never really thought about getting one until I got some money for my birthday a short while back, their I bought one on Amazon.

What I didn't realize, was that apart from counting calories burned during exercise, I can also use it to gauge my heartbeat during interval sessions on my treadmill. It has become invaluable and I would have bought one a long, long time ago if I had realized just how useful it would be.

NicolePatriot

bump

GibsonDarlin

I just got my polar Ft60, The calorie burn is not accurate on the machines at the Gym or MFP.
I also know that I havent figure out how to set mine up 100%, but Im learning...

You can do without one, if you realize that all the tools you use overstate the calories you burn. With that in mind you can just adjust your intake of food. The machines at my Y are 35% more than actual.

I got mine on ebay for half price ($71)

skedzie

Polar FT4 - Love it! I had no idea how far off the machines at the gym were. I put mine on when I walk into the gym and leave it on through my workout. When I log my exercise I just make the numbers work for what i know I burned. Everyone is always asking how to log strength training....since I do my gym time in a circuit type fashion I don't worry about it because if I did 2 miles on the treadmill and 8 miles on the bike I just split the calories burned 20/80 and log them. I think having the HRM has given me a MUCH better idea of what works for me to burn the calories and what doesn't. Good Luck!

thepetiterunner

Anyone know how the Polar ones compare to the Garmin ones? I have a Garmin Forerunner that I use for my runs with GPS, but it dosen't have a calorie counter.

Also, how big are the Polar ones? I have a tiny wrist so I prefer one that doesn't look like I'm strapping a freaking cereal box to my arm.

MummyOfSeven

I'm buying the Polar FT7F next week.
My reward for losing 20 lb

DisneyMommy

Can the Polar owners explain the difference between the FT4 and 7? I have heard about both these time and again but still can't figure out how they are different. Thanks!

Sylendis

The beautiful thing about a heart rate monitor is that it helps to calculate the burn for YOUR workout. As your body grows accustomed to your workouts, the less effective they become. A heart rate monitor helps you to know when to kick it up a notch to counter act over training.
The MFP calculation is an estimate based on an average person. The heart rate monitor is measuring your actual heart rate over the entire time that you work out. Polar has many heart rate monitors that provide a variety of options. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, but I would get one that calculates and records calories burned during training. You can then manually update MFP with the data.

George1567

There is always a distance between needs and wants. In the case of my HRM there is no doubt that I could workout and be healthy without it. But I love the data it gives me, I can upload my results to an internet site which gives me charts and graphs. I can be the CEO of my own body by looking over my workouts. From those charts I can go back and assign a individual lifting set to a spike in my heartrate. I know that leg presses in a machine with a substantial ammount of weight do not raise my heart rate nearly like lunges holding little 25# dumbbells. Likewise barbell flat bench does not jump my heartrate compared to that of traditional pushups. This is a huge motivation for me, and has me looking forward to the next time I go to the gym. It does give me calories spent and I do record that information, but it is way down on the list of information I want from my HRM. This may be due to the fact my nutrition plan has set numbers, eat at one level for non-workout days and eat at a different level on days I do work out. Some people may need an I-pod, others it might be a fancy gym outfit or shoes, and some purists do it regardless of the gadgets just because they can. If a HRM elivates your fitness efforts than it is worth it...........

lindz1982

I have a mio drive watch heart rate monitor. I really like it, its waterproof for swimming and I use it for hockey as well. It can also tell you when you've burned 3500 calories (3500 calories in a pound). Its also fairly cheap......$60.00 CAD

GeoJenna223

**please correct me if I am wrong**
The FT4 has no capacity for data transfer. Any thing you want to transfer to your computer has to be done by user input. The FT7 is the lowest level monitor from Polar that has the capacity to use the FlowLink (a separate purchase) to seamlessly transfer your exercise data to the computer.

I love my HRM. I use it all the time even though I don't "eat back" my exercise calories. I use it more for a training tool. If I am doing high intensity cardio, i try to keep my heart rate between 160-180, if I am aiming for low, I keep it between 140 and 160. The other nice thing about the Polar HRMs is they are compatible with most of the machines at my gym, so I am not constantly looking at my wrist. The machines that have the transmitters built in will show my heart rate on the machine's HR display.

I think HRMs are one of the things that helped jump start my weight loss. I find that MFP's database can overestimate lots of activity (and underestimate some as well). They are also a fun thing to wear while doing laundry and cleaning vigorously and stuff to see how much cals you **actually** burn over what your body would burn if you were just sitting there watching TV.