HRM, Bodybugg or Fitbit?

kelbellynn

HRM, Bodybugg or Fitbit? I have looked at them all online and was wondering which is best?

Meaganandcheese

I think it depends on how you would want to use them. I use a Polar hrm, but I only wear it to workout. My understanding of the BB/FB are that you wear them all the time.

kelbellynn

Is it pretty accurate in calories burned during workout?

nutandbutter

I have a polar hrm but I never use it since I don't do cardio, only lift. I just order a bodymedia fit off groupon so I can't wait to get it. It was $95 with free shipping and a 3 mo subscription.

moonsforeyes

I have a polar HRM! It calculates the calories you burn based on your heart rate, age, weight etc. You wear a chest strap. I wear it during cardio and go by what it says rather than the workout equipment. I recommend the polar ft4. I use it as well as a bunch of my friends on here and love it.

ladyluch99

I just ordered a FitBit and I'm waiting for it to be delivered. I'm really anxious to use it!

meshashesha2012

nut you can wear your polar during weightlifting? you still have a heart rate when you lift dont ya? :laugh:

the HRM estimates your calories burned based on your heart rate (and the other stuff you put in like age, gender, weight and activity level) so it also calculates calories burned during your weight lifting

oh and to answer the OP, i decided on a polar HRM because i didnt like the idea of buying the HRM and paying for a subscription to do something i thought was useless. i can track my calories myself, for free by just looking at what the HRM tells me i've done.

SteveHunt113

I've got a Polar FT7 HRM and the BodyMedia Fit (just like a bodybugg, and made by the same people). I don't trust the calories calculated by the BodyMedia Fit during my workouts. I do circuit training and intervals. Today I did 48 minutes of circuits and my HRM came back and said I burned 602 calories. The BMF said I burned 333. I was pushing myself hard, yet the BMF told me I had only 1 minute of high intensity training. I was at my max for a good 25 minutes.

But, the BMF does offer something of value: If you ware it for a few days when you don't work out at the gym, it will provide a better picture of your BMR ... much better than what MFP provides.

It also calculates your steps.

And, it does a good job of determining when you are lying down but awake vs lying down and sleeping.

Off topic: are there too many acronyms above? :bigsmile:

SteveHunt113

nut you can wear your polar during weightlifting? you still have a heart rate when you lift dont ya? :laugh:

the HRM estimates your calories burned based on your heart rate (and the other stuff you put in like age, gender, weight and activity level) so it also calculates calories burned during your weight lifting

oh and to answer the OP, i decided on a polar HRM because i didnt like the idea of buying the HRM and paying for a subscription to do something i thought was useless. i can track my calories myself, for free by just looking at what the HRM tells me i've done.

A heart rate monitor will OVER ESTIMATE your calories when you are lifting. There are too many factors involved. First, your intensity. When you lift heavy weight, your body will respond QUICKLY to that, but it won't recover nearly as quickly. So in a set you might burn 20 calories, where your HRM may record 30. And it will continue to record while you rest.

A little research on the subject will be revealing. Look at what the makers of the HRM say and you'll see that all of them indicate they don't do well calculating calories burned during weight training. Circuits and HIIT are the exception to that rule.

chrisdavey

nut you can wear your polar during weightlifting? you still have a heart rate when you lift dont ya? :laugh:

the HRM estimates your calories burned based on your heart rate (and the other stuff you put in like age, gender, weight and activity level) so it also calculates calories burned during your weight lifting

oh and to answer the OP, i decided on a polar HRM because i didnt like the idea of buying the HRM and paying for a subscription to do something i thought was useless. i can track my calories myself, for free by just looking at what the HRM tells me i've done.

A heart rate monitor will OVER ESTIMATE your calories when you are lifting. There are too many factors involved. First, your intensity. When you lift heavy weight, your body will respond QUICKLY to that, but it won't recover nearly as quickly. So in a set you might burn 20 calories, where your HRM may record 30. And it will continue to record while you rest.

A little research on the subject will be revealing. Look at what the makers of the HRM say and you'll see that all of them indicate they don't do well calculating calories burned during weight training. Circuits and HIIT are the exception to that rule.

agree with this.

I use a BMF & has proven fairly accurate in 9months of use.

kelbellynn

No I pretty much understand it but still no closer to deciding...

kelbellynn

Yeah it seemed to be what I liked the most but just want to wear it during workout not all day...

maethoriel

I have the bodybugg and I love it!! I wear it almost all day, but you can just wear it for workouts if you want. When you get one it also comes with an entire online thing to help you out, track your calorie deficit and give you meal plans and everything.

TiredOfBeingFAT130

I have a Polar FT4 and I love it...

versuga

I have a garmin w/ HRM, HRM, and the bodybugg. I wear my bodybugg all the time. The BB just gives me an accurate calorie burn for the entire day. I know on the days that I don't exercise that I only burn 1900 cals...and the days I do, I burn anywhere from 2300 - 2800, so I know how much I can eat.

tolygal

Depends on what you're looking for.

HRM:
Good for estimating your burn during cardio work. Not very accurate when lifting or doing other things. If you get a good one, it should give you a fairly accurate read of what you burn during your cardio workout.

Bodybugg or BodyMedia Fit:
You wear it all day, so it's good at estimating your total calorie burn - all day. So if you sit on your *kitten* one day, but do some cleaning/housework the next, you see it in the numbers. If you take the stairs vs., the elevator, you see it in the numbers. If you're looking to learn what you're burning all day long - this is a good tool. You really need the online tools though. Bodybugg is 9.99 a month. Not sure what bodymedia fit is. You can buy a digital display, which will let you see your info without the online tools, but if your info changes (like age, weight, etc.), you should buy a month of the online tool so you can sync your bugg. I assume that info is used in the calculations, and the only way to get your bugg to know this is syncing. If this is important to you, then I think $10 a month is a small price to pay - you really learn so much with this tool. It seems to be pretty accurate for me. If you don't want to wear something all day - this isn't the one for you.

Fitbit:
I don't have one of these, but from what I've read, it's basically a pedometer that does some kind of calculations to estimat your calorie burn. I've read many reviews on them. Some people love them. Some say they aren't accurate at all for several reasons. I won't spend time explaining since I don't have personal experience - I'll just suggest reading lots of reviews.

kelbellynn

Well looks like the answer is both, HRM and a fit it,bodybugg or body media fit...

nutandbutter

A bb or a bmf would eliminate the need for the hrm. HRM's are only accurate for cardio so if you only want to know your calorie burn during cardio, go for that.

wolfchild59

Depends on what you're looking for.

HRM:
Good for estimating your burn during cardio work. Not very accurate when lifting or doing other things. If you get a good one, it should give you a fairly accurate read of what you burn during your cardio workout.

Bodybugg or BodyMedia Fit:
You wear it all day, so it's good at estimating your total calorie burn - all day. So if you sit on your *kitten* one day, but do some cleaning/housework the next, you see it in the numbers. If you take the stairs vs., the elevator, you see it in the numbers. If you're looking to learn what you're burning all day long - this is a good tool. You really need the online tools though. Bodybugg is 9.99 a month. Not sure what bodymedia fit is. You can buy a digital display, which will let you see your info without the online tools, but if your info changes (like age, weight, etc.), you should buy a month of the online tool so you can sync your bugg. I assume that info is used in the calculations, and the only way to get your bugg to know this is syncing. If this is important to you, then I think $10 a month is a small price to pay - you really learn so much with this tool. It seems to be pretty accurate for me. If you don't want to wear something all day - this isn't the one for you.

Fitbit:
I don't have one of these, but from what I've read, it's basically a pedometer that does some kind of calculations to estimat your calorie burn. I've read many reviews on them. Some people love them. Some say they aren't accurate at all for several reasons. I won't spend time explaining since I don't have personal experience - I'll just suggest reading lots of reviews.

Pretty much this. I have an HRM (Polar FT4) and a BodyMedia Fit and both have their benefits. I love the BodyMedia Fit charts that you get online ($6.95 a month, I got a year free when I bought mine) and especially love the sleep tracker part of the BMF data.

In the couple of tests that I did, the HRM always showed WAY more calories burned during my strength workouts than the BMF did, but I don't record calories for strength training anyway. Pretty much everything else they're pretty close on.

One really good thing I discovered with the BMF is that, being a competitive person, I *need* to hit those goals each day. Don't ever want to not see that check mark on the calorie/Steps taken/Activity bars. heheh So I'll purposefully walk more, or even do more household chores on rest days from working out so that I can hit my steps or calories burned goal.

Overall, I see myself keeping an HRM for the long term and always using one while working out. The BMF, I've had for just over a year now and plan on keeping it through the rest of my half marathon training, but haven't decided if I keep it after that. At this point, I've got a pretty good idea of what I burn most days based on what I'm doing and feel that I could move away from it at this point. But the data that I've collected over the last year is invaluable to me and I've used it to track trends and make an assortment of my own graphs from the Excel spreadsheet where I've mashed together all of the BMFand MFP data.

I'd say that a BodyMedia Fit or BodyBugg is worth the investment, even if you only wear it for six months to a year, you get a much better picture of what you burn and how it connects with losses or gains. And I think that it's a great tool to set people up for success in both losing and maintaining weight after it's lost.

kelbellynn

No I want something for cardio and strength training also something for when I'm not at the gym but maybe example ( day out at the zoo or a 4 hr cleaning day) but don't wanna wear it all day all the time...

Osu2k1

I have my bodymedia fit band and I have worn it (or a bodybugg, This is #3) for several years. I know that if I don't do anything, I burn 2800 calories. If I actually move I burn a whole lot more. I think today's burn is going over 3900. I am able to see what I burned doing 45 minutes of TKD training, or 30 min of running. Then I can enter it here. I don't like BMF's food database, so I log here instead.

It's helped me loose much more and more consistently. Totally suggest it! Also you can get them at Costco for about $140-150 and that includes 1 year of membership. Great deal!

ETA: I did laundry (fold, put away, etc) for 2 hours and burned over 500 calories! I wouldn't have known if I had worn my BMF. Even the most basic things (grocery shopping) you can track!