What gadget or investment helped you get through plateua?

eclare87

We all want to be healthy. But sometimes it can be expensive. I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to invest in my health and what will give me the biggest results. I'm considering buying a nice Bodymedia or heart rate monitor. Or maybe even a food scale! But then I also think it would be nice to have a session a week with a physical trainer or dietitian.

So just curious, what is the best fitness gadget you ever bought? Or what was the best investment? What difference did it make for you? I already have a gym membership and I'm ready to take it to the next step and get out of a weight loss plateau.

I was thinking it would be nice to have a HRM to gauge my burn during spin class and running (I do at least one of these activities 6 days a week). But then I'd like to be more active all day period (I work a desk job) so I was thinking FitBit or Bodymedia for that. I also wonder if a Bodymedia could help me determine calorie burn during strength training, Bodycombat or Bodypump classes. Decisions, decisions!

BerryH

Two weeks at maintenance then ditching my exercise programme to only do the exercise I want five days a week. Not fancy tech but does the job :flowerforyou:

eclare87

my stupid computer froze when i was posting. excuse headline typo, please! thanks

Yanicka1

Nothing except eating 2000 calories a day for a few weeks.

Edit plateau

Di3012

I have to admit, I never had a plateau in my weightloss.

Mist1981

HRM and increasing my calories from 1200 to approximately 1500.

spikefoot

I bought a heart rate monitor yesterday... I beat my 4 week totally stuck, discouraged plateau 4 days ago. My reasoning was "I did it, now lets really fine tune this"

I used the HRM yesterday and it is nice to see what is going on and to become more in tune with your body but I don't think it is the be all and end all. No matter what gadgets or devices you are hooked up to (minus a liposuction machine) you still need to move.

I am starting 30 day shred in a couple days... for 10 bucks and if it gives me some variety in my routine then I am happy with that.

emily2tx

I think a personal trainer to look over what you are currently doing and maybe coming up with a plan of action would be a good investment. It sometimes takes another view to see what you need.

veganbaum

Spiking is the thing that *finally* broke a six month plateau for me. I continue to lose weight while continuing to spike. So in terms of plateauing, yeah, spiking is the best thing ever. In terms of fitness, I am going to begin strength training at home so I can't really say yet what the best thing ever for fitness is for me, though I do think my Polar HRM at about $60 was a good investment for running.

tango645

Buying a food scale was one of the best decisions I made. I use it for everything - meats, vegetables, snacks, etc. It's a ton easier than having to pull out exactly 28 pieces of something when I can just pour it in a bowl and watch the scale. It makes adding the things I eat to MFP much easier. I like being able to count calories by just using grams/ounces and not have to worry about tablespoons or cups when I can.

Edit: What it really boils down to is helping with portion control. Like measuring cups/spoons, using a scale lets you take the exact serving of something, instead of just estimating.

veganbaum

Buying a food scale was one of the best decisions I made. I use it for everything - meats, vegetables, snacks, etc. It's a ton easier than having to pull out exactly 28 pieces of something when I can just pour it in a bowl and watch the scale. It makes adding the things I eat to MFP much easier. I like being able to count calories by just using grams/ounces and not have to worry about tablespoons or cups when I can.

Oh yes, I forgot - I would go with a food scale before HRM for sure!

mcarter99

I love my Fitbit but neither it or a BodyMedia will estimate strength training. A HRM is nice but really you can input your info into a database and get a good estimate, too, though it won't be based on your HR. But it's all just estimates, even the HRM. Do you do any interval training? A HRM is great for that. And it's great to just see how hard you're pushing yourself during cardio.

But a food scale is fun and you can get one for like $15!

I'd skip the trainer unless you really think that'd be fun. The ones I met were kind of useless. You could read a good book (New Rules of Lifting is awesome) and get better advice and workouts.

The only thing that broke plateaus for me was patience. But new toys help you with keeping doing what you're doing, too!

bcl003

Well I've got a few!!! Where to start?? I use my hrm all the time, it is wonderful because I was underestimating my calorie burn on a lot of things, so therefore I wasn't eating enough. I just bought two new gadgets, 1. a food scale - it cost 20 bucks and I just weighed my chicken breast and realized I was probably eating too much when it came to chicken but not a whole serving of rice. 2. This really cool tape measure that makes it easier for me to measure myself because I get tired of waiting for my guy to help me out with it. Good luck!!

eclare87

Edit plateau

MFP won't let me edit the typo. Sorry!

eclare87

No matter what gadgets or devices you are hooked up to (minus a liposuction machine) you still need to move.

I am starting 30 day shred in a couple days... for 10 bucks and if it gives me some variety in my routine then I am happy with that.

Spikefoot, I work out 6 times a week. For most days I do two hours with mix of strength training and cardio! I've also done Ripped in 30 dvd. You might like that one.

happypath101

My favourite new toy is my HRM for sure. I'm laughing at myself because I'm pretty sure I'd burn more calories if I paid more attention to the game than to the HRM. It's also pretty funny that I only really care about the calories burned. I mean, I love seeing my max heart rate and comparing the stats from one activity to another. I even get really into it and start figuring out if the caloric burn on a hockey game that's 3 on 3 with no subs is more, less, or the same, than a game with 5 on 5 and 2 subs. (They are about the same although the former feels a lot harder than the latter; I just slow down in that case.)

Anyway.... I agree with those that say that a food scale is a better investment than an HRM. I also have found that buying a new workout outfit or DVD is just as motivating. Recently, I spent about $30.00 at Walmart and got myself a "proper" running top. That was the first day I ran 11km. I was hoping to MAYBE reach 5km. I looked like a runner; maybe it helped me be a runner?

But, I think the real trick is that making a purchase like this reinforces your comittment to being fit and, if that keeps you focussed, then it's worth every penny.

BigMech

Tough call, I like my HRM and food scale.

I think the scale is more important, as you really can't track your intake until you know your portion sizes. It's amazing how much more I was eating before I started weighing stuff. Now that I've been at it for a while with the scale, I'm much better at my estimations.

The HRM I use for pretty much all my cardio workouts. I don't use it to track calories burned, I use it to make sure I'm working hard enough and getting my heart rate up into the 80-85% of max range. It's been a big benefit in getting the most out of my workouts.

bluefox9er

My nike fuel band. there is no worse feeling than not bettering your daily total from the day before..it really does drive me to exceed what i do exercise wise every single day. I have been 177 lbs for almost 8 weeks and am now only 3 lbs away from my goal weight of 170.

lilmisfit

My fitbit and my food scale. Life savers!

Bobby_Clerici

The Blivzer Schrill ab roller used in conjunction with fribolah extract, jancie pheromones mixed with putropa enzymes and crab leaf sterols. :bigsmile:
Seriously, there is no need to go out looking to spend your money needlessly, but if you do, there is no short list of things these scammers would sell you. HRM - fine. A wise investment. Just be careful.
And make sure you are following MFP recommendations, and you may need to do as I did and tweak the calorie burn rates a bit.
Sometimes it's our input. Also, I had to change up my exercise routines to shock my body which had down-regulated the result of my training due to the same dry routines.
Sounds like you're on the right track.
Have fun and Good luck!

rugbyphreak

food scale! it really opened my eyes to how much i was overeating.

KristinD1977

HRM and food scale... since calories in vs calories out are equally important!

I use my HRM every time I exercise and it's a motivator for me, plus I feel confident that I'm entering calories burned accurately. Search the forum for HRM info.... seems like Polar is among the more reliable brands.

My food scale was pretty inexpensive, it's capacity is 8lbs x 0.1ox / 4kg x 1g and I really find it helpful... you could get away without one if you have a friend who you could borrow from and divide your bulk food into servings... also when buying deli meats or cheese you can ask the person at the counter to give you the weight of that first slice and just figure it out that way.

eclare87

Thanks for the thoughts! Sounds like a food scale or HRM would be a good bet!

Just curious, those of you who said eating more helped you get through plateau, did you use a food scale for that?