Benefits of a heart rate moniter?

georgie_lou

I'm thinking about splashing out and getting a HRM. What are the benefits and are they worth it?

mmk137

you'll know exactly how much you are burning, no more estimation.

you will either burn more than you expected, or burn less than you expected.

and in turn because you know how much you are burning you will find that the weightloss will be easier.

Lyerin

I have had mine now for about 5-6 years. I love it. I know exactly how long my workout has been, how many calories I have burned, my max and min heart rate, and it keeps a log for me so I can look back and see the data from prior workouts. I have only two complaints about my HRM, and both are minor, IMO. I have a Polar that has to be sent to the manufacturer for a battery replacement, which is totally annoying. However, I've only had to do that once, after about 5 years of frequent use. My HRM is light pink, and it is pretty dingy now and I can't get it clean - doesn't change the functionality one bit, and the display is perfectly clear.

Get an HRM if you want to know the length of the workout, the calories burned and information on your heart rate during the workout. Don't get it in light pink. :laugh:

DavPul

If you're on a budget, don't bother. No one needs to know the exact rate of calorie burn to lose weight. Being in the ball park and controlling your diet is plenty effective.

And HRMs aren't even close to being as accurate as MFP'ers seem to believe. It's called a Heart Rate Monitor, not a Calorie Burn Monitor. It measures heart rate , not calories. Calorie counting is like a bonus feature they add to them using an algorithm (read: guess). Figure out which model you're thinking about getting and go to it's site and download the owners manual. I bet calorie counting is listed on like 2 pages out of 70+ and is almost hidden back in the middle of the manual.

It's a fun piece of equipment and at one point (Insanity!) I was very tempted to get one myself, but no one needs to spend $100 to lose weight.