Do I need a heart rate monitor

reederx5

Do I need a heart rate monitor and what is the best one and most affordable? Not sure what they do and what purpose they serve.

embercakez

I've lost 25 pounds without one. I lift and do cardio...I don't log my lifting on here, but I do log my cardio.

Jacwhite22

I like mine. It give a more accurate estimate of calories burned during exercise. I eat all exercise calories back. I have the Polar FT7 and love it. Good luck.

mfpcopine

A heart rate monitor provides feedback on the effort your heart is making during cardio exercise. It is much easier to get a reading from a monitor than to stop and try to check your pulse and then use a multiplier. It is particularly helpful during interval training because it tells you whether you should push on or let your heart rate come down.

I do not pay attention to the calories burned estimates as they're based on assumptions that may not apply not to me and I never eat my exercise calories back. Maybe if I ran two marathons back-to-back. But with normal exercise? Never.

Polar is a good brand.

Bossit

the point of a HRM would be to know exactly how fast the heart is going, so you can aim for a certain BPM zone and get the optimal hard/med/slow workout.

copy paste:

The target heart rate zones range from 60-100% of your maximum heart rate.

Low Intensity: 60% to 70%

This zone keeps you at a comfortably low intensity and is a good choice as a warm up or for beginners because it helps you develop aerobic fitness for more intense exercise.

Moderate Intensity: 70% to 80%

This zone kicks up the intensity, improving your body's ability to transport oxygen throughout the body and conditioning your heart. You'll burn more calories in this zone, as well. Experts often recommend working at a moderate intensity to build fitness and lose weight. This Endurance Workout is a good example of moderate intensity cardio.

High Intensity: 80% to 90%

Working in this zone takes you out of your comfort zone and allows you to burn more calories while improving your VO2 Max and raise your anaerobic threshold. This High Intensity Aerobic Intervals Workout offers an example of a higher intensity workout.

Maximum Effort: 90% to 100%

Working at this level means you're working as hard as you can, as in all-out sprints or very high intensity interval training. Most of us can only sustain this level of effort for a short period of time, making this the toughest zone and more appropriate for advanced exercisers. This Sprint Interval Workout offers an example of training at maximum effort with rests in between work intervals.

Rynoman2k3

I've wondered this myself. It would be nice to have a HRM.

For the record I lose more when i don't eat my exercise calories. You want to be at a deficit thats why you exercise when you're trying to lose. Eat your goal and that's it. But everyone's has their methods that work best for them.

amymichelle1226

I like to have mine, on some things I'm burning way more calories than I thought. Since my calorie goal is 1200, I didn't want to be undereating if I was underestimating my calories burned. On a couple things (Zumba Wii) I was over estimating. I just like knowing! I have a pink timex zone trainer. They can be a little pricey, but Timex has a few around $60.

laserturkey

I have been losing weight fine without one, but I did add the Polar FT7 to my birthday wish list because I'd like to be able to get more reliable calorie burn estimates.

jencuts15

I just got the Polar FT4 last week. I LOVE IT!! I can barely feel it under my sports bra and it is super easy to use! Turns out I have been underestimated some of my calories on MFP so it's been really helpful! Plus the pink watch is super cute :-)

ms1978

I don't use one and have lost 74 pounds so far If you plan on eating back your exercise calories (this works for some), than I would suggest getting one. I would think that you'd want to make sure that you're not eating back more than you've just burned!!

heybales

I've wondered this myself. It would be nice to have a HRM.

For the record I lose more when i don't eat my exercise calories. You want to be at a deficit thats why you exercise when you're trying to lose. Eat your goal and that's it. But everyone's has their methods that work best for them.

Then you don't understand that MFP already has a deficit on your daily goal with no exercise. Why want to refresh how you set it up if doing the standard usage.

Thinking an even bigger deficit with exercise will be better will backfire eventually.

Diet is for weight loss and hopefully just fat loss, do it wrong and it'll include muscle loss.

Exercise is for heart health and body improvement, which may or may not include weight loss, and may or may not include muscle loss.

TrailRunner61

You dont HAVE to have one, but it's a great motivator!

I use mine because I want a more accurate calorie burn count and I want to know where I am in my Hr range, since I'm on meds that reduce the contraction of my heart muscles and I want to be in fat burning range more often.

I have a Polar Ft4 and love it.

Priincess_Natalie

I have the Polar FT4. Most of my friends have the same model and love it as much as I do.

I like knowing how many calories I'm burning instead of guessing. I also like being able to set calories burned goals and see how I'm doing in real time. I can push myself harder if I see I'm not burning as many as I would like.

heybales

Do I need a heart rate monitor and what is the best one and most affordable? Not sure what they do and what purpose they serve.

No you don't.

MFP has likely set a goal too extreme because of your choices anyway.

Your saving grace will be to eat back your logged exercise calories as it was intended to be used, and keep the same deficit in place that MFP already has there.

The slightly bigger eat days make up for probably being lower than you should be on non-exercise days.

flynnfinn

it depends.

i have a polar FT7 and i really like it. i used to obsess over how many calories i burned during a workout then learned that even a HRM is only 75% accurate. so now i no longer use it for this purpose.

i do high intensity interval training and this is where my HRM comes in really handy. during my high intensity intervals, i have to be working at 80-90% of my maximum heart rate. the only way i can know that is by the reading on my HRM. if i'm at 170+bpm, i'm there. anything lower and my high intensity intervals are not high enough.

now with that said, you don't really need to exercise to lose weight...hence you don't really need to know how many calories you burned during an activity because MFP already sets you up with a calorie deficit for weight loss. as you will read on here...weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. if you want to improve your cadiovascular health, then do the exercise. but if your main goal is to lose weight, then all you need is a calorie deficit.

BrianSharpe

Just my 2¢ - a heart rate monitor is useful for 2 things;

1) getting a more accurate estimate of the calories burned during aerobic activities
2) monitoring improvements in cardiovascular fitness (ie seeing your average heart rate drop as your fitness improves)

As I enjoy running I got a combined gps / hrm unit as a way of keeping my times and distances honest (if you're using a treadmill this is not even a consideration)

I wouldn't classify a HRM as essential.

Recommendations..........any one of the Polar FT series should be good, base the decision on your available budget.