Personal Fitness and HR Monitors

Kabijots

I am new to this fitness malarky and need your help!

I want to start monitoring my fitness, heatrate, my steps (maybe my sleep too?) and I would like to sync it with MFP. I'm not yet a runner, but hey, you never know what the future might hold!

Firstly, we don't have to mention brands (don't want to break any house rules and I have done a bit of research so know which brands are available). Its just the features that seem a bit mindboggling.

So friends, can you tell me :

1. Which features are worth paying a bit extra for?

2. Which are overblown, unecessary or don't really work?

3. Are there any basic features that you think I should make sure it has (anything more is a bonus)?

I don't really have a budget in mind yet - but I'd like to get it sooner rather than later so the less expensive the better!

Thanks for reading

Mokey41

I don't really see a need for anything other than a HRM for dedicated exercise. Measuring every minute move of the day (and night) really isn't necessary. It's easy enough to set a budget based on BMR and TDEE calculators that will work for weight loss. I think people get way too hung up on trying to milk every extra calorie they can find to justify eating more.

Kabijots

Thank you Mokey for your response.

I was hoping to count steps just to make sure I was doing enough, or rather, just more than I am doing now! I'm quite competitive by nature and I know if I had a step counter, I would try and improve upon the total each day!

I take your point re: calories though. I don't think I will count them. I'll change my activity levels as I move more and lose weight, which will amend my TDEE/BMR accordingly.

sarahrbraun

I have had great success with a fitbit. It doesn't do HR, but it depending on the model you get does steps, distance, calories burned ( BMR+activity), flights of steps, monitors sleep, and has a digital clock on it. I currently have the Ultra, but am awaiting delivery of my One.

I wear my fitbit 24/7....because of my chest size, I wear a sports bra to bed--so it is literally moved from sports bra to sports bra. It shows me when I am being VERY sedentary ( under 5,000 steps) and when I am NOT sedentary ( days where I walk 8,000 steps before lunch and have 12,000 or more by bedtime).

Spenadel13

Hi all i have just starting excersisng but dont want to lose wat just to tone!! Any tips please thank you x

GemskiB

I use my polar FT4 (when I am not laid up with a broken ankle!) when I am doing a workout. I had considered doing a 24 hour stint to see what my calories burned on a standard day are, but no day is really quite the same!

I always wear it when I am at a gym class, or doing a DVD at home or something, and every now and then I will wear it on my walk to/from work. For me I have been looking to lose weight and improve my fitness, and as I reach both of those goals I will burn less calories, I reckon I do a check on my walking calories around once a month?

The model I have is quite basic, but it lets me adjust my weight easily enough and I can see what my min max and ave HR was through my workout, and gives me total time and calories burned for the workout. That's all I was really needing it for. I have friends who are much more into fitness and they can produce a graph from theirs to show what their HR was throughout the workout, but I don't think I really need that at this stage!

Hope this helps :-)

susannahsutton1

I use a bluetooth heart rate band that makes my smart phone a heart rate monitor. Before that, I had a Polar FT-something or other. I can NOT recommend them enough. Depending on your mood, how you are feeling, the exact same workout can burn a significantly different number of calories. e.g. if I finish work on time, I walk 2 1/2 miles to the station instead of getting the underground. I always wear my HRM and sometimes I burn 270 calories on that walk and sometimes only 170. 100 calories is a slice of toast! When I do harder workouts, e.g. spinning classes, the differential can be more than 200. I think HRMs are absolutely essential.

Kabijots

Thanks everyone for your advice. Excellent food for thought!

Kab x

JenniferEM2012

I have a polar ft7. I love it. It tracks calories, time working out, and heart rate. To me that is all I need to track when I work out. It also keeps a log on the watch so I can see my trends from my work outs. I also like the fact that it is water resistant so I can wear it in the pool, just don't touch the buttons under water.

Mokey41

If you just want to see how many steps you take for the sake of encouraging yourself to move more you can get a pedometer for about $20 that will work. I have one from Omron that works fine for that.

gsgitu

I am new to this fitness malarky and need your help!

I want to start monitoring my fitness, heatrate, my steps (maybe my sleep too?) and I would like to sync it with MFP. I'm not yet a runner, but hey, you never know what the future might hold!

Firstly, we don't have to mention brands (don't want to break any house rules and I have done a bit of research so know which brands are available). Its just the features that seem a bit mindboggling.

So friends, can you tell me :

1. Which features are worth paying a bit extra for?

2. Which are overblown, unecessary or don't really work?

3. Are there any basic features that you think I should make sure it has (anything more is a bonus)?

I don't really have a budget in mind yet - but I'd like to get it sooner rather than later so the less expensive the better!

Thanks for reading

lucky you, this is my first post ever. thought i would share my experience with my garmin forerunner 110 my awesome wife got me for christmas.
what it does- gps HRM, stop watch, time, distance, avg pace/lap, calories after you download it to the connect site.
what i like - all the stuff i mentioned above. i like when running or walking knowing my pace and HR and know what the exact distance is(*see below) and can change my route mid run if i decide to go farther. then when you download it from the watch to the online site it maps it, like in google maps, so you can get a view of what you did and can think about how to modify or save it as a course. shows all your stats, pace, laps, actual moving time, avg HR, the whole works. the strap doesn't bother me, no chaffing or irritation. even when i do my circuit routine and lay down to do abs. can use indoors whe it is freezing out. it will still do stopwatch function and HRM just no GPS, obviously.

downsides- doesn't mean i don't like. just stuff to consider. battery. i have read a lot of reviews about battery issues. garmins don't have a regular battery you can change. i have only had it couple months so no issues. it has gone a week or more with out charging and still had half a battery left. i don't do marathons, the farthest i have gone with it is 4-5 miles total. about 45 mins so battery was fine. the thing that drains it is GPS. most of the day it sits or can wear as a watch. if the battery dies i will cross that bridge then. cost - my wife got a great deal. i would not have bought it myself because of cost, but fortunately i have an awesome wife who did. i prob would have went the fitbit or polar route. is it worth it, right now i say yes, ask me in a year. also- doesn't sync with anything. like your phone or mfp or anything, except garmin.

i have not tried out their training programs so i can't comment on that, yet.

*sidebar from above. it has on a couple occasions when i started running as soon as it synced GPS started me in the wrong location and had me running directly through the downtown buildings. in other words throwing off my first mile distance and pace. so now i make sure to walk at least a few hundred yds just to make sure it is on and then hit lap and start running.

Kabijots

Thanks everyone! Your tips are invaluable.

Cheers :drinker: