Fit it or heart rate monitor ?

lazydaydays
lazydaydays Posts: 66
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm sure this has been asked before but which device is best to track a more accurate callorie burn while at the gym?
The Fitbit or a Heart rate monitor ( watch thingy )
Thoughts on this would be much appreciated

Replies

  • Rehobobound
    Rehobobound Posts: 143 Member
    I have both a Fitbit Zip and an HRM. I rely on the Fitbit for walking and giving me an idea of how active I am throughtout the day, and the HRM for spin, Zumba, ellipitical and other cardo exercises..

    I do enjoy both toys. If I had to choose between the two, it would be tough but I'd probably go with the HRM, and get an inexpensive pedometer as I haven't been relying so much on the MFP/Fitbit intergration for calories.

    Weight training needs to be inputted separately as neither tracks it properly. (speaking of which I better get started) Not sure if that answers your question, but there it is. Have a great day!
  • lawtechie
    lawtechie Posts: 708 Member
    Agree with Rehobobound. The fitBit when tied in with MFP uses the activity level here as your goal for calorie burn. Somehow it detects activity as light, fairly, or very active (especially when working out). I've not found that it ties in w/ my Polar HRM. I still key food and exercise into MFP. Once FitBit is tied to MFP it'll ask you for the start time of your exercise.

    If you know your BMR, then you can use that as a guage for how accurate the FitBit is at calorie burn. In my case, I pick very active on MFP, because my natural calorie burn is higher than it detected here when I picked sedentary. But, when picking very active FitBit says I should be burning 2400 calories a day when in reality I burn about 1700, exercise not included.

    In short, get the HRM if you want a more accurate estimate of what exercise calories you burn, and get FitBit for a general picture of your activity. I love the step and floors climbed counting and its motivating to get the 'badges' that FitBit gives.

    If you can afford it, I'd say get both.
  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
    I only have a HRM and love it to see my cals burned..motivates to burn more if I get lazy.

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