Help: upgrading Polar HRM to either FitBit or BodyBugg

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  • AmandaTWaH
    AmandaTWaH Posts: 181 Member
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    I use my FitBit for daily activity and my HRM for more intense cardio. The fitbit keeps track of calorie burn from your everyday walking but you still want to use a HRM for things like Zumba, kickboxing, and that type of thing. The FitBit can't accurately count that.
  • Eric53066
    Eric53066 Posts: 46 Member
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    I use my FitBit for daily activity and my HRM for more intense cardio. The fitbit keeps track of calorie burn from your everyday walking but you still want to use a HRM for things like Zumba, kickboxing, and that type of thing. The FitBit can't accurately count that.

    ^^^ This

    Your HRM will give you more accurate numbers if you set your age/weight/etc correctly while the FitBit is a pedometer gadget where you could get virtually the same results from one of those free or dirt cheap pedometers if you wanted to log the data manually.
  • crazyellybean
    crazyellybean Posts: 999 Member
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    I own a Garmin HRM and a Bodymedia... I like both, but I love my HRM.

    The Bodymedia site is very detailed and numbers oriented. I am currently wearing mine to help me find my maintenance levels as well.. HOWEVER, I've noticed that the calories burned is pretty low considering.

    I did find out that Bodymedia syncs with Garmin, so I will be using my Garmin to help me after this first week.


    Your welcome to look at my blog to see what data can be pulled from the site.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/crazyellybean/view/bodymedia-day-1-experiment-443096
  • alkencka
    alkencka Posts: 10
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    I have both the Fitbit and the BodyMedia, I prefer the FitBit, easier to hide, but more importantly for me at least, I'm not heavy arm swinger, so a lot of my movements are not recorded. I am also left handed, so I tend to carry items with my left hand, which again I don't swing my arm, so my step count is way off. I also find that I'm not a "sweater" on the arms, to my temperature read, does not show how hard I am working out, which again makes my calorie count off. So the best way is to use an HRM, but the BMF web site, does not allow you to "Manually" add a calorie burned number, you have to play with all the activities until you find one that equates to the number you want.

    Another item I can't stand, even though you can sync with MFP, the calorie burned information is downloaded to MFP until you physically sync your BodyMedia. So your MFP data will not update any calorie adjustments thru the day.

    The Fitbit will update MFP thru the day.

    Just my 2 cents.
  • Swimgoddess
    Swimgoddess Posts: 711 Member
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    Another item I can't stand, even though you can sync with MFP, the calorie burned information is downloaded to MFP until you physically sync your BodyMedia. So your MFP data will not update any calorie adjustments thru the day.

    The Fitbit will update MFP thru the day.

    Even with the BodyMedia Link model (not the Core)???

    It seems the consensus is that I'll still want to rely on my HRM during workouts (though I want to limit my "eat back" calories to no more than 300 daily). Those that use both: do you wear both during the workout (not necessarily to add them together, but maybe average between?) or just the HRM?
  • alkencka
    alkencka Posts: 10
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    Yep.

    You can look at the live data and the iPhone will give you information from MFP. But calories burned will not upload to MFP until you physically sync with cord. So if you are going by MFP for how many calories to eat it will not be up to date.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I use both the BMF and HRM during most exercises. But I use the HRM calories to enter into MFP. I personally don't like the way the BMF syncs and adjusts calories to MFP since there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Once I synced it and put an over 500 calorie "exercise" adjustment on my MFP, which I deleted. I unplugged it and realized I'd forgotten to check the battery level, so I plugged it back in. When it synced that time, it then added an almost 700 calorie "exercise" adjustment to my MFP.

    The two syncs were within a minute of each other and I hadn't done anything but sit there at my computer. So I've just stuck with what I was doing for the year and half prior to when they would connect to each other. Log my exercise calories from my HRM into MFP and then just use my BMF for my overall daily totals. And I delete any adjustments that BMF does to my MFP calories.

    So what I use the two sites syncing for is that now all of my food is automatically transferred to BMF from MFP, so it's easier to run my reports and see daily deficits without the extra food entry work. (plus I'd lagged on that and hadn't entered anything since April so hadn't been able to run any reports, so I was very happy to be able to make it all just sync over and run all the reports)
  • Swimgoddess
    Swimgoddess Posts: 711 Member
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    Just picked up my BodyMedia Fit Link at Best Buy :D
  • Swimgoddess
    Swimgoddess Posts: 711 Member
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    and the super-fun comparison wearing both during my workout today: BodyMedia said I burned 490 calories and my HRM said 629 calories, and given my recent realization that eating back all my (HRM) calories was the problem, I'll probably go with BodyMedia's readings from here on out. At least I was only overestimating by 22%. Assuming the descrepancy is consistently that much, that could easily explain how the weight has crept up over the past year!
  • VanessaGS
    VanessaGS Posts: 514 Member
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    Start maintaining your sodium intake. You could be retaining water weight.

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