I'm curious about the same thing!! I have to tell you though - I LOVE my heart rate monitor!! :-) Have you thought of getting one of those?

No, I really don't bother checking my heart rate...

My heart rate monitor not only tells me what my heart rate is, it also tells me how many calories I'm burning! It's SO motivating in a workout!! Now I know when I'm turning my body into a furnace, so I watch my heart rate to gage how hard I'm working. It's AMAZING how workouts fly by now that I'm watching that. I tell myself how many calories I want to burn in a workout and I push HARD until I get it. It's so awesome!!

The problem i have been having with my HRM is will stop working briefly overall what i would like to do is calculate calories i burn all day while doing nothing i used my HRM all days and would be surprised. then you subtract your daily burned from the calories from food and the one week i did it i lost almost 4 pounds. I'm thinking of getting a fitbit for that reason.

I have the Ironman Timex HRM, i have changed the battery the problem is when i have the hold the strap to my chest to get a reading. It worked fine yesterday and this morning not. I was trying to prove the theory of 3500 calories burned = 1 pound loss. When i wore my HRM all day not while i sleep i would burn 5,000 calories just doing normal daily routine stuff and i limited my self to 1500 calories and when i weighed in i would lose. 8 , .7 consistently. I did this for 5 days then the darn thing stopped registering. So I'm wondering if a Fitbit would work better for that purpose?

I've used a Polar HRM when exercising for years and just got a Fit Bit for Christmas. So far I love it! It is very motivating. It works great with most day to day activities but if you are lifting weights or on a stationary bike (anything where your HR is up but you are not moving up and down) the HRM is more accurate. The great thing about the FitBit software is that for a period of exercise, you can enter the calorie burn from your HRM (into the FitBit or MFP website/app) and it will override what FitBit counted for that time so you are not double counting (I always go with the my HRM to track workout burn. FitBit also works great with MFP. I use MFP for tracking diet, exercise, progress, and it automatically synchs with the FitBit. On days that I burn a lot of calories (even without working out), FitBit adjusts my calorie allocation for the day so I could eat more if I want to. The FitBit talks wirelessly to my computer (when close by), and better yet, with my iPhone. So, data on the FitBit, iPhone, and computer are always in synch. It can also track your sleep... I really like the "silent" alarm which buzzes on your arm. I researched BodyBug, Nike FuelBand, and a new one called Up. FitBit seemed to be the most proven at this time, IMO. Hope that helps! Now if they would come up with a "put duct tape over your mouth and step away from the cake" feature :-)

BTW, here is an example of the data you receive in a weekly email, too:


Hi D., here are your weekly stats.
12/24/2012 to 12/30/2012

WEEK'S MOST ACTIVE DAY Fri, Dec 28
WEEK'S LEAST ACTIVE DAY Mon, Dec 24

TOTAL STEPS 46,552
DAILY AVERAGE 6,365 steps
BEST DAY 14,233 steps
TOTAL DISTANCE 20.90 miles
DAILY AVERAGE 3.34 miles
BEST DAY 6.75 miles
TOTAL CALS BURNED 19,180
DAILY AVERAGE 2,840 cals
BEST DAY 4,229 cals
CALORIES IN VS OUT-10308

WEEKLY TOTAL
19180 cals burned
8872 cals eaten
WEIGHT CHANGE -8.7 lb

AVG SLEEP DURATION 6 hrs 3 min
AVG TIMES AWAKENED 19
AVG TIME TO FALL ASLEEP 0hrs 28min

I had the Fitbit, and unfortunately it ran away. While I had it, I wore it EVERY day - morning and night. It keeps track of your movement while you are asleep, so you can see where you are not sleeping/moving around so your sleep isn't effective. You have the ability to export that data onto a spreadsheet and I gave it to my doctor. Seems I have sleep apnea...

I have ordered a new one (that ought to tell you I love the thing) - and it has been improved. It now has an alarm built in,where it gently vibrates. You wear it at night with a wristband, so when it vibrates, it wakes you up gently, and doesn't impact your partner.

Pretty cool. Like others, I don't really watch my heart rate (in my opinion,it either is working or it's not...) - I like to keep track of the steps and the elevations. It tells you what your best is, and it accumulates as well.


ttfn!