Do I need to buy a HRM or Body Media band?

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  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Why do you say that? I'd love your input!

    You don't need an hrm. Hyper accurate calorie counting is not a prerequisite for losing weight. And if it was, hrms don't provide it anyway.

    All you need to do is log your food and monitor your scale progress. Adjust calories consumed as needed. Adding more to that equation isn't needed and slows some people down
  • 3RachaelFaith3
    3RachaelFaith3 Posts: 283 Member
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    i love my hrm. love to see my heartrate go up and i have gotten familiar with the activities that make it the highest i.e. burn the most cals. addicted!
  • cleotherio
    cleotherio Posts: 712 Member
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    I have a Polar FT1 w/ a chest strap that I've had over 10 years. They don't even sell that model anymore, but it still works perfectly. I don't know why people are so hung up on chest straps. Half of the time I forget it's there until I'm getting undressed to shower.
  • Lisha_R
    Lisha_R Posts: 92 Member
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    I love my fitbit and my HRM. I use them for different things. I use my fitbit to track my daily activities and encourage me to be more active. I use my HRM to estimate calories burned. I also use it on the treadmill to keep my HR in a range. As I am getting more fit I have found it take more to get my HR up. Today for example I had to increase the elivations several times to get my HR to stay up. I also use it for Strenght training and classes (zumba).
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
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    Why do you say that? I'd love your input!

    You don't need an hrm. Hyper accurate calorie counting is not a prerequisite for losing weight. And if it was, hrms don't provide it anyway.

    All you need to do is log your food and monitor your scale progress. Adjust calories consumed as needed. Adding more to that equation isn't needed and slows some people down

    Dave is right, you don't NEED a HRM or a Fitbit or a Body Media to lose weight. Also, some people get hung up on the numbers and find that it's all too hard.

    That being said. I own a HRM (with a chest strap) and I love the feedback that it gives me, and I enjoy pushing myself to get a certain number of calories burnt.

    I don't wear it all the time though, once you have an idea of what one exercise burns, then that is a good enough estimate to use when you aren't wearing your HRM.
  • 3RachaelFaith3
    3RachaelFaith3 Posts: 283 Member
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    I have a Polar FT1 w/ a chest strap that I've had over 10 years. They don't even sell that model anymore, but it still works perfectly. I don't know why people are so hung up on chest straps. Half of the time I forget it's there until I'm getting undressed to shower.

    exactly
  • ambervaldez79
    ambervaldez79 Posts: 210 Member
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    I have a Polar FT4 hrm. You can use it for ANY kind of exercise, not just cardio. It takes your personalized info and hrate and calculates how many calories you burn during each activity. I have had MFP overestimate my calories burned by quite a bit. It is much more accurate then the database. It is also fun to see how hard you are working. :D
  • tennisalley
    tennisalley Posts: 8 Member
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    Thank you all! This has been so helpful! I think for now, I'm going to wait and see how I do without one. I'm doing great with the food and will continue to log the exercise manually. A HRM may be in my future, but I'm not going to rush into it. It's good to know a lot of you don't use them. I was getting the idea that everyone had a HRM and I was totally out of the loop.
  • aross001
    aross001 Posts: 237
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    Why do you say that? I'd love your input!

    You don't need an hrm. Hyper accurate calorie counting is not a prerequisite for losing weight. And if it was, hrms don't provide it anyway.

    All you need to do is log your food and monitor your scale progress. Adjust calories consumed as needed. Adding more to that equation isn't needed and slows some people down

    Hey,

    I agree that an HRM isn't required for calorie estimation, or even more accurate. However, I personally enjoy the positive feedback when I see my HR improve each time I do an activity. It's very fun for me. I also use it to check resting heart rate in the morning to gauge how my cardiovascular fitness is improving. My doc likes to get those numbers from me when I see him.

    So, my advice to the OP? Don't feel like you NEED it, since you don't, but know that I really have a lot of fun with mine and it is useful for feedback on your cardiovascular health despite the fact that it isn't a big advantage for a person only interested in weight loss.
  • ambervaldez79
    ambervaldez79 Posts: 210 Member
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    ^^^^ agreed. It is just a fun gadget to have if you have the extra money to blow on something that isn't necessary for weight loss.
  • JustAGirlyGeek
    JustAGirlyGeek Posts: 149 Member
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    I have a Fitbit for everyday use. When I do my HIIT or other more intense exercises I use my Polar HRM. A new device is going to hit the market in June. Looks pretty interesting. http://amiigo.co/

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