fit bit, hrm or both?

tuxedord2 · March 2013

Just recently started logging and after a week I bought a food scale. Realized I very much underestimated by quantities! So now I assume I have also been wrong when logging my exercise. Have been reading about the fit bit, body media trackers... but also about heart rate monitors.

Which one do I get -- a tracker type thing a heart rate monitor or both? And I'd love to hear the explanations behind the answers.

Last little kink - I also do water aerobics on days that I am sore but assume there is no real reliable way to measure that?

Ascolti_la_musica · March 2013

HRMs are great if you don't mind the chest strap.

LOVE LOVE LOVE my FitBit! I prefer my little grasshopper sized bra attachment. It is with me all day, calculates my calories burned for the whole day instead of just my workout sessions, and gives me fun little goals with the badge system. :-)

lbpslah · March 2013

Bumping to hear as well. I am in the market for something similiar, I just want to know my calories burned. I've been looking at the Polar watches, just hard to decide!!

lmnconn · March 2013

I love my Fitbit One. I wear it 24/7. The combo of Fibit and MFP sync well together. As long as you log your food as you go in MFP during the day, Fitbit let's you know exactly where you are and if you need to eat more or less throughout the day. Fitbit is so small, nobody even know I'm wearing it.

tuxedord2 · March 2013

Thanks

joslin2005 · March 2013

I have both. I LOVE my fitbit. The fitbit will catch my every day activities while the HRM only works for cardio...... I have Polar FT4 and its alright. It works well for cardio workouts but doesn't accurately calculate circuit, strength or activities. When biking or running/walking, the fitbit is VERY close to the HRM. I definitely recommend the fitbit. I know many people that love their HRM as well. Polar FT4 and Polar FT7 seem to be the popular ones.

katedevall · March 2013

I have a fitbit one and I love it. It works great to track movement everyday.. But i also have. Hrm to track my calories burned while exercising and most hrm are water resistant so you can use them in water.. Fitbits are not water resistant they can splashed and such but not submerged in water

hedwardsb · March 2013

I love my fitbit. I can honestly say that it inspires me to move more.

shiloreis · March 2013

I have a polar FT 40 but for some reason the number of calories that it says I burn doesn't even come close to what MFP says I burn! Getting kind of frustrated and the chest band isn't all that comfortable! I think if I could do it again I would get something else!

mwbulechek · March 2013

The Mio Active is both. I love mine!

tuxedord2 · March 2013

Thanks for the replies. Helps tremendously!

Tmoney19 · March 2013

I have both and recommend getting both. The HRM is very accurate since it comes with a chest strap that monitors your heart beats. I have the Polar F7 and LOVE it! It’s GREAT to know your actual calories burn and makes me keep an eye on it to push myself to burn more during workouts. It keeps your daily workouts in the data that way you can go back to other days to see the length of workout you did as well as calories burned during that workout. It helps track these things in a log so that you can see how much better you are getting. I prefer this opposed to Fitbit during my workouts because it actually tells you your heart rate at the moment which gives you an accurate calories burned. The Fitbit is not an accurate tracker for calories burned because it does not know nor read your heart rate so how could it be even close to accurate for calories burned. I do like Fitbit to wear all day and while I’m at work it makes me want to get up walk around or go do stairs just to get it more steps and stairs than the day before. I also like that Fitbit tracks your sleep, it lets you know how many time you've been awaken while sleep and how many hours of sleep you actually got. I hope this helps