HRM and Activity Trackers

It depends alot on what you do and want to be able to track.

HRMs are great because they can accurately track how hard you are working and calories for all sorts of cardio. By activity monitor I assume you mean a fitbit or jawbone? I have a fitbit one and it is really great for tracking your calories burned all day but if you want something to aid you with training type stuff (you mentioned you ran races?) it will not really help you stay in a target zone and will not be able to tell you your pace while you are doing the exercise. If you are serious about running you might want to look more into garmins or things that can track your runs and your heart rate and display them while you are in aciton. If you are not as concerned about heart rate: I really like the runkeeper app (free)- it can be used for andriod or iphones- it will use the gps in your phone to track your runs route, your speed, distance, elevation climbed, and estimates calories burned off of that (so far for me it is pretty accurate too) and will sync with MFP if you want.

There are lots of options out there so think about what the most important information is for you to know and then that will help you zero in on a certain type of device.

So, unfortunately there is nothing out there at this point that is an activity tracker and a HRM combined. I recently just ended up purchasing a Fitbit Force and a couple weeks later I also bought a HRM. Yeah it's a couple hundred combined but my health is worth it, and I'll just budget less for other things over the next month. I wear my Fitbit Force throughout the day, except I take it off during my Insanity workouts. I use my HRM during my workouts. I have MFP synced to my fitbit account and I enter my activity into MFP from the HRM, and it asks for the activity performed, calories burned, and time of the activity, so that it automatically adjust my fitbit account during that time period to not use any "expected" burned calories since I am already manually entering them in.

Any activity such as weight training or HIIT like Insanity will not be accurately tracked by an activity tracker such as fitbits, jawbone, or nike flex, so HRMs will be most accurate for that. What fitbits are best for , are tracking calories burned based on steps taken- so walking and running. So basically, if you are only a runner/walker you can get just an activity tracker and be fine. But if you are going to be combining any other activity such as weightlifting, you need a HRM.

Jessica- I also have mine synced (which is wonderful).

You should be able to link them under apps (at the top of the screen). When you click the fitbit app on that screen it should give you an option to link accounts.

I've been using my Polar FT4 for monitoring my weight lifting and HIIT workouts. It's way more accurate than an activity tracker, and most people use HRMs for workout such as these. Since the chest strap monitors are continuously tracking your heart rate, it should accurately track your burn imo...but I suppose others disagree with that. I'm loving my HRM and Fitbit force so far:)

Not sure what the responder meant by saying HRMs are not accurate for weight lifting and non walking/running activities. If there are other alternatives out there go for it, I just don't know of any third option other than HRMs and activity trackers.

I love my Polar and it was under $100 so I like that. Go for another brand if you want to try another one out, each individual has their own preferences. I basically just looked at a bunch of reviews online and looked at the message boards on here to see what people were using .

In regards to syncing MFP and Fitbit:

https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/1179771-how-do-i-integrate-fitbit-with-myfitnesspal-

I would suggest using your computer vs. your phone, and if you are already logged into MFP and Fitbit it makes it easier. Hope that helps.

Actually if you are a big polar fan they have a new device called the polar loop. It is suppose to do a bit of both. You can track your activity all day and you can get the strap for your work outs. I was about to invest in one but I went with the fitbit force because I could link it to this. Plus I kept seeing people talk about how inaccurate HRMs were. At the end of the day all these days do is add some motivation to move more. If by some chance you get the loop you must tell me how it is!!! Hope this helped some.

so how do I find out how much more food I get to eat after doing a HIIT workout?