Do calorie monitors actually work?

blueberryshortcake
blueberryshortcake Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
I was telling my sister the other day on how I plan on buying one, and she told me it was not worth the money because these devices don't know anything about your body. EG: how much you weigh, what your height is, female or male etc. Anyone know if they are reliable?

Replies

  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
    I wore a BodyMedia for about a year - with most body monitors you do tell it how much you weigh and your height, weight and so on.

    Things I liked:
    Step counter was accurate - Yup thats about it

    Things I didn't like about it:
    Calorie burns are WAY over exaggerated
    Sleep monitor was complete BS
    It rarely synced correctly with MFP, sometimes it was a BodyMedia issue, mostly was a MFP issue
    Monthly sub
    Didn't track cycling correctly at all

    What I use now: Polar FT7 HRM only when I work out. Completely accurate, does the job for cycling and wont give me inflated calories burned at the end of the day.
  • jodessa93
    jodessa93 Posts: 1 Member
    I have two types, one (Puma) is mainly for calorie counting and monitoring HR, the other (Magellan) is a GPS multi-sport watch. Both have a setting that allow you to enter HT, WT, Age, Gender and my Magellan allows me to enter my resting HR as well... I think they are both fairly accurate and usually end up changing the exercise calorie count on MFP to match what I actually did. Sometimes the calorie counts are very similar (I think depending on how accurate the activity listed is to what I have done.)

    I have also wore both devices to see how accurate they were and they matched up with the same calorie counts.

    Hope this helps. The key to using one is to wear a HR monitor with it.

    Jody
  • ladyargentum
    ladyargentum Posts: 82 Member
    I use a Sunnto M1 watch & HRM when I am exercising. Pretty accurate it seems. I tested it against my sisters much more expensive HRM (can't remember brand) and was very close. I always change the time I exercised for in MFP to align calories burnt according to HRM. I put in my weight, max HR, resting HR, fitness level in. Allows me to see current HR, max HR, HR zone, duration and / or number of calories burnt during exercise. Allows for view of last exercise done. Also has simple history/ 4 week trends to look at.
    MFP is pretty much always on the very high side for calories burnt estimation.

    Ive heard great things about all day monitors but they really must be combined with a HRM for primary exercise to make them accurate. (I did alot of research as I was very tempted but decided to stick with my current for the moment)
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    By calorie monitor I assume you mean heart rate monitor. Heart rate monitors are perfectly valid in measuring your heartrate. They are, however, only as accurate in measuring calorie burn as their user. To use a HRM appropriately you have to understand that an HRM is only remotely accurate at measuring caloric burn when you are in your aerobic range. Outside of that range it will be very inaccurate.

    Doubt this? Just put on your heart rate monitor and sit in your chair for 8 hours and have it tell you you just burned 1000 calories.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    I think my fitbit calorie estimate is pretty accurate. I more or less eat what my fitbit tells me I burn in 24 hours and I've stayed the same weight for a year and a half. My account is set up to know my height, weight, age, and gender, so yes, those algorithms care as accurate as is possible for a little gadget that I wear in my pocket. But regardless, counting my steps has definitely increased my general activity level.

    I do also wear a Polar T4 for formal exercise. . . treadmilling and trampoline.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.

Categories