Wanted: Actual Calorie Tracker

Lebowski14
Lebowski14 Posts: 13
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been using a Nike Fuelband SE for about a month. The calorie tracking on it is inaccurate to say the least.

Example: I busted my *kitten* for 30 minutes doing the P90X3 Eccentric Upper workout. "Brought IT" to quote Tony Horton, was soaked in sweat, and it said I burned like 100 calories. Later that same day, I threw the baseball for 20 minutes with my kid. Fuelband says I burned ~300 calories. Ridiculous.

So here's what would be awesome: Some brilliant inventor dudette or dude needs to create a fitness tracker that tells me how many calories I'm burning (within say 10-20% accuracy) during ANY activity: specifically weight training, yoga or swimming. The wrist band fitness trackers seem to be good for monitoring hand activity, and that's it. The HRM straps are good at counting heart rate, and that's about it. If you're doing an resistance workout (i.e., non steady state cardio, not that much HR elevation), they will GROSSLY underestimate your calorie burn.

Inventor types, get on this. Stat! ;)

Replies

  • my_2_cents
    my_2_cents Posts: 109 Member
    This would be awesome, but I don't think its feasible with current technology. I think to get this level of accuracy, scientists are monitoring all the same stats we already have, plus monitoring all breathing activity by having the subject breathe through a special mask during the entire activity. Its possible that someone could develop a chest heart rate monitor that could also monitor breathing activity, but I'm not sure if it could get the level of accuracy required.
  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
    If you're logging your weight and food accurately... you can get a very good idea of what your maintenance calories are over time.
  • my_2_cents
    my_2_cents Posts: 109 Member
    I think the op is looking for a way to very accurately track the calories burned through activity, not maintenance calories.
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
    Use a HRM?
  • ladyluch99
    ladyluch99 Posts: 264 Member
    Use a HRM?

    This!!! ^^^

    The Polar FT7 works great for me.
  • Unknown
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  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    They exist, but not very practical to wear 24/7.

    chelsea_Oct2010_027.jpg
    Use a HRM?
    Not exactly... don't work for weight lifting or low intensity activities, among other limitations.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1431868-limitations-of-hrm-calorie-counts-a-real-life-data-point
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    They exist, but not very practical to wear 24/7.

    chelsea_Oct2010_027.jpg
    Use a HRM?
    Not exactly... don't work for weight lifting or low intensity activities, among other limitations.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1431868-limitations-of-hrm-calorie-counts-a-real-life-data-point

    Yup, until they can get all that information being gathered in the picture into a watch sized device, it will always just be estimations.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Use a HRM?

    This!!! ^^^

    The Polar FT7 works great for me.

    As stated, HRMs are only relatively accurate for steady state cardio and will give inflated numbers doing anything else.
  • Parafly9
    Parafly9 Posts: 8
    Yup. HRM is the only real thing.
  • RockWarrior84
    RockWarrior84 Posts: 840 Member
    Fuel band and fitbit, all of those writst counters are not ment for workouts since they only work when arm is moving. So if you are throwing a baseball of course it is going to be more. Like it will not work when you are walking with a stroller and your arm is not swinging.

    HRM is the way to go if you want to track when doing your P90X.
  • KeepGoingKylene
    KeepGoingKylene Posts: 432 Member
    The Amiigo is supposed to do it all, it's just been a long time waiting for it!
    Actually almost 2 years since we paid for ours, it is finally being shipped to us. Definately curious to find out if it has been worth the wait! Take a look into it, not sure if they are selling anymore at the moment or not...
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    You guys really need to read this. An HRM is not accurate for P90x.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1431868-limitations-of-hrm-calorie-counts-a-real-life-data-point

    So many people seem to think that an HRM is accurate for doing things that it wasn't designed to do to begin with. An HRM is just that...a Heart Rate Monitor. It isn't a calorie burn tracker.

    "....if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
  • Raynne413
    Raynne413 Posts: 1,527 Member
    I just pre-ordered the Garmin Vivosmart HRM bundle. It has a wrist band that tracks activity, sleep, has a silent alarm and synchs with your phone (so you can see when you get notifications, texts, etc) and it also comes with a chest strap that you can use during workouts to track your heart rate. I hope it is as good as I'm expecting it to be. LOL
  • chipdogwa
    chipdogwa Posts: 6 Member
    I second the Bodymedia Fit for accuracy. It measures everything. I gave up using mine for a Fitbit Flex because it is less bulky. Love my fit bit but it definitely not as accurate but still not a bad deal and pairs with MFP.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I've been using a Nike Fuelband SE for about a month. The calorie tracking on it is inaccurate to say the least.

    Example: I busted my *kitten* for 30 minutes doing the P90X3 Eccentric Upper workout. "Brought IT" to quote Tony Horton, was soaked in sweat, and it said I burned like 100 calories. Later that same day, I threw the baseball for 20 minutes with my kid. Fuelband says I burned ~300 calories. Ridiculous.

    So here's what would be awesome: Some brilliant inventor dudette or dude needs to create a fitness tracker that tells me how many calories I'm burning (within say 10-20% accuracy) during ANY activity: specifically weight training, yoga or swimming. The wrist band fitness trackers seem to be good for monitoring hand activity, and that's it. The HRM straps are good at counting heart rate, and that's about it. If you're doing an resistance workout (i.e., non steady state cardio, not that much HR elevation), they will GROSSLY underestimate your calorie burn.

    Inventor types, get on this. Stat! ;)

    In your dreams.....sorry

    Lean muscle mass.....those with a higher % of lean muscle burn more. The estimation HRMs and activity trackers use is male vs. female, old vs. young. Men have more lean muscle.....but not all men (or women) are the same. Not terribly accurate.

    This is only ONE reason why HRM's are poor estimators for strength training. Strength training calorie burns are based (in part) on muscle fatigue...not heart rate. If you fatigue your muscles you will burn calories after the workout is done. Two people can have the same physical stats but one can be much stronger than the other.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    there is probably no device thats accurately going to measure calories burned while weight lifting.

    that being said, if the work outs are similair to insanity or some of those in the origianl p90x, an HRM is probably your best bet for recording that.

    i think the fit bits and what not are essentially fancy step counters, which wont translate well to a cardio resistance workout


    but whenever i do beachbody i don't bother logging workouts. I just eat what they recommend in the nutrition guide. its easier that way, and quite frankly i think you may be better off from a weight loss perspective if you eat a consistent amount of calories vs. varying that based on what you think you did during a work out.

    in the end its all an estimate
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    But ... but ... but ... the HRM packaging told me it could count calories and marketing professionals would never spin the truth to boost sales.
  • Bordergirl14
    Bordergirl14 Posts: 14 Member
    Body Media Fit has my vote but nothing is perfect.
  • activeinmysixties
    activeinmysixties Posts: 25 Member
    If you're logging your weight and food accurately... you can get a very good idea of what your maintenance calories are over time.

    totally agree! To do it as accurate as you would like will almost make it impossible. Besides it is not necessarily the tracker (database) but the person who tracks who need to be accurate.

    All the databases (MFP, Sparkpeople, Heart rate monitors etc) will use an algorithm - they are slightly different and therefore there is a certain mathematical and interpersonal variation - which cannot be fixed.
  • activeinmysixties
    activeinmysixties Posts: 25 Member
    Yup. HRM is the only real thing.

    not quite. There are some flaws with those as well.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Good luck with that...
  • Parafly9
    Parafly9 Posts: 8
    I meant basically the only "off the shelf" thing that will give you a reasonable estimate.

    Knowing daily activity is great but if your exercise varies considerably (e.g. some days I just sit at a desk and work and other days I do a 5 mile walk in the morning, 5 mile run in the afternoon, another 2 or 3 miles just going back and forth fertilizing the lawn etc.) then you don't have the same conditions every day to figure it out.

    I logged my food for a while and it helped a lot but then I stopped, I'm up to day 67 now and even though I now have a good idea of what I am feeding myself again it's still nice to see and track it over time. Although I swear if I eat over 2200 calories a day I gain weight even with 1hr + of working out per day (either a P90X3 workout or run)
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    I meant basically the only "off the shelf" thing that will give you a reasonable estimate.

    inasmuch as an HRM is the only thing that will give you a calorie extimate based on HR that's reliable within the range of activities that it's designed to support...
  • Lebowski14
    Lebowski14 Posts: 13
    Thanks for all the replies.

    As some have said, with regard to my original post, "in your dreams." I know it ain't happening any time soon.

    A lot of commenters have highlighted the failings of the available calorie burn trackers. The fitbit, fuelband, garmin, whatever, track arm movement. If you're doing something that doesn't require much arm movement (e.g., Yoga, lower body, pilates), you're going to under-estimate. Whereas throwing the baseball with a 6 year old for 20 min will make it look like you've just run a 10k in record time.

    HRMs are good for tracking your heart rate. If you're doing a workout that does not involve sustained HR elevation, i.e., weight lifting, then your HRM is useless.

    The guy who posted the treadmill metabolic cart pic is right on. I do that stuff for a living - exercise testing, and he/she is right. That is the only way to actually determine your caloric burn right now.

    My hope is that we can find a better way to estimate all the variables and come up with a more reliable calorie burn counter. The implications would be staggering, not just to the fitness community. Probably not gonna happen, but boy what if...

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