HRM yay or nay??

best fitness tool you could possibly own

I bought one several weeks ago and love it. I like it just to see exactly how many calories I've burned. No guessing.

I dont understand why someone would say not too lol I love mine, I am not a numbers person and I was totally getting my diet and exercise calories wrong and my HRM monitor rocks. Totally helps me keep every thing in check.
I have gotten better at telling when my body is working hard or not but I couldn't imagine not having one lol

I have one and I love it! It is nice to have something that accurately figures your calories burned based on your personal information. I have found that some of the figures in the MFP exercise database are way off from what I actually burn when exercising. I have a Polar FT4 and I even wear it in the pool. It is easy to use, it was cheap, and it works great. I like to be as accurate as possible when recording me calories burned when I exercise. Especially when it comes to eating back your exercise calories. Definitely a "yay"!!

Yes! It is so worth it. Some days when you are more tired and don't push as hard you don't burn as much. This will tell you everyday what you have burned. The calories burned on this site can be way off! Go for it and good luck with your goals

Make sure to get one with a chest strap as the strapless ones only check your heart rate when you touch them, which sucks when you are moving around. Mine won't even work when I get too sweaty. I am trying to sell this one locally and then buy one with a strap. They cost more, but they are much more accurate because they continuously monitor.

DEFINITELY! I got a timex from Amazon, it is GREAT. It also helps me work out harder, I usually up my speed when walking when I see that my heart rate is lower than I want it to be.

Bottom line-they track YOUR calories, at YOUR pace, by reading YOUR heart. It just makes sense to invest in it if you are serious about wanting to know how much you burn/what zone you are in/how healthy your heart is.

Why do you want one? HRM are great as a reminder to stay in your target exercise zone so that you workout harder. It can give an estimate of cals burned during exercise but not all day. You need to get a good one with programmable VO2Max and keep it updated as your fitness improves. 8 weeks ago I started using BodyBugg (similar to BodyMediaFit) so that I get an estimate of total cal burned over 24 time frame. MFP and my treadmill estimates are within 50 cal for my workouts - that's not horribly off. My surprise was thinking I have a sedentary job/life but am actually very active at work and around the home. My average daily burn counting workouts vary from 2400 to 2700... I had been at a plateau for a year and now have upped my cal intake and have started losing again.

A good HRM will cost $100... BMF or BB cost $200 for smartphone version and includes 6 month subscription for use.

I have several friends that wear both to ensure heart rate stays up during ex and to get the all day cal burn. Good luck...

Here is a link to the best blog I've seen on HRM by Adzak...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak/view/the-real-facts-about-hrms-and-calories-what-you-need-to-know-before-purchasing-an-hrm-or-using-one-21472

Yes, it's a good investment. I happy about purchasing a HRM. I use it all the time in and out of the gym. I like that if frees me from having to keep my hands on a monitor strip on the cardio machines. The last few times at the gym all the treadmills where taken. I was able to run the indoor track instead of the treadmill. I was able to track my progress during the run.

I would say to get one so that you have the most accurate information. I have been on here for almost two months and using the calorie counts on MFP and on my exercise bike. They were pretty consistent with each other so I figured they must have been pretty accurate. Then I bought a heart rate monitor, and found out I was burning about half of what the website and my exercise machine were telling me. I also learned that the workout I thought was my light workout burned almost the same amount as the workout I thought was much harder.

I bought a Polar FT4 for $90 at Sports Authority. It seems to be a good option.

YES!!! A HRM is best investment ever towards your fitness goals!

I have the Polar F11 and love it. There are better models out there (at a much higher price tag!) but the F11 does everything I need it to...

For the people with HRM... do you subtract your BMR from the total number of calories? I saw a thread on this the other day.

Anyone? I've been thinking about getting a HRm, but I want to make sure I will be recording my burned calories correct! Help!

So to the ones who have one, do you feel mfp is over the actual calories burned or under estimated? I was curious about HRMs as well. Something like the 30 day shred. I calculate it at around 20 min circuit training, but with the 3 different levels I would think there would be a difference in calories burned.
So is $100 about average for one? Is it complicated???

I didn't have one and was letting MFP guess my burn. Wasn't losing much, very, very slowly (like weeks to lose one darned pound!)

Bought the HRM and log for every exercise and have lost several pounds since! MFP estimates A LOT higher than what I'm actually burning so it's no wonder I wasn't losing.

The other thing is, while working out I can simply glance at my wrist to see my heart rate and if I'm in the zone. It beeps at me when I fall below or am close to going over. This allows me to make sure I'm working at my optimum levels and not slacking off or getting dangerous.

In short, I love mine and feel it was a very valuable purchase! In the event it dies I'm buying another immediately! I have a Polar FT4 for the record.