Experience with tracking exercise with a fitness device

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EmBlazes
EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all. I haven't had a proper fitness tracker for a good while (since my HRM ran out of battery and was too expensive to replace) but I've recently bought the Garmin Vivofit (on offer - couldn't resist!) which comes with a HRM. Just wondered what people's experience is of going from manually logging exercise to having it automatically added by these sorts of devices? Some people have told me that they can be either over or under generous in allocating exercise calories and I just wondered what people found. Do you eat all the exercise calories allocated by your device or are you more conservative?
Thanks :)

Replies

  • PopeyeCT
    PopeyeCT Posts: 249 Member
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    They're great for cardio things. Walk, Run, cycle, step aerobics, etcetera.

    Most people will suggest only eating back about half of the calories you earn from exercise. This will allow for any inaccuracies. For me, it turns out that if I exercise an hour, then I can actually eat until I feel full and that's half the calories so it all works out.
  • mfermo
    mfermo Posts: 102 Member
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    i try not eat exercise calories! (ps: nice glasses)
  • EmBlazes
    EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
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    Thanks Popeye - yes I like the idea of eating half back. I will log any heavy lifting I do seperately anyway but I do a lot of cardio so it will be great to have a more accurate idea of how much I'm burning there.

    mfermo - None at all? Well I guess if you don't need it its OK. Thanks - I like my glasses B)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    EmBlazes wrote: »
    Hi all. I haven't had a proper fitness tracker for a good while (since my HRM ran out of battery and was too expensive to replace) but I've recently bought the Garmin Vivofit (on offer - couldn't resist!) which comes with a HRM. Just wondered what people's experience is of going from manually logging exercise to having it automatically added by these sorts of devices? Some people have told me that they can be either over or under generous in allocating exercise calories and I just wondered what people found. Do you eat all the exercise calories allocated by your device or are you more conservative?
    Thanks :)

    Sorry - why can't you just replace the battery?

    it depends what you are using it to monitor .. what are you using it for?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    mfermo wrote: »
    i try not eat exercise calories! (ps: nice glasses)

    why? Are you following MFP method or TDEE, if the former it is designed to eat back exercise calories (although MFP database / machines tend to overestimate)
  • EmBlazes
    EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
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    Actually it wasn't the battery in the polar watch that was the problem - it was the chest strap and it was quite a few years ago now. At the time I would have had to buy a new chest strap which was expensive. Just prefer to get a new one as that one is quite old now.

    I bought a new one to monitor two things - normal daily activity levels (mine are normally low because I work from home and have a sitting down job), but also monitor my HR when I'm doing things like hiking and spin classes. I wanted something that gives me the best of both worlds which is why I went for the Vivofit.

    Overall I want to lose a bit more weight (I've already lost a lot) but I'm happy for it to be at a slower pace now. One of the reasons I wanted to monitor exercise calories more closely is I was finding I was sometimes lightheaded after workouts which probably means I need to eat more.

    rabbit - you are right on MFP/machines overestimating. I know a HRM will only be a better estimate but I figure it is better than guessing :D
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    For hiking and spin I'd suggest that any HRM is going to overestimate, given that neither is of the type of exercise that the HRM algorithm is designed around. If you discount about half of what it measures then you're at least going to mitigate for the overestimaton.
  • EmBlazes
    EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
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    Thanks - I would always take a conservative estimate when thinking about "earning" calories.
    I should get a good idea how hard I am working though which is another reason I like the idea of monitoring my heart rate. When I used one before, I knew when I was taking it too easy and needed to up my resistance on the spin bike.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    I have a Flex which gives a good baseline. I used to override with whatever gear I used - elliptical/bike/etc. but only eat back protein for the most part. I don't really eat back at this time as I want to stay in a deficit and getting back into the swing of eating when I'm hungry and not just bored.

    I have a Polar H7 which I use for run/bike/swim and love it, but more to track performance and rest days than calorie estimations.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    EmBlazes wrote: »
    I should get a good idea how hard I am working though which is another reason I like the idea of monitoring my heart rate.

    That's the principal reason to use HRMs. Calorie guestimates from them are driven by googly eyed marketeers as a means to sell more low end devices.

  • hazleyes81
    hazleyes81 Posts: 296 Member
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    Yes, "marketeers" and scientists, physiologists, doctors and so on. Crunching the data, I have found my Garmin to be rather accurate, even for weight lifting oddly enough.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited May 2015
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    hazleyes81 wrote: »
    Yes, "marketeers" and scientists, physiologists, doctors and so on.

    lmao....

    perhaps as training aids

    I'd sack a serious professional advocating a consumer grade HRM to estimate calories.

  • PopeyeCT
    PopeyeCT Posts: 249 Member
    edited May 2015
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    EmBlazes wrote: »
    (mine are normally low because I work from home and have a sitting down job)

    I'm retired, so I could easily just sit on the couch watching television and eating cheatos all day. Which is how I got to where I was.

    Now that I'm using my Fitbit, I find myself getting up and walking around more, taking the dog for longer walks, doing a few kneebends while the coffee is brewing, etcetera. One person said she does laps around her desk while on conference calls :)
  • brisingr86
    brisingr86 Posts: 1,789 Member
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    I have a Vivofit and like it for when I'm doing cardio (it seems to usually drop off on more strength based activities because my HR doesn't get very high). For my Jillian workouts, it seemed to correspond pretty close to the calisthenics item in the MFP database that I had been logging with. For time on the treadmill or elliptical, it usually seems to be higher than what MFP gives me, so I often take the lower of the two. I'm inconsistent on whether I eat back exercise calories depending on how hungry I am and how much over I was/plan to be in surrounding days.
  • SuggaD
    SuggaD Posts: 1,369 Member
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    I recently got a tri watch and have been using that to better understand my calorie burn. Know that no tracking device is accurate. And the MFP database has proven very close to my garmin w/ hrm so long as I'm honest about my effort.
  • EmBlazes
    EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
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    Thanks - great to understand other people's experience. Can't wait to get my Vivofit. Hurry up Amazon!!

    Popeye - yes it is tricky when you are at home all day (although lots of people claim to be envious) but it can be really hard to be "active". Looking forward to the little alarm when I've been sitting for too long. I teach piano lessons and when I'm practising I can easily sit for hours at a time working on something without realising how long I've been sitting.

    I totally agree that a lot of these devices really are just a best guess and certainly aren't giving me an "accurate" calorie burn. I figure I will at least know the delta from month to month. I like seeing the numbers going up as I get fitter as well (or down if we're referring to HRM!). :D
  • RHSheetz
    RHSheetz Posts: 268 Member
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    I am not familiar with this device, but if it is a wrist one, take it off when you play. It often counts arm movements as steps.
  • EmBlazes
    EmBlazes Posts: 374 Member
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    RHSheetz wrote: »
    I am not familiar with this device, but if it is a wrist one, take it off when you play. It often counts arm movements as steps.
    --- Thanks for the tip - never thought of that!

  • theDonaldSouth
    theDonaldSouth Posts: 11 Member
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    My goal is not to use the exercise calories.

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