Anyone know an affordable "Fitbit" device?

Options
kazane1
kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know of an affordable device that will calculate calories burnt for a strength gym session.
So like if I was to go to the gym for an hour and a half just to do chest is ther a device out there that can help me calculate the calories burnt for that gym session?thanks!

Replies

  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    Options
    I bought my Fitbit HR Charge 2 off craigslist, I paid $50 and its worked perfectly, they also have relativily low priced fitbits (used or refurbished) on Ebay and amazon.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Options
    Do yourself a favor and don't bother. Fitbits (in my opinion) are incredibly inaccurate and strength training doesn't burn many calories. You'd be better off using an online calculator and manually adding the calories. However, if your sessions are less than an hour long, and you rest for more than 30 seconds in between sets, you probably aren't burning much anyway. A fitbit will just give you too many calories, throw off your daily calorie intake and cause you to gain weight. Unless that's what you're trying to do. I use a simple HR strap for cardio paird with my phone, including circuit training, that I find fairly accurate (within 70-80% accurate anyway), but that's circuit training, which is less than 30 seconds rest between sets, and often no rest at all, I simply switch muscle groups to make it a pseudo cardio workout. But if I do straight up strength training with weights I don't log it and don't use the HR strap as it'll way overestimate the calories for me.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    Options
    A Fitbit is meant to be worn all day to track your movements, not just your exercise. And as stated above, the HR-based devices will be inaccurate for lifting.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    Options
    Nope.

    There's no way to accurately track calories burned with lifting and all HRM devices will overestimate your calories burned for this modality of training.

    HRM are good for estimating VO2 max while performing cardio-respiratory exercise (steady state) but are no accurate otherwise.

    And fitbits are all day pedometers which count steps and heart rate.
  • iamthemotherofdogs
    iamthemotherofdogs Posts: 562 Member
    Options
    I love my Garmin VivoFit2. It has a chest-strap heart rate monitor so I can more accurately track calories burns (which comes in handy when I bike or box). It was about $80 I think on Amazon. It has excellent battery life as well. I know lots of people are FitBit Fanatics around here. I've put my Garmin through it's paces with swimming, biking, boxing, hiking and it hasn't let me down yet.
  • iamthemotherofdogs
    iamthemotherofdogs Posts: 562 Member
    Options
    Then again, strength training is so different from cardio, I'm not sure the best way to measure those burns. I think your best bet for tracking lifting burns would be to very modestly estimate and make peace with not having perfect numbers, or work cardio into it.
  • JillianRumrill
    JillianRumrill Posts: 335 Member
    Options
    I bought a cheapo one from amazon like $30. It doesn't link directly to MFP, but it does link to google fit...which links to MFP. The calorie counting is kinda jankey, MPF only gets a fraction of how many calories I actually burn...but you can always imput directly into MFP how many calories you've burned per day. It's called LetUFit
    Here's the link to amazon...
    https://www.amazon.com/LETUFIT-Fitness-Waterproof-Wristband-Pedometer/dp/B074QNYF6M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509548621&sr=8-1&keywords=Letufit
  • cs2thecox
    cs2thecox Posts: 533 Member
    Options
    I've owned a Polar heart rate monitor for years, and used it to keep an eye on my heart rate and calorie burn when I exercise as I have nerve issues that can lead to horrendous fatigue if I over do it. I'm also a data nerd.
    I wear it when I lift, mostly out of habit, and yeah lifting doesn't raise your heart rate all that much unless you're supersetting and doing high rep, relatively low rate, high speed sets!

    My average calorie burn for a 40 min weight session? About 150 cal.
    How much I would have burnt just tootling around my normal life for 40 mins instead? Probably somewhere close to 100.
    Net calorie benefit of lifting? Maybe 50 cals max? :D

    I don't adjust what I eat for that!
    I just enjoy the other good things that lifting does to my body and my mind.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
    edited November 2017
    Options
    I had fitbits, and I concluded that they are only accurate for walking or running workouts. The estimates for general activities and weightlifting are way off and best ignored.

    I add something to my diary for weightlifting, typically "circuit training" under cardio, listed as a 300kcal burn for 30 minutes. I'm not sure if this changes with body weight, but my overall program is keeping me at my goal weight.
  • Holly_Wood_888
    Holly_Wood_888 Posts: 264 Member
    Options
    I bought a used heart rate monitor off ebay - its been wonderful as it comes with the watch that tracks everything and the band that you wear against your chest
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
    edited November 2017
    Options
    Ahh thank you all for the insightful comments, I think ill just stay clear of these devices and considering my weight is doing what I want it to do I think working out all this manually with online calculators is the best way around this. Thank you all for your help towards helping me to conclude this.
  • kazane1
    kazane1 Posts: 264 Member
    Options
    qc0sk6x2cndr.png

Categories