Heart rate monitors
Mikeb93
Posts: 16
Having been underweight most of my life and struggling with it as I have got older and more active, I have decided it's time to do something about it as I plan to cycle a lot more and just become a healthier and fitter person and live a normal day to day life without the effects I have been having. I will be seeing a dietician in the new year and have been told it would be worth monitoring my calories in and out. I would also like to monitor my HR at the same time
My question to you is what bit of kit would you recommend that will allow me to do this accurately? I ideally would like a watch style monitor for my regular day to day activities such as work, walking to the shop, walking the dog etc and then a chest strap monitor for cycling and running.
I understand the most accurate monitors are the chest straps but it's not possible for me to wear one all day every day especially at work.
I am happy to use 2 different brands of products as long as I can link the results in some way. I am currently using myfitnesspal and strava so it would be good if I can connect the monitors to them but I know that's not always the case
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated and hope to hear some feedback soon
My question to you is what bit of kit would you recommend that will allow me to do this accurately? I ideally would like a watch style monitor for my regular day to day activities such as work, walking to the shop, walking the dog etc and then a chest strap monitor for cycling and running.
I understand the most accurate monitors are the chest straps but it's not possible for me to wear one all day every day especially at work.
I am happy to use 2 different brands of products as long as I can link the results in some way. I am currently using myfitnesspal and strava so it would be good if I can connect the monitors to them but I know that's not always the case
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated and hope to hear some feedback soon
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I personally can't see the point of monitoring your HR for no apparent reason. If your heart is relatively healthy (ie you have no diagnosed heart issues) and you have no actual training/performance goals, then I wouldn't bother, as the numbers won't tell you anything useful.0
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There are plenty of watch based HRMs which you could wear all the time, including for cycling. I used to have a Garmin Forerunner which I could use with a chest strap; battery life was not good though. Accuracy is not really all that important, just that it is accurate enough over the course of a day. I can pretty much tell what my heart rate is without glancing at my Garmin. I am not too sure what you will get out of this though. What is it you are trying to achieve?0
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The main thing I NEED from it is the number of calories I am using, I can then compare this with the calories I am putting in and it will help me to plan a diet. The heart rate (as I understand it) will give me more of an understanding of how active my body is and will give a more accurate calorie reading. I also plan to use it to help With my cycling/training. I am anaemic so too much exercise, not enough food has caused blackouts which have lead to some terrifying accidents.
Having just dealt with it for a long time I have decided to kick myself into gear and get it sorted, I feel monitoring these things will help me a lot to plan what is best for my body and keep me on the right track for a healthy life0 -
It may give you a rough idea when exercising but throughout the day I dont see how it can. My HR goes up when im sat watching the start of a grand prix and i'm definitely not burning calories!0
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having used garmin and polar hrm's i think Polar are more accurate for calories burnt, depending on the model it will give you all you need.
Polar do activity monitors that dont need a strap0 -
Isn't hr useful for more accurate calorie measurement during exercise? Mind you that could have just been fitness monitor sales blurb I've been suckered in with.
There is a few fitness/activity trackers available with optical hrm that might be ok for your needs. Not sure if they'll give you any data worth having but they all come with their own apps for smartphones. Also check out the Noom app. It's a fitness and diet monitoring app that's highly rated. I got it but I'm a good bmi and other stats are good too now so never saw a benefit for me.0 -
Which it can not give youThe main thing I NEED from it is the number of calories I am using, I can then compare this with the calories I am putting in and it will help me to plan a diet. The heart rate (as I understand it) will give me more of an understanding of how active my body is and will give a more accurate calorie reading. I also plan to use it to help With my cycling/training. I am anaemic so too much exercise, not enough food has caused blackouts which have lead to some terrifying accidents.
Having just dealt with it for a long time I have decided to kick myself into gear and get it sorted, I feel monitoring these things will help me a lot to plan what is best for my body and keep me on the right track for a healthy lifeAnd the people bowed and prayed, to the neon god they made.0 -
You want to increase your weight? Whilst maintaining fitness as you exercise?
Eat moreFat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.0 -
You want to increase your weight? Whilst maintaining fitness as you exercise?
Eat more
Damn you just blew my mind, I never would of thought that would be the solution to my problems, if only I had done that from the start!
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The technology isnt there that can work out your calorie burn from just your HR. You can get an estimate but its just that.
Are you afraid to overeat or can you simply not do it ?
(genuinely no idea - this is so far from most peoples experience. Its very easy for most of us to overeat and overestimate our calory burn)0 -
You want to increase your weight? Whilst maintaining fitness as you exercise?
Eat more
Damn you just blew my mind, I never would have thought that would be the solution to my problems, if only I had done that from the start!
Presumably diet is the issue, or else you wouldn't be referring to a dietician?0 -
Telling someone to simply eat more when they're underweight to a degree they get nutritionist support, I'm assuming that's under the NHS, it could be a bit inconsiderate. I grew up with a serious weight issue such that I was probably be in the 1st percentile for weight. Being a tall kid that's even worse situation. So I'm a bit sensitive about people's attitude towards people who are underweight. Potentially it's a serious condition. Some people struggle to conform to even the lowest recommended safe bmi. I eat a lot and eat regularly but up until mid 30s I'd lose weight very easily but struggled to put it on. Now I've got a stable bmi of just about 20.
As a result I can see how it could be too simplistic to just eat.more. People should be more supportive to the OP IMHO in case he has a condition or recovering from the a condition causing this low weight.
BTW there is technology out there that allows a decent degree of accuracy on the calories used. First beat technology is one such technology that uses VO2 max and hr max to estimate caloric use in aerobic conditions. Apparently there is a link between % of your max hr, VO2 and metabolic rate. If you get a hrm that allows for every of VO2 max and hr max then the algorithms available are accurate enough for most user's needs, at least enough to monitor trends based on the same exercises. However your fitness and health obviously has an effect.
Other hrm have physical tests that allow the monitor to measure the needed readings or estimate it rationally accurately. Some are using technology and like.first beat technology which is considered a good approximation, useful.enough to be useful.
My research has certain polar hrm such as FT 40 and FT60, Suunto T-series have the means to enter manually the two measures needed or provide tests that work them out or approximates them. Others may be suitable too, such as some Garmin units.
To the OP it is possible use a hrm as a basic guide for fitness, exercise and even calories used but some hrm are better at it than others. You also have to work out for yourself whether the data you use is realistic and modify as/if needed.0 -
To give you an idea of my situation with weight. I ate up to 6 packs of crisps, 4 bars or chocolate, 3 weetabix/ shredded wheets or a huge bowl of porridge with honey and fruit, bacon and egg butty for morning break, sandwiches for lunch and wrong dry weight of pasta.or rice with.the meat based sauce to match it. Add in snacks such as half a a pack of cookies or a whole pack of Jaffa Cakes, toast and other things. All that in one day for all the week days and sometimes the same sort of intake at the weekend. A couple of years of this and I only just.managed to get my bmi up to just below the overweight limit. I decided to cut back some of the junk such as crisps and I gave up chocolate for lent which lasted into Xmas day. That and switching.from mostly resistance to mostly cv at the gym meant I dropped 2 stone in weight over about 2 weeks and I've been at the same weight for many years since that. Now I can put weight on so have dropped a lot of my intake.
I only mention this because among the majority with weight issues to the high.end there are those, fewer in numbers,c who are underweight and can't change that. I've met people who are skinny towards the anorexic side but genuinely eat anything they want and eat a lot too without any change in their weight. Members of my family have know people who have had anorexia indeed one classmate died due to anorexia. Even without that condition people can struggle with weight on the underweight end of the scale. Just because they're in the minority doesn't mean it's just a case of eating more. Perhaps anyone overweight should just eat less. Whilst.that is very much.true with some it's not true with all.0 -
It all depends on the level of accuracy you want.
When I first started using Garmin Connect and Strava without a HRM I got wildly different estimates of calorie consumption - Garmin estimated twice the amount compared to Strava. When I started using a HRM then the estimates were within 0-5%, so a HRM does help. You need to keep updating other stats esp. weight in order to keep on track.
While I like to keep an eye on calorie consumption I don't have big health issues related to weight, so I'm happy with the data I get. You may want to get something more accurate, and your dietician may well have better ideas than you'll get here.0 -
The main thing I NEED from it is the number of calories I am using, I can then compare this with the calories I am putting in and it will help me to plan a diet. The heart rate (as I understand it) will give me more of an understanding of how active my body is and will give a more accurate calorie reading. I also plan to use it to help With my cycling/training. I am anaemic so too much exercise, not enough food has caused blackouts which have lead to some terrifying accidents.
Having just dealt with it for a long time I have decided to kick myself into gear and get it sorted, I feel monitoring these things will help me a lot to plan what is best for my body and keep me on the right track for a healthy life
I don't think you need to wear a HRM for the day-to-day calorie count. A fitness tracker works really well for that (ie: step tracking). You couple that with a calorie counting software (myfitnesspal for example) and you get to follow your calorie intake vs what you burned based on your activity level (ie: how much you move around) and your metabolism (weight/age/height). I personnaly have a Garmin Vivoactive; it supports a HRM (actually came with one) so when running or doing exercise it will actually track HR for that activity and add it to the calories to burn. The activities get automatically uploaded to myfitnesspal and so I actually eat more on training days; in my personal case I have days between 2500 and 3100 calories. Pretty big difference.
Its an approximation but its really its still pretty awesome. The biggest gain at least for me is the tracking of macronutrients (ie: fat vs sugar vs protein). You need both enough food and "good" food; the tracking software makes it super obvious.0 -
Like mentioned in one of the posts above I am almost anorexic that can eat anything without putting weight on, yes due to my motabalism but also due to my very active lifestyle, any piece of technology I use will always be a estimate I understand that, it's impossible to monitor every movement unless I was hooked up to every professional machine possible.
I am just after the most accurate product on the market, that I can wear for as long in a day as possible (I understand battery life is an issue with most products), not to follow strictly but just as a guide that I can link with an app such as my fitness pal that will give me feedback on how I am doing and something that my dietician can look at to also help with a diet plan0 -
I am almost anorexic that can eat anything without putting weight on,
That is NOT what anorexia is. You seem pathologically determined to hook yourself up to a heart rate monitor one way or the other, so just buy anything you like the look of....0 -
He's not saying he's got anorexia just that he's got a similar look as someone with anorexia. Or at least that was my interpretation. He's one of those uncommon people who have a metabolism that maintains a low bmi to the point of being considered by others as possibly having anorexia. I've met people through friends who were naturally thin but very active and fit. They had a look that is considered an unhealthy state but people like that are trying to live a healthy and active life.I am almost anorexic that can eat anything without putting weight on,
That is NOT what anorexia is. You seem pathologically determined to hook yourself up to a heart rate monitor one way or the other, so just buy anything you like the look of....
I think someone kind of said it right, buy a device you like and will use how you want to. The calorie measurement function is likely to be just a best guess by the device. Some are likely to be more accurate in.their guess but no-one here will know which is right for you. Get an activity tracker with.optical hrm for day to day activities including sleep and perhaps one of the running watches such as polar ft40 or ft60 that allows VO2 max and hr max to be.entered manually. If you get tested you'll get these values and it will allow the best calorie estimation from aerobic exercise only. These devices also have a few test programs too so you can.get a better VO2 and hr max estimation. There are tests and formulae out there online to allow you to.work these two measures out. This won't guarantee exact measures but is accurate enough for most.
BTW whatever device(s) you get you'll possibly get a feel for the accuracy and if you get a significant increase or decrease in measured calorie for the same activity you'll know something has changed in you.
I do suggest you probably need two types of device for active and non-active parts of your life. Mio hrm sensors and valencell have good optical sensors for activities and are possibly good for non-active parts of your life then those chest strap polar devices for activities. Just be realistic in that you cannot accurately measure without laboratory test kit. This measures hr, oxygen take up, etc. These figures are linked to how to calculate accurate calorie use.0
