Fitbit Ultra vs Polar???

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 5:07 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

My old heart rate monitor died while I was on my trip last week, and so it's time for a new one. The two main brands I keep hearing about over and over again are Fitbit and Polar. If you have one of either of these, can you tell me what you like about it and what you don't like? These things are not cheap (worth the money if they work, but still), so I want to make sure I'm making the right choice for me.

Part of what I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around is the idea of wearing the Fitbit all day... I just wore my old hrm during exercise so I knew how many calories I was burning during that time. Is that wrong, or less beneficial than wearing the Fitbit all day?

I know that sounds like a stupid question. I just want to know that I'm making the right call here.

Thanks! :)

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

lucy2e
on 7/2/12 5:17 pm - Laurel, MD

VSG on 06/01/11 with

I have a fitbit and love it. It tells how many steps, distance, "levels" i.e. floors or hills climbed. It also will tell you how effeciently you are sleeping. I just clip on my bra strap and it's there all day out of the way. It is a great barameter of how you are doing and I find myself taking the long way just to get x more steps - always trying to beat my old record.

I love that it has an online portal and you can track your incoming calories and stet goals - just love it!

Lucy (Imma Loser!)

HW 335 SW 311 CW 181.2 -- Goals: Twoderville - 6/7/11, 280 - 7/1/11, 260 - 8/1/11, 240 - 10/30/11 Centry Club - 11/22/11, 220 - 12/27/11 Onederland - 5/25/12, 180 - , 170 (surgeons goal) -
We shall see where this leads...

pinkpeonies
on 7/2/12 5:24 pm

VSG on 04/23/12 with

I'll second what Lucy said. Fitbit also integrates with MyFitnessPal.com, which is nice. Fitbit is NOT a heart rate monitor. It's a pedometer. When you set it up, you enter you stats plus some lifestyle information (like how sedentary you are/not). As you wear it throughout the day (I use the belt clip and clip it inside my pants pocket every day) it tracks the steps you take, flights of stairs, mileage, number of calories burned, and how active you've been in general. The calories burned is a continuous thing too--there's an algorithm in there to account for the calories you use at rest too. It's not perfect--it misses short flights of stairs in my house, and sometimes misses the ramp in the parking garage from one floor to the next for me. Sometimes not. But I love mine and feel funny not wearing it. It really does challenge me to increase my steps.

4'11" tall * 46 years old * Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? :)

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 5:33 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

So if I got a FItbit, would I have to adjust what it says somehow to account for extra calories burned during a workout? Or would I enter that separately in mfp?

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

lucy2e
on 7/2/12 5:45 pm - Laurel, MD

VSG on 06/01/11 with

For activities that don't register like riding a bike or swimming, you enter via the web portal and it will calculate.

Lucy (Imma Loser!)

HW 335 SW 311 CW 181.2 -- Goals: Twoderville - 6/7/11, 280 - 7/1/11, 260 - 8/1/11, 240 - 10/30/11 Centry Club - 11/22/11, 220 - 12/27/11 Onederland - 5/25/12, 180 - , 170 (surgeons goal) -
We shall see where this leads...

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 5:50 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

So then, how many of those calories do you log in mfp? Just whatever goes over the number mfp says you normally burn in a day before exercise? All of it?

Sorry to ask so many dumb questions... this is kind of a new concept to me lol.

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

pinkpeonies
on 7/2/12 6:13 pm

VSG on 04/23/12 with

I logged my walk today into MFP as "moderate pace, 40 minutes" and let MFP calculate the calories. MapMyWalk.com gave my route a different number of calories burned than MFP did (MFP has my weight and height etc; MapMyWalk doesn't...I haven't looked to see if it tracks down to that level or not--I'm really just using it for mileage).

When you're integrating the Fitbit and MFP, the people at Fitbit recommend that you use MFP for all your logging of food and exercise (although Fitbit also has a food and exercise log). The two do not calculate calories exactly the same way but you could go crazy trying to get an exact measurement.

MFP tracks duration rather than calories burned in its exercise logging--at least it's that way with the kinds of exercise I log.

4'11" tall * 46 years old * Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? :)

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 6:21 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

That makes sense. Thanks :)

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

pinkpeonies
on 7/2/12 6:05 pm

VSG on 04/23/12 with

Fitbit tracks the movement you make when walking or running. It would track something like a Zumba class. But if you're lifting weights or doing pilates or yoga or something without a "walking" motion, it probably won't track calories properly. For something like that, I *think* you can set it to track a workout by putting it in stop watch mode . I haven't tried it myself so can't say for sure how it works.

What I do is enter an exercise session separately in MFP using their database of exercises. So if I'm riding the stationary bike for 45 minutes, I enter that info, knowing the fitbit will pick up the extra motion of my legs but not necessary the fact that I'm putting out more effort on "hills" because the leg motion is the same.

Same thing with universal machines or weight lifting. Or swimming, for which you cannot wear the fitbit.

I'm not sure I'm explaining this very well...does it make sense at all?

4'11" tall * 46 years old * Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? :)

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 6:13 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

I think I understand now... lol.

So, you don't enter the fitbit data into mfp... you use their database for logging workouts, and then the fitbit data is a separate deal. Does that sound right? I have seen people log workouts on mfp that they call a "fitbit adjustment..." not sure what that means?

I don't really do weight lifting (yet). Mainly I do walking/jogging on the treadmill, some work on the elliptical, and sometimes I do swim... but I have found mfp's estimates for my swims to be pretty accurate, so no issues there.

Thanks for being patient and helping me figure this out :)

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

pinkpeonies
on 7/2/12 6:26 pm

VSG on 04/23/12 with

Correct. You do not enter Fitbit data into MFP. It gets added (as needed and if needed) when you connect to the Fitbit base station. I keep mine at home, so my data gets uploaded at the end of the day when I get home from work. Today I got 217 extra calories for my walk. They would normally count toward my "activity calories"--those extra calories MFP gives you when you exercise, but I ignore that part of MFP.

"Fitbit adjustment" is a figure brought automatically into MFP from Fitbit. This is what MFP says about it:

"When the data reported by your Fitbit shows that your actual calories burned and your estimated calories burned for the remainder of the day are higher than our original estimate for the entire day, we'll adjust your net calorie goal accordingly. The "Fitbit Adjustment" represents the additional calories you have burned, above and beyond our original estimate. Because this value is recalculated every time your FitBIt uploads new data, you should expect this value to change over the course of the day."

It's really neat the way it all works together and I do like it. At the same time, it can be pretty confusing. There's a forum on Fitbit.com for users who integrate with MFP, and Fitbit customer support is pretty helpful with questions if you have any.

There are things I wish both web services did differently but as they are, I still get more information out of them than I would have otherwise.

Hopefully this helps rather than confusing more! :)

4'11" tall * 46 years old * Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? :)

moonglo82
on 7/2/12 6:30 pm

VSG on 03/29/12 with

Yes, I understand completely now lol. Thanks again! :)

Highest weight: 277 Starting Weight: 250 Surgery Weight: 241 Current Weight: 130

Goal Reached in 10.5 months :)

happyteacher
on 7/3/12 4:22 pm

VSG on 12/19/11 with

Here is a snapshot of MFP using fitbit. I wore it during my elliptical workout, and noted my start and stop time. Then I pulled up elliptical under MFP- after you set up the fitbit the menu for the elliptical will change. Instead of just entering in how many minutes you did it, you enter the start time and then how many minutes you did it. Then the fitbit talks to MFP and will adjust the calories it logged so you do not double count the burned calories. Yesterday I walked about 11,000 steps and did 30 minutes of elliptical, and this was my total.

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Elliptical Trainer	30	440
Fitbit calorie adjustment	N/A	229
Add Exercise Quick Tools

Daily Total / Goal	31 / 45	669 / 583
Weekly Total / Goal	31 / 270	669 / 3500

1Mo: -21 2Mo: -16 3Mo: -12 4MO - 13 5MO: -11 6MO: -10 7MO: -10.3 8MO: -6 9 MO: -5 with slight regain from the original -10 MO 10: -8 MO 11: +1 MO 12: -1.4

Mo 13-14: 0 Mo 15:-10 (meds side effect)

BMI 23.7

CW: 184 Goal in 8 months 4 days!! 6' 2'' EWL 108%

150+ pounds lost

happyteacher
on 7/3/12 4:23 pm

VSG on 12/19/11 with

you can;t see the far right of the screen shot. Use the little scroll bar.

1Mo: -21 2Mo: -16 3Mo: -12 4MO - 13 5MO: -11 6MO: -10 7MO: -10.3 8MO: -6 9 MO: -5 with slight regain from the original -10 MO 10: -8 MO 11: +1 MO 12: -1.4

Mo 13-14: 0 Mo 15:-10 (meds side effect)

BMI 23.7

CW: 184 Goal in 8 months 4 days!! 6' 2'' EWL 108%

150+ pounds lost

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Fitbit Ultra vs Polar???