Perhaps your workout lacks motivation. Do you ever feel like you did not do enough? Didn't sweat enough for it to count? I am right there with ya. I always wondered how many calories I was actually burning. How high my heart rate was getting. How high did it need to be? Then...I got a heart rate and calorie monitor! Talk about getting you motivated! I love watching the number soar after a grueling class {and I have to add that after a grueling class, you continue to burn calories for hours!!!!} and feeling accomplished. It's also handy for medical reasons. Mine will alert me if my heart rate is out of a healthy range. I just love them. I highly recommend one.
I can't really say what brand is better. I have a Polar F6 {just got it this weekend and have used it twice and LOVE it} and have had a Mio. The Polar has a chest strap to monitor your HR, and I believe they are quite a bit more accurate. My Mio was OK, it was a great one for the price, but I had to manually get my HR and I did not like having to do that because it often seemed inaccurate. There are lots of different models and types. I would not spend a ton of money on a super fancy one if you are a novice. You mainly just want to make sure you have a HR monitor, chest strap and calorie counter. Keeping up with your calories burned will help you keep up with your caloric intake of food for the rest of the day! The only drawback is that I always want to wear mine to see how high my HR gets with everyday activities--it can be a little obsessive! I think I burned 30 calories just getting my kids dressed this morning. If you have kids, you know what I mean.
You can find really great prices at Amazon for starters! Also, most sporting goods stores carry them. Any questions, just leave a comment!
I had one made by Nike, which worked well and also had the chest strap to monitor heart rate, but the actual watch part started to fall apart after a few months. Maybe it was because I wore it too much...
ReplyDeleteI just sent my husband to Academy to buy me a mio- then I read this so I'm calling him now to get the Polar! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at these on Amazon and can't figure out what the difference between the F4 and F6 models. Do you have any clue what the difference would be? I definitely don't work out as much as you do, would a Mio be suitable???
ReplyDeleteCallie, not much difference in the F4 or F6. i think the F4 is great. i really really like the polar better than the mio, but for starters and price, the mio is ok!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicki! I tend to want to go all out on new gadgets. But, until I know if I like it or not, I can't see spending over 100. Also, I found a site that had them all on sale and then an additional 10% off! I'll have to see if I can find the site again and post a link for anyone interested.
ReplyDeleteI'm gifting this to myself for my progress in work-out consistency. I finally accepted that a 30 minute workout is better than a 0-minute workout, and I've worked out 5 days of the last 7. *Shockingly*, my energy is way up and I'm not finding it so hard to focus on the dissertation.
ReplyDeleteYay! And thanks for the recommendation. :)