Veloce Raptor

Cool, Peter, +1 !!!

Mark Dreyer

Ok you've ruined my sense of accomplishment. Thanks. :-))

As an interesting aside, if I'm riding my bicycle, I have to attach the Fitbit to my shoelaces in order for it to register any activity.

Jimbo951

I think most pedometer work by reading your up/down movement when you walk and it infers the number of "steps" from that.

When you read the number of "steps" while driving, what you're really measuring is how rough the road is, how much vibration your pedometer is measuring, not the equivalent exercise level.

ProCoach

I've put my Fuelband on my ankle when cycling.

Matt Romanowski

Right on. I'm not exactly svelt myself and need to work on it.

Do people like the Fuel Band or the Fit Bit better?

Juan Lopez

Good deal Peter!!!

I have been behaving lately to be in a better shape for racing with the resulting improvement of everyday life. I'm on Juan's not yet patented QQ Program (quantity and quality food intake management). I have read Jutley's book which is very interesting.

Since I started on 1st monday of 2014 I have dropped 23 pounds without having to work too hard on it. I am bicycling when not travelling and taking advantage of the (boring) gyms when I travel. We had to adjust my belts at Sebring!

If I can improve, with your attention to details and passion for our sport, you sure can. Bad thing is that replacement clothes get expensive...

All the best..........! (I won't be at PBIR this year but my new car will be)

ProCoach

That QQ is working! I heard that you're a busy man! See you soon.

Charles A. Toupin

I am doing the same thing since last October. I already see a HUGE difference when skiing. I'm training 4 times a week very early in the morning before going to work, minimum 70 minutes each sessions (total time on the machines). Sometimes I skip a day and do some skiing instead, sometimes I skip a day just because I'm tired, but if you do 4 days a week, you'll see progress quite quickly. I now see skiing as a leisure, not a sport anymore!

I changed my eating habits just a bit, not by much, avoid junk food, just eating that s%!t once per month or so, and I drink alcool only on Friday and Saturday nights.

You'll be very proud of yourself if you stick to your plan. And the plan should not be to reach a certain weight objective. Your plan should be to attain a certain level of fitness and then, to keep that level stable once reached. This way, you will loose fat and keep your muscles. So you loose weight at a slow rate but gain fitness a lot.

You have to be determined.



c.

pu911rsr

As other have stated pedometers don't measure calories burned directly. Any reading you get from in a car are total bogus. I've owned a bunch of fitbits and they are great until you run them through the washing machine. You need a device that monitors heart rate if you wan to keep track of calories burned - which is really much more useful than knowing how many step you have taken. The are some watches that can monitor heart rate but don't work so well if you get really sweaty which is necessary to get a good work out. Losing weight and getting in shape is the best single investment you can make in yourself, do it!
Phil

Cory M

I have a Garmin 310xt for running and cycling. The Garmin watch and heart rate monitor are both waterproof (but the GPS doesn't work too well when swimming) so no worries about sweat. I question the accuracy results of my Garmin, especially cycling since it doesn't differentiate between road and mountain biking. Obviously a smooth road is a lot easier to ride/run than a loose rocky trail but it treats them the same. The Garmin appears to be a lot more sophisticated than the Nike fuel band and the fitbit. I wouldn't put too much faith in the actual numbers provided by the fuel band but it may be good to spot trends in activity.

ninjacoco

Heh, that's my worry with the FitBit. I got one at work to try out, but I'm afraid I'd do something dumb like leave it on in the shower.

Interesting to see that it registers racecar time as steps. Part of me wants to stick it on at LeMons and see what happens then, haha. (...but I'd probably do something dumb like climb into a redneck hot tub in the paddock with it, so probably not.)

equiraptor

I have a 910xt, and for a while was riding a mountain bike on the street. I then started riding on a triathlon bike. While the Garmin wasn't told which bike I was on, the calculated calorie burn is different on one than on the other. The fact that it uses your heartrate when calculating means it can tell you're putting in more effort to move that distance/elevation. It's still not going to be perfect, but it's generally good enough for most purposes. On the other hand, while the RunKeeper site can track heartrate, it doesn't use it when calculating calories burned, so the values can be quite different.

I wouldn't, however, trust it for calories burned while driving. When I log track driving with the 910 (which I've done), I tell the device the category is "other", and once the activity is uploaded, I assign it to "driving". Even so, I'm using it to judge my stress, etc. while on the track, not using it to judge calories burned. It's really interesting information, though, and I'd like to see data loggers start incorporating ANT+.

I also have a Withings Pulse (a FitBit competitor) that I leave in my pocket while at the track. It doesn't log steps while I'm on track. I still get a good number of steps on the track days, but I'm actually moving around, walking, getting from place to place a lot, those days!

Mark Dreyer

It is waterproof. I've never taken it off in the shower and no harm.

ProCoach

Same with the Fuelband. I never look at the numbers as an absolute, only relatively.

I don't eat bad food, thanks to my vigilant and very trim lady partner, but obviously, too much of anything is not good. Biggest challenge? I don't move much.

For this, the Fuelband helps track activity trends, like data loggers on cars! That's good for me, but I plan to add heart rate monitoring so I can get a better measure of exertion.

Coochas

I've dropped 40 pounds over the past 2 years and have done a lot of work on my core and balance. I think it has really paid off with my driving.

On a related note, I've worn my HR monitor on the track a number of times.
Boxster, power steering etc HR=110s
Atom, no power nothing, HR high 130s.