Calorie Counter Watches.... Any Good?

Hi all, I wondered if the calorie counter watches being sold now are
accurate enough to be usefull?

I have a heart rate moniter watch using a chest strap which works well but I
think a Calorie counter would be very helpful indeed........used in
conjuction with one of these modern kitchen scales that are already
programed with calorific values for about 600 common foods, it could be a
great combination.

It would be great to know how many calories one had expended over the course
of a day while knowing exactly how many calories had been consumed.

If any knowledgable person could offer their opinion , I would be very
grateful.

Regards Alan

alan dav wrote:
> Hi all, I wondered if the calorie counter watches being sold now
> are accurate enough to be usefull?
> [....]
> It would be great to know how many calories one had expended
> over the course of a day while knowing exactly how many calories
> had been consumed.

For that purpose, the "calorie counting" exercise monitors are
useless(!). Such devices are based on averages. That is, a "typical"
person of such-and-such weight and age performing this-or-that
mode of exercise at such-and-such %MHR, given an MHR or,
worse, relying on "220 - age", expends so-much calories per minute.
The statistical error on such data -- the variation from
person-to-person
-- is very high.

Save your money and simply monitor your weight or, better, your
percentage fat over a long time frame, e.g. many weeks or months.
If you lose weight (fat), you're expending more calories than you
consume. If your rate of loss is slower than desired, exercise more
or eat less.

If you want some rough guidelines about how many calories a mode
of exercise "typically" expends per unit time, use one of the online
calorie calculators. I used to like
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html . But I just learned
that he changed the user interface, and not for the better IMHO.