Technology Keeps Tabs on Calorie Burn

For some, the hardest part of a workout is not the physical challenge, it’s the mental test of keeping tabs on calories burned. No worries. As expected, technology has come to the rescue, in the form of a half-dozen cool gadgets from Nike, Polar Electro, Timex, and other companies. The Boston Globe reports that a passel of new arm bands, chest straps and wrist bands can now provide the kind of information that had only been available in labs. The newfangled calorie counters calculate, for example, how much oxygen is being used and how much heat is being produced.  Prices, the Globe reports, start at about $70 for a simple heart rate monitor and climb to $500 for a device that  measures skin temperature, its electrical conductivity and how much heat someone’s body is producing and losing. The biggest challenge now is figuring out if they’re worth the price.