24hr Fitness/Apex Fitness Bodybugg
I’m a numbers guy. I need to see concrete numbers in writing to be able to make decisions based on them. This applies to our finances (a written budget and debt reduction plan) as well as my weight loss goal. This is where the Bodybugg comes into play. The Bodybugg is the armband the contestants on The Biggest Loser wear, and it has also been featured on other TV programs such as The Doctors. I own an older model of the Bodybugg, and I love it.
Losing weight is the same as paying down debt/saving money in that there is only one way to do it. Calories in vs. Calories out, just like money in vs. money out. When working to lose weight you must burn more calories than you eat, this creates a deficit and your body will burn fat (and lean mass if you aren’t careful) to make up that difference in what it needs to operate. Just like your debt, where you spend less than you earn so that the extra can be applied to payments or to savings if you’ve paid everything off.
The Bodybugg is a little device worn on your arm that does nothing but sit there and monitor the calorie burn rate of your body at any given point in time. To do this it uses a variety of sensors including an accelerometer, a couple of temperature sensors, and a sensor to read galvanic skin response (skin moisture level.) You wear it 24 hours a day, minus any time where it may be exposed to water, such as showering and swimming. The Bodybugg ties my health and fitness goals to my geek obsession with gadgets.
The device itself has no indication of current rate, or any other feedback mechanism other than to warn when the logging memory is full (about a weeks worth of data can be stored) or when the AAA battery is getting low. In order to view the data, you have to connect it via USB (or a wireless communicator) to the computer and upload its data to the Bodybugg website.
Once the data is up on the website, this is where the real power of the system becomes apparent. You now can see how many calories you’ve burned so far today, as well as the number of steps taken and minutes of physical activity (when calories per minute are above a certain threshold.) This is great, but doesn’t this only provide half of the equation for losing weight (calories burned – calories eaten = calorie balance?)
Yes, that only covers the burned half of the equation. The website also has a food tracking system built in as well. It is set up for you to enter your food consumed for Breakfast, AM Snack, Lunch, PM Snack, Dinner, and Evening Snack. It includes a very extensive calorie database, so most foods you eat will be on there. If not, it allows you to enter your own foods based on the information found on the nutrition information label. You now have the calories eaten portion solved.
The system takes it one step further and you enter in your current and goal weights, and it will calculate it all out for you. This means if you want to lose 10 lbs in 10 weeks, you need to lose 1 lb per week. Since one pound = approximately 3600 calories, that means you need to eat 3600 calories per week less than you’re burning, or an approximately 500 calories per day deficit. You can adjust the different factors such as increasing the daily deficit and see how quickly you can lose that 10 lbs, or how much more you could lose in the same time frame.
When you set a new goal, it goes through a wizard asking you several pieces of information, including your activity level, your weight/height, and your preferred diet profile. Based on this information it generates a diet plan for you and sets your target burn and consume goals so you can see at a glance exactly where you are for the day.
The version of the armband I have is the V1/V2, and they just came out with a V3, which is smaller, and is black instead of grey. While I don’t see the information directly on their website, from what I’ve read from other sources it has upgraded sensors that will be used sometime in the future to increase the accuracy of the device even more than it already is.
The key to the Bodybugg is to work the program. If you upload the data often, especially before indulging in any extra eating, you will be able to take the most advantage of it. If I’ve burned extra calories during the day and maybe have eaten less than anticipated, I can see that it is OK some nights to have an extra snack, where others I need to just have a glass of water and forget about it. If you don’t upload it often, and don’t enter your food in, its slightly better than the guessing game you’re playing right now.
While the Bodybugg is expensive at $250 (or more depending on the accessories and subscription length,) it is well worth the price if you’re willing to put the work into the program. I’ve had my Bodybugg for several years, and have used it off and on. When I use it and actually follow my advice in the previous paragraph, it does wonders. My only problem I’ve had with it is I’ve been lazy and have not followed the program. Since I have a long-term goal in place, I’m confident this time I’ll make the most of it. Like any piece of exercise gear, if you use it properly you will see great results, but if you neglect it like the exercise bike in the basement, you’ll get the same benefits the bike provides. The bottom line is when you use it properly, you won’t find a better tool to assist you in reaching your weight loss goals.
27 January 2009, 12:48
[...] Original post by geekone.org [...]
29 January 2009, 17:56
[...] This applies to our finances (a written budget and debt reduction plan) as well as my weight loss goal . This is where the Bodybugg comes into play. The Bodybugg is the armband the contestants on The Biggest Loser wear, and it has also …$anchor_text[$anchor_choice] [...]