Bodymedia Fit and Nursing

KenzNDieselsMama

Hey all. I'm hoping there's SOMEONE out there with some experience using the bodymedia/bodybugg/etc who also nurses at the same time. Is there any way to include the nursing I'll be doing while I'm wearing the BMF? That's my one concern. I got the devide to assist me with accuracy specific to MY body's needs, thought I don't think it'll be able to pick up on the nursing I'm doing, obviously. Like, for example, as a "normal" person, my caloric intake should be around 1200 calories (according to MFP). But since I'm nursing a 4 month old, who strictly nurses, and I pump, I know I need to be taking in more than 1200 calories. I know how to account for the increase on MFP, but does anyone know how to account for it with the bodymedia fit? Hoping so!!

Also, I'm new. And I have no friends haha. How did everyone start meeting people? Just through forums and message boards and stuff? Gotta get out there and make some frieeeeends!!!

CMmrsfloyd

I have no idea if the BMF can account for nursing. I would assume it *cannot* since it's not a 'physical' activity that it can track, but I'm not completely familiar with how it calculates things so I'm not completely sure. One thing I can tell you, if you are nursing exclusively you can expect to be using about an additional 500 calories per day. Since you are pumping, you can actually measure that in ounces and add about 20 calories per ounce pumped. (if you nurse AND pump, I would just stick to the 500 per day personally, but if you pump exclusively I'd do the 'by the ounce' accounting since you'd know exactly what you're producing).

Here on MFP, you can account for breastfeeding by going into your food diary, click 'add food' and then search 'breastfeeding'. Since you're nursing exclusively, choose the exclusive option in the list, add it to your diary and it will bump up your goal by 500 calories to account for that extra energy that you need. The only downside is that you have to add it in every single day. Alternatively, you could manually go in and set your daily calorie goal to 1700 (if you want to do this, go to 'my home' click on 'goals' then click 'change goals' and choose the 'custom' option, that will allow you to manually input 1700 calories). You really probably do need to be eating more than 1200 since you are nursing, it is a huge demand on your body.

Yet another option is you could set your MFP profile to 'maintain weight' and take the nursing calories burned as basically bonus calories burned for weightloss. You know you use around 500 per day exclusively nursing, so if you eat the calories MFP says you need to maintain your weight, you'd actually be burning off 500 from nursing and could expect to lose around 1 lb per week even though your goal would be set on here to maintain. So technically there are quite a few options you can choose between here on MFP, I'm just not entirely sure how to integrate all that with the BMF system, too.

You might consider emailing the BMF people (or call if they have a support number) and ask for their suggestions on how to account for nursing with their system.

KenzNDieselsMama

What an awesomely thorough response! Thank you so much!

helofxr

Wow! Yes! Thank you for all of that helpful information! It sealed the deal for me. I was on the fence about this, wanting an activity tracker but not knowing which to choose. Currently using Weight Watchers (Which I love and have lost 40lbs using several years ago). I really like the BodyMedia activity monitor, but wasn't sure about MyFitnessPal because I am breastfeeding an 8 month old. Thank you for the thoughtful response. It helped me make the switch, and I am excited. Ordered my BodyMedia LINK and it will be here very soon