Thinking about Getting an Bodymedia FIT CORE Weight Manageme

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  • Mallory0418
    Mallory0418 Posts: 723 Member
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    Is the monthly subscription completely necessary to use it? That is the only thing that's causing me to hesitate to purchase one.
  • ladykate7
    ladykate7 Posts: 206 Member
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    I have the Body Media Fit Core. Yes, its a $10 monthly subscription (after the first 3 months that come sfree when you buy it new).

    I like the calorie expenditure tracking A LOT. It can tell if I took the stairs more often at work than normal, if I had to park my car further away, or closer, etc. All those little things can add up over the day. The only thing I've found is its not that accurate for bike riding, It seems to measure all the bumps in the road, not just my exertion.

    For the food tracking I create a new food everyday for the breakfast and input my MFP daily totals (the next morning) and click skipped for all the other meal times. Save it and it plugs the info in the activity manager. It was fun to play with the goal set-up. I don't like how MFP throws people down to the 1200 daily calorie range, That's just too low for most people. I'm aiming to see the FitCore activity manager to say 750 calorie deficit everyday. That's a weekly loss of 1.5 pounds.
  • ladykate7
    ladykate7 Posts: 206 Member
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    You don't get the online activity manager without the subcription. Mine doesn't have a display so I have to have the subcription or I can't upload the info to the website and see it.

    Anyone know if the one with a display works without the subscription?
  • gypsybug
    gypsybug Posts: 106 Member
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    I have had my bodymedia for about 6 months and I absolutely love it. It has taught me a LOT about my habits and my metabolism, which is terrible lol. I've been working on getting my metabolism fired back up and the bodymedia is invaluable to that goal as I can see day by day how much I've improved it. As an aside, all my efforts to increase my base burn were a waste of time until recently, when I FINALLY caved and started strength training. Huge difference already!

    I have the display, and I adore it. Think of the display like your trip odometer on your car. You can set it to zero at the start of a workout, ANYWHERE, then at the end of the workout you know EXACTLY how many calories you burned while doing that specific activity. YES you can go online and find it and move the slide bars back and forth to try and zero in on the time you did that workout this morning when was than again and when the heck did I stop oh darnit all.....lol. That's how I feel about trying to do that!

    I use the display numbers to plug my workouts into MFP. I take the MFP total calories for the day and plug that into the bodymedia site since their food database is sad. Also, I can't plug my BM into my computer at work, so my display gives me a snapshot into how I'm doing for the day. Sometimes that's the motivation I need to get off my duff and outside for a lunchtime walk.

    Oh and somebody or two said they heard the display beeps and you can't turn it off. Not quite. It DOES beep to let you know whenever you have achieved a goal, whether it be your steps for the day, your vigorous workout minutes goal...whatever. But you CAN make it shut up with the push of a button. Not a biggie. And honestly, mine generally goes off when I'm working out, and I do that alone so who cares.

    All in all, a sound investment for anyone that wants something more than an HRM.

    EDIT - Just saw the question about whether the display will do the trick without the online subscription. The answer is no. The display will only show you today and yesterday and only THIS moment in time. Your armband can only hold so many days worth of data and you have to upload that to the website to clear space for new data, otherwise it quits working when it's full. It also has to be plugged in to charge and it won't charge unless it is synced with the site.
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    Can you plug the info into the computer more than once a day? Say I am halfway done with the day and want to see if I should be more active / eat less during the evening that specific day... can it tell you that?
  • huntindawg1962
    huntindawg1962 Posts: 277 Member
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    I do have the fit link and prefer it over the bodybugg (virtually the same device). I will say that the "CORE" is smaller and you give up the bluetooth connectivity to the smart phone. But, now that I have the link I find I don't use the smart phone like all that much and had I known this, I would have opted for the smaller "core" device instead. But, the BodyMedia has been very good and I would also say pretty accurate on burn and even sleep efficiency - actually that was an EYE-OPENER (pun intended) for me when I saw those numbers!
  • spngebobmyhero
    spngebobmyhero Posts: 823 Member
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    Can you plug the info into the computer more than once a day? Say I am halfway done with the day and want to see if I should be more active / eat less during the evening that specific day... can it tell you that?

    You can plug it in as many times as you want! Also, the link updates on your smartphone almost constantly if you are connected by bluetooth. Its neat :)
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    oh fantastic. that is awesome :)
  • HavenIryxia
    HavenIryxia Posts: 116 Member
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    I have been using mine for a day and a half so far and I absolutely love it. It is really interesting to see what I am really burning throughout the day. It is inspiring and helpful. So far I love it :)
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    Mine will arrive next week. :) I'm very excited. Especially excited to track my sleep!
  • HavenIryxia
    HavenIryxia Posts: 116 Member
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    Mine will arrive next week. :) I'm very excited. Especially excited to track my sleep!

    The tracking your sleep part is insanely trippy. I was able to see each time I wasn't fully asleep throughout the night. It is really interesting :)
  • numaira
    numaira Posts: 5
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    Can I use this in hot yoga??
  • numaira
    numaira Posts: 5
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    Imwant to buy one so bad but there are concerns that i would like to resolve before i make this ourchase..

    - between core or link. Core seems like a safer choice bc I've read a lot of complaints from link users re connectivity issues
    - should i buy from amazon or the bodymedia website... amazon customer service is great and body media takes a while getting back to customers bc they are always dealing with high volume... There is a possibility I can get reimbursed using my flex account
    - plus I use a Mac snow leopard updated to most recent version and don't know if that'll pose issues
    -I have iPhone 4 ios5 and was just told by body media customer service that customers do have linking issues and they have managed to resolve 95% of them but this product is not compatible with ios5, which brings me back to core.

    Which one to buy???
  • HavenIryxia
    HavenIryxia Posts: 116 Member
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    I would get the Core so that you won't need to connect to your phone. Honestly it is just as cool to see your results at the end of the day rather then obsess about it all day long by constantly checking your phone. I like the Core better because it is smaller and more stylish of the two. I hope this helps.
  • Enigmatica
    Enigmatica Posts: 879 Member
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    I have the Link version so I can connect to my phone if I want, but have found that just connecting to the site works fine for me.

    If anyone wants to see some sample reports from the BMF, I posted a couple here:

    http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg488/enigmati/BMFsample041112_1.jpg
    http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg488/enigmati/BMFsample041112_2.jpg

    (edited the images out to just links because they're too wide to display in the post properly)
  • Heaven71
    Heaven71 Posts: 706 Member
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    Love my FitBit it does all of the same stuff but it doesn;t require the monthly subscription and it syncs with MFP
  • jenluvsushi
    jenluvsushi Posts: 933 Member
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    Go to the bodymedia website....they have a comparison chart for all of their products so you can figure out which one fits your needs. I went with the core because I wanted the instant display. I can't have my phone with me at work otherwise I might have gone with the link. The display does not work with every model.....so far I really like what I got....it definitely keeps me moving more and I have lost 3 pounds since i got it two weeks ago. I do not use their food data base by the way. In the morning when I log in and download my stats from the day before to see what my total calorie burn was, I log my food from the day before too. I simply create a new food for breakfast named whatever the date before was and plug in my total number of calories that I tracked here on MFP....so it looks like I only at one giant meal but it shows what my calorie deficit was and that's all that matters.

    Ps...they sell them at Costco but do not sell the display at Costco. They have them on amazon but I ended up getting a deal through the manufacturer. Good luck to you!
  • jenluvsushi
    jenluvsushi Posts: 933 Member
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    yes.....they have a FAQ page on the website....you can sweat in it but don't go swimming with it. I personally would buy an extra arm band for activity like that so you can wash one while wearing the other....
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    I have the BodyMedia Fit Advantage. I would have preferred the Core (slimmer design) or Link (wireless connection), but the Advantage became available less than half-price through a Groupon - so that's what I got.

    I've been blogging about my results: http://exercisegadgets.wordpress.com/

    It's been really fun to see all the number and have all the data to work with!
  • stang_girl88
    stang_girl88 Posts: 234 Member
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    LOVE my Bodymedia! I have had mine since January and dont regret purchasing it at all. I have been trying to lose weight for 2 or 3 years and have finally started to lose weight with my Core band. I also love having the display so I dont have to guess throughout the day where I am at, I can quickly look at it while at work, plus it also makes me more active. I read somewhere that people were wondering about it beeping. It does beep for a few seconds to let you know you achieved one of your daily goals, but you can press a button to silence it.

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