BodyMedia Armband quesitons

crazyellybean

I would not suggest wearing your HRM.. it will drive you batty because the two will never be in sync with each other... infact I was just posting about it, because I did some research on it.. and HRMs really are not all that accurate.. and pretty much they over estimate your calorie burn.. the Bodymedia being 95% accurate (less then 5% error for exercise activities) is enough for you to base your calorie intake on..

with that, I wear mine for 3-4 days without syncing... and there are times I sync mine 2-3 times a day.. but I wear it all day everyday.. (I've worn mine since November consistently, but I've had it for about a year now)

try not to get tied up in WHY the numbers are the way they are.. and focus on setting and exceeding your BM goals..

To sync with MFP.. go to your bodymedia..(you will need to be logged into MFP) .. go to your activity manger and click on the "Apps" tab.. this will bring you to all the apps you can sync with.. find MFP and click on it,and select "LINK APP" it will automatically sync..

Your food is generally synced automatically.. however your exercise is only synced with MFP when you upload your device.. and sometimes it takes a few minutes to register..

Unless there is an update or a change I don't know about, it doesn't work well with exercise. It's far less accurate(talking about the BMF) if you can provide a link...

Actually it's proven to be accurate..

BodyMedia FIT is Clinically Proven to be Accurate

The BodyMedia FIT System has been Clinically Proven to Accurately Measure the Amount of Physical Activity and Calories.

A recent independent study tested our Armband system in real-life situations. Participants engaged in "free living" activities, including brisk walking, running, bicycling, sedentary activities, home activities, home repair, occupational activities, strength training, and ball games. The study compared the armband to a $40,000 "portable oxygen analyzer", the gold standard for measuring calories. Results showed:

Total Calories for free living activities: mean error <10%.
Total Minutes of exercise: mean error <5%.

(found here: http://www.bodymedia.com/the_science.html)




Here are the studies:

http://www.bodymedia.com/studies.html

bethb03

bump... mines in the mail!

ConleighS

I guess through February there is a 15% discount offered.... now to figure out which one I should get. Any suggestions?

Athena98501

I'm glad you posted this, I was looking at getting a HRM then just heard about Bodymedia.

From what i seen quickly glancing at the promo, you have to pay a monthly fee for the website, is this right?

Would you rate this over a HRM, i like that it tracks everything and can sync with MFP.. so im just weighing up my options?

You get a minimum of 3 months free, but when it's purchased at Costco, it comes with a year's subscription included. When my initial subscription was up, I was able to buy a year's subscription on ebay for $20. It's very definitely much better than an hrm, see my above post for my explanation of why I say that.

Awesome, thanks! which device did you get? i see there are three models Advantage, Link and Core? are you able to view your tracking (mainly calories burnt) through out the day or only when you sync

I got the Link, and I really highly recommend it. I can check my burn, steps, etc on my phone, and the Link is the only model I know of that does that. The only info you can only get through syncing is to do with sleep.

crazyellybean

I guess through February there is a 15% discount offered.... now to figure out which one I should get. Any suggestions?

I highly suggest if you have a smart phone and can spring the extra bucks to get the LINK.. it's the one thing I regret and I've been watching ebay for one (they run $70 on ebay).. I would LOVE to be able to see real time data via my smart phone, but you can't do that with the CORE or ADVANTAGE

darcyinmo

I wear my bodymedia about 23.5 hours a day. I usually charge and sync when I shower in the morning. But sometime I sync at night too, especially when I've worked out hard and I want to see all the graphs. It is deigned to wear all the time. If you choose to wear it only when working out, make sure it is set up for this. Mine is set up to use historical data to fill in the time it is off. I took it off for three days after a surgery and was suprised to see high calorie burns...I was able to edit it, but you can see how this could lead to false high numbers if you mostly only wore it for workouts.

I never wore and HRM. The bodymedia will track your calorie burn for workouts, but won't tell you your heartrate. If it is important for you to know this, you may still want to wear your HRM.

This was an awesome gift for you. I love, love, love mine!

Wait... I can leave it off? Can you please explain how to set it up for historical data? I've had mine for almost a month and the indentation in my arm is concerning me a little. I had seen a post from another MFP user that wore hers for like 2 years and had a permanent indentation.

ConleighS

Good to know...I will check ebay too... that is less than the discount.

meganac69

I originally purchased my BodyMedia band a little over a year ago with the 1-year subscription at Costco. I used it religiously for about a month, then sporadically for the remaining 11. (And my results fairly closely followed that schedule, with losses in the first month and not so much in the following 11).

After the free subscription period, you can purchase a monthly ($6.95 USD), annual ($59), or 2-year plan ($89).

I typically wear the band about 23 hours daily and sync at night. I an thrilled to be able to sync my MFP food diary (with a huge user-database) to BodyMedia account and vice versa.

Being a bit of a data wonk, I love the ability to look at all of the metrics from sleep efficiency, to steps per hour, to daily burn.

Athena98501

I wear my bodymedia about 23.5 hours a day. I usually charge and sync when I shower in the morning. But sometime I sync at night too, especially when I've worked out hard and I want to see all the graphs. It is deigned to wear all the time. If you choose to wear it only when working out, make sure it is set up for this. Mine is set up to use historical data to fill in the time it is off. I took it off for three days after a surgery and was suprised to see high calorie burns...I was able to edit it, but you can see how this could lead to false high numbers if you mostly only wore it for workouts.

I never wore and HRM. The bodymedia will track your calorie burn for workouts, but won't tell you your heartrate. If it is important for you to know this, you may still want to wear your HRM.

This was an awesome gift for you. I love, love, love mine!

Wait... I can leave it off? Can you please explain how to set it up for historical data? I've had mine for almost a month and the indentation in my arm is concerning me a little. I had seen a post from another MFP user that wore hers for like 2 years and had a permanent indentation.

I got mine on the 4th of July last year. I only take it off to sync, and to shower, and my indentation always goes away in that time. I move mine around a little on my arm, so that I can comfortably wear it all the time.

crazyellybean

I would not suggest wearing your HRM.. it will drive you batty because the two will never be in sync with each other... infact I was just posting about it, because I did some research on it.. and HRMs really are not all that accurate.. and pretty much they over estimate your calorie burn.. the Bodymedia being 95% accurate (less then 5% error for exercise activities) is enough for you to base your calorie intake on..

with that, I wear mine for 3-4 days without syncing... and there are times I sync mine 2-3 times a day.. but I wear it all day everyday.. (I've worn mine since November consistently, but I've had it for about a year now)

try not to get tied up in WHY the numbers are the way they are.. and focus on setting and exceeding your BM goals..

To sync with MFP.. go to your bodymedia..(you will need to be logged into MFP) .. go to your activity manger and click on the "Apps" tab.. this will bring you to all the apps you can sync with.. find MFP and click on it,and select "LINK APP" it will automatically sync..

Your food is generally synced automatically.. however your exercise is only synced with MFP when you upload your device.. and sometimes it takes a few minutes to register..

Unless there is an update or a change I don't know about, it doesn't work well with exercise. It's far less accurate(talking about the BMF) if you can provide a link...

Actually it's proven to be accurate..

BodyMedia FIT is Clinically Proven to be Accurate

The BodyMedia FIT System has been Clinically Proven to Accurately Measure the Amount of Physical Activity and Calories.

A recent independent study tested our Armband system in real-life situations. Participants engaged in "free living" activities, including brisk walking, running, bicycling, sedentary activities, home activities, home repair, occupational activities, strength training, and ball games. The study compared the armband to a $40,000 "portable oxygen analyzer", the gold standard for measuring calories. Results showed:

Total Calories for free living activities: mean error <10%.
Total Minutes of exercise: mean error <5%.

(found here: http://www.bodymedia.com/the_science.html)




Here are the studies:

http://www.bodymedia.com/studies.html

I have a bodybugg(very similar), pretty much the same thing. The issue with these devices is they work good for normal living conditions. When you start to increase activity it don't work as well. Heybales(a member on MFP) tested the sensors on them and they didn't work at all. We now see it as a pedometer. Just tracks your movement. Yes it can be up to 95% accurate during normal activity, if you increase your activity intensity Then it won't measure accurately.

Not sure that I would belive a random MFP user over several clinical studies, but to each their own..

I've also read that the bodybugg is not as accurate as the bodymedia as it's not as advanced

Athena98501

I would not suggest wearing your HRM.. it will drive you batty because the two will never be in sync with each other... infact I was just posting about it, because I did some research on it.. and HRMs really are not all that accurate.. and pretty much they over estimate your calorie burn.. the Bodymedia being 95% accurate (less then 5% error for exercise activities) is enough for you to base your calorie intake on..

with that, I wear mine for 3-4 days without syncing... and there are times I sync mine 2-3 times a day.. but I wear it all day everyday.. (I've worn mine since November consistently, but I've had it for about a year now)

try not to get tied up in WHY the numbers are the way they are.. and focus on setting and exceeding your BM goals..

To sync with MFP.. go to your bodymedia..(you will need to be logged into MFP) .. go to your activity manger and click on the "Apps" tab.. this will bring you to all the apps you can sync with.. find MFP and click on it,and select "LINK APP" it will automatically sync..

Your food is generally synced automatically.. however your exercise is only synced with MFP when you upload your device.. and sometimes it takes a few minutes to register..

Unless there is an update or a change I don't know about, it doesn't work well with exercise. It's far less accurate(talking about the BMF) if you can provide a link...

Actually it's proven to be accurate..

BodyMedia FIT is Clinically Proven to be Accurate

The BodyMedia FIT System has been Clinically Proven to Accurately Measure the Amount of Physical Activity and Calories.

A recent independent study tested our Armband system in real-life situations. Participants engaged in "free living" activities, including brisk walking, running, bicycling, sedentary activities, home activities, home repair, occupational activities, strength training, and ball games. The study compared the armband to a $40,000 "portable oxygen analyzer", the gold standard for measuring calories. Results showed:

Total Calories for free living activities: mean error <10%.
Total Minutes of exercise: mean error <5%.

(found here: http://www.bodymedia.com/the_science.html)




Here are the studies:

http://www.bodymedia.com/studies.html

I have a bodybugg(very similar), pretty much the same thing. The issue with these devices is they work good for normal living conditions. When you start to increase activity it don't work as well. Heybales(a member on MFP) tested the sensors on them and they didn't work at all. We now see it as a pedometer. Just tracks your movement. Yes it can be up to 95% accurate during normal activity, if you increase your activity intensity Then it won't measure accurately.

I can't imagine how he might have tested the sensors, but I disagree with his conclusion. Did he believe they overestimated or underestimated?

crazyellybean

I wear my bodymedia about 23.5 hours a day. I usually charge and sync when I shower in the morning. But sometime I sync at night too, especially when I've worked out hard and I want to see all the graphs. It is deigned to wear all the time. If you choose to wear it only when working out, make sure it is set up for this. Mine is set up to use historical data to fill in the time it is off. I took it off for three days after a surgery and was suprised to see high calorie burns...I was able to edit it, but you can see how this could lead to false high numbers if you mostly only wore it for workouts.

I never wore and HRM. The bodymedia will track your calorie burn for workouts, but won't tell you your heartrate. If it is important for you to know this, you may still want to wear your HRM.

This was an awesome gift for you. I love, love, love mine!

Wait... I can leave it off? Can you please explain how to set it up for historical data? I've had mine for almost a month and the indentation in my arm is concerning me a little. I had seen a post from another MFP user that wore hers for like 2 years and had a permanent indentation.

I got mine on the 4th of July last year. I only take it off to sync, and to shower, and my indentation always goes away in that time. I move mine around a little on my arm, so that I can comfortably wear it all the time.

^^ Agree.. I've been siting here for about an hour with it off letting it charge.. and my indentation is gone..

honey_bee_keysha

bump!

theojt

Have the Link armband and its accurate and useful. Syncing between MFP, Bodymedia and a Withings WiFi scale all work together very nicely. Sync between the armband and my Samsung Galaxy III Android phone via Bluetooth works well also.

The only thing that does not yet work is the syncing between the mobile app on the phone and the Bodymedia website (as I recall its being worked on though).

And not that it matters all that much, but Bodymedia has different color armbands and custom vinyl overlays (hundreds) so you can tailor the appearance of the device. Battery life seems great. I give mine 10 minutes per day or so and it stays around 80%.

Happy user.

NavyMommy

I have had mine for a couple of weeks and I really like it! It took some playing around with the settings to get my TDEE where it was actually attainable but I finally got it where I'm meeting my goal every day on non workout days (+ or - 100 calories) so I can fairly accurately plan my calories for the day. I also like that I can see what deficit I am at so I can keep it at a 1000 calorie deficit. I still have a problem with the numbers between MFP and BMF but I just ignore the calories MFP gives me and focus on my BMF calorie deficit.

I have the Link because I have a smartphone and love being able to 'check in'. I probably link up about once every couple of hours. And if I feel I am not going to reach my burn for the day I run up and down the stairs a dozen times or chase my kids around for a while.

The one thing I wish it had is the ability to see the predicted burn for the day on the app. That way if I am going to be significantly over or under my burn I can adjust my calories. That's IMO the most useful feature on the activity log and I wish it was also available in the app.

It under estimates for intensity activity. I remember a few times i did low intensity cardio, and high intensity intervals and at the end of the day the calorie burn was the same.

It's good to get a general idea of TDEE. I just wouldn't rely on it when you do high intensity exercise.

Really? I disagree. I have a HRM as well and on days I exercise (usually a high intensity step class or kickboxing) I have a noticeably higher burn, and it's usually roughly equal to the burn estimate from my HRM. I also wear it when I weight train (I don't wear my HRM for that) and can tell a difference between days I do that and days I just have my normal activity.

RunConquerCelebrate

I'm glad you posted this, I was looking at getting a HRM then just heard about Bodymedia.

From what i seen quickly glancing at the promo, you have to pay a monthly fee for the website, is this right?

Would you rate this over a HRM, i like that it tracks everything and can sync with MFP.. so im just weighing up my options?

I have been using an HRM for all of my workouts for a long time and I really like it. Yes you do need to pay for a monthly fee I choose to get a yearly contract with MFP discount it was 50 dollars for the year.

KizzyDee

Hey all,
I've had my BodyMedia since July 2012, I bought it when I was doing Jenny Craig but stopped, shame on me. I recently started using it again and had my account changed so I could sync with MFP. According to the manual (page 5), "wear the armband no more than 23 hours a day. Be sure to leave it off 1 hour per day". I usually have mines off for about 3-5 hours a day, if I'm just sitting around or watching television. I also don't think it works well with intensity as I've discovered in my last workout. But I do think it's pretty reliable in tracking general activities and sleep, which it's been right on the dot for my sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I work night shift (overnight) and lately I've not been consistent with my sleep pattern. On my days off I go back to a normal schedule, I've been going to bed around 0100 (1am) and getting up at around 0830. When I've worked the night before I go to bed at 0900 and wake up around 1700 (5PM). Does anyone know if I should adjust my sleep profile for every time I work and will be going to bed at 0900 instead of 0100? Currently my sleep profile is set at 0200-1000.

evileen99

I wear my bodymedia about 23.5 hours a day. I usually charge and sync when I shower in the morning. But sometime I sync at night too, especially when I've worked out hard and I want to see all the graphs. It is deigned to wear all the time. If you choose to wear it only when working out, make sure it is set up for this. Mine is set up to use historical data to fill in the time it is off. I took it off for three days after a surgery and was suprised to see high calorie burns...I was able to edit it, but you can see how this could lead to false high numbers if you mostly only wore it for workouts.

I never wore and HRM. The bodymedia will track your calorie burn for workouts, but won't tell you your heartrate. If it is important for you to know this, you may still want to wear your HRM.

You can switch it to the other side at night, or all the time (if you change your "handedness" in the profile) to minimize any "dent." It also doesn't need to be real tight against your arm. You can also put it on your calf, or there's a poster here who puts it in her bra on her rib cage and says she gets essentially the same readings as she does on her arm.

This was an awesome gift for you. I love, love, love mine!

Wait... I can leave it off? Can you please explain how to set it up for historical data? I've had mine for almost a month and the indentation in my arm is concerning me a little. I had seen a post from another MFP user that wore hers for like 2 years and had a permanent indentation.

Debbiedebbiey

Could I ask what type of deficit you aim for ? I've had a bodybugg for 9 months & have had no luck with it. Thanks

halleymw

I like using my hrm in conjunction with the bmf. I like being able to see my hr to adjust my workout intensity. I no longer use the hrm to adjust my calories, just let the bm do that.
Mike