Is my bodymedia overestimating or am I mis-calculating??

jett254

I got a bodymedia fit band yesterday so the past 24 hours was my first day wearing it.

Based on my stats (5'1'' and 99 lbs, 35 years old) - and my experiences with my Polar heart rate monitor (I work out 6 days per week but only burn 200-350 calories for an hour long class according to the HRM) -- I have been eating 1650 calories per day. I figured that was the right amount based on the TDEE calculator (1442 for sedentary + an average of another 200 per day from exercise). However, I got the bodymedia fit because I was wondering how accurate that was and if I could/should be eating more.

Today, according to my Polar HRM, I burned 210 calories in my exercise class. I spent the day working at my computer, hanging out with my kids at home but nothing strenuous and doing some cooking.

According to the bodymedia, I burned 2109 calories! Seriously?!? Does it just take a while to adjust to my body, is it just totally over-estimating or could that actually be correct?!? I'm hoping someone has more experience to help me. During the hour class that my Polar HRM said I burned 210, the Bodymedia said I burned 240 so it wasn't far off for the workout.

Thanks in advance for the help.
Jen

p.s. My goal is just to maintain at this point obviously. I'd love to increase my calories if possible but if not, I'm fine staying at 1640. I'm just a data person and would like to have as accurate of an idea of what is going on as possible although I know everything is just an estimate.

jett254

Bump. Anyone?

evileen99

I have a BMF also, and I think it's right. If you're upright and moving around, you're burning calories. Last week I had a dinner party, and the day of the party I burned over 3000 calories. I didn't work out, but I was moving from the time I got up till the time I sat down to eat.

Look at the "calories burned" graph on the dashboard to see what you burned and when.

The reason I got the BMF was that I was eating around 1700 calories a day, but I could only do that for 2-3 days before I'd be overwhelmed by hunger and binge. When I got the BMF, I could see that I was burning WAY more calories than I thought, and the deficits were just too large. Now I eat based on what I'm burning--on low activity days I eat less, on more active days I eat more.

Ploogy

I think the BMF definitely inflates calories, and does so when in a moving vehicle.

healthyKYgirl

I found the BM to be very accurate. Like using it and tracking my food I found that I could get very close in my estimate on how much weight I would lose based on what I ate. I would wear it a couple of days though in a row. 2000 calories doesn't sound high to me if you are in maintenance mode and working out. The only thing to notice is that if you drive a lot and are wearing it, it can overestimate your burn based on your car acceleration. So do you drive around a lot?

PhotogirlTX

I think it is pretty right on target. I have had mine since first of December and it is always consistant. I have not had it inflate due to a moving car... it doesn't have GPS, so that doesn't have any effect on it. It does show when I am active. Doing housework, working out on the treadmill or elliptical. And it shows when I am sitting on the couch doing nothing.

You burn calories every minute of every day, my normal day is around 3000 calories burned. Sometimes I get more if I am really active, sometimes I get less if I am being a bum all day. I love this tool and it helps keep me motivated.

HaywireII

I've had mine for a month now and I believe that it's very accurate. I haven't noticed any spikes in activity level when I've been driving and the readings seem consistent across days of similar levels of activity. They also match well with what was predicted using some of the online tools I found while reading these forums. I was doing work in the basement bolting some 2x10's to rafters last weekend to support a Jungle Gym XT for my wife and was pleasantly surprised to see that I burned an extra 700 calories that day. Standing on a ladder and working with power drills and wrenches is much better exercise than I would have expected.

I'm actually looking forward for the first time ever to going out and shoveling snow today just to see how many calories I burn. I'm sure that the BML (and heart rate monitors, fitbit, striiv, etc) are not 100% accurate but using the calories from BodyMedia linked to MFP and basing my daily deficit on the two sites I am losing weight at the pace I set; maybe even a little faster because I have not always eaten back all of my calories. I have over 100 pounds to lose so I'm probably at a place where it's easier to drop 2 pounds a week than it is for a lot of other people but I'm definitely comfortable leaving all of my calorie calculations to the BML right now.

I'm considering a heart monitor just for the purpose of trying to get my heartrate inside an ideal target zone during cardio but even if I do get one I think I won't worry about what it says for calorie calculations.

evileen99

I've never seen an increase in calorie burn while riding in a car. Last year we went on a driving vacation and it was so demoralizing to see how low the calories burned was at the end of the day. It was 0.9 cal/minute while riding in the car.

steph1278

I have found the Body Media Fit to be very accurate. Like you, I was surprised to learn how many calories I burn on a daily basis. The Body Media also does not over inflate calories due to riding in the car. I have heard that the Fitbit has issues with counting steps/miles while driving in a car, but not the Body Media.

HaywireII

I've never seen an increase in calorie burn while riding in a car. Last year we went on a driving vacation and it was so demoralizing to see how low the calories burned was at the end of the day. It was 0.9 cal/minute while riding in the car.

You're probably much healthier to start with than someone like me. I burn just shy of 2 cal/minute sitting at my computer and working.

The BML has an accelerometer in it. I suspect that the people who see a rise in calories driving are possibly doing city driving where they stop and go a lot. Also possible that they love to punch the gas and slams the brakes which might exaggerate it. I dont' want to accuse anyone of being a bad driver though.

omma_to_3

Are you maintaining at the 1640? If you are, I would think the BMF is overestimating. If you've just started maintenance and aren't sure if 1640 is the magic number, do some experiments over the next few weeks.

jett254

Wow, thanks everyone for the very insightful replies.

I don't do a ton of driving, but all the driving I do is city driving / stop and go. I'll try to see whether it says I'm burning calories during those drives. Is there an easy way to do that - just check for the times I know I'm driving on the dashboard chart?

The whole reason I got the BMF is to see if I'm burning more than I think. I am maintaining on 1650 but I don't know if I'd also maintain on more calories and I'd prefer to have some data vs. just trying it and seeing if I gain weight. In terms of burned calories during exercise, it seems to match up very well to my polar HRM so far from my 2 days of workouts - it was within 20 calories both times. It's the amount of calories it says I'm burning running errands, cooking, etc... that really seem to be adding up.

Today, for instance, I got my kids ready for school, went to the grocery story and then went to the gym for an hour cardio class (where I burned 320-350 calories depending on HRM or BMF), and then stopped off at the farmers market. It's 11:42 AM and it says I've burned 1220 calories already. Whoa....really?

Maybe I'll just take it off while I'm driving. Will it estimate at at 0 calories during that time or something else?

jett254

p.s. I am maintaining at 1640 but I don't think I'm going to lose any additional weight (nor do I want to) no matter if I went down to 1200 calories. I feel like I'm at my lowest healthy weight possible. So the idea would be to stay at this weight and eat more if possible - I have a big appetite but also a lot of self-control and willpower....

Narisong

I agree the BMF is accurate. I have one and so does my hubby. He is now maintaining and I am going down :-) I haven't had any issues with it while being in a car - no additional steps, etc. The only time I get the additional step count is when I wear it on my leg while spinning - some people might not agree with doing this but when I wear it on my arm while spinning or biking I get no additional exercise showing.

HaywireII

Go to the dashboard and click the little upside down triangle to the left of "Calories Burned". Now you can see the nice detailed graph of calorie burn for the whole day. By the way...those 2 cal/minute I get working at the computer....it's basically the same rate I burn when I'm sleeping. Yay desk job! Also, when I roll out of bed in the morning I was at 899 calories burned since midnight. I'd be very sad if I had only burned 1200 calories by noon but I have much higher requirements than you. It sounds like yours is working fine.

Definitely play with the dashboard to try to get the most out of the data. I've customized the Calories Consumed tab to add in displays of Sodium and Cholesterol to help me track the "health food" that isn't as healthy as I'd like. Opening up the sleep tab shows you all the spots you woke up during the night. And expanding the weight tab has a nice cool graph of projected weight loss.

Every toy that I have to keep me engaged keeps me motivated. The longer I can do this withoug it feeling like work the closer it becomes to just being something I do and not something I work at.