Fitbit, HRM, Bodymedia Fit 30 Day Comparison

potluck965

Thanks very much for the research and posting about it. I'm sorry you could not continue with the BodyMedia.

I can't compare the two because I have only bought the BodyMedia. I was afraid with my lifestyle that I would wreck the FitBit in a short time so I didn't go with it. I just knew if I didn't drop it in the barn I would run it through the wash and ruin it.

Anyway, I have had the BodyMedia for three days now and love it. I have the Core with display. It syncs with MFP with no problems and I really like the activity manager.

I needed to fine tune my life and this is a really great tool for it.

It's all about accountability and this makes it much easier for me to see what is going on.

Michelle7897

Sorry it came out in a jumbled mess! I am trying to redo it so it is readable, lol. Sorry for the repeated post if this didn't help.

I am sorry to say I will not be able to complete the 30 comparison after all. I sent my Bodymedia Fit back today. I wore it for a week but I developed a blister on my arm and my entire left arm has hurt for several days. I think it is because of my Amniotic Band Syndrome though. My left arm is super sensitive to everything. Here are my results after one week with the Fitbit Ultra and the Bodymedia Fit.

Bodymedia:
Day________________Steps____________Calories Burned___________Deficit
Wednesday__________11,561_______________2,235________________814
Thursday_____________6,675_______________2,250________________766
Friday_______________9,929_______________2,257_________________911
Saturday_____________7,432_______________2,246_________________921
Sunday______________3,169_______________1,803_________________530
Monday______________5,709_______________1,937_________________670
Tuesday______________7,446_______________2,204_______________1,173

Total steps: 51,921____________________Average steps: 7,417
Total calorie deficit: 5,785_______________Average deficit: 827
Total calories burned: 14,932____________Average calories burned: 2,135
Expected weight loss: 1.65 pounds

Fitbit:
Day________________Steps_____________Calories Burned_________Deficit
Wednesday_________11,874________________2,301_______________879
Thursday___________11,796________________2,416_______________931
Friday______________9,554________________2,144________________797
Saturday____________8,143________________2,201________________875
Sunday_____________4,480________________2,013________________740
Monday_____________5,949________________1,947________________679
Tuesday____________7,661_________________2,136_______________1,104

Total steps: 59,457_________________Average steps: 8,494
Total calorie deficit: 6,005____________Average deficit: 858
Total calories burned: 15,158_________Average calories burned: 2,163
Expected weight loss: 1.71 pounds

Starting weight: 151
Ending weight: 149.4
Actual weight loss: 1.6 pounds

My numbers were really close so my personal belief is that both devices are pretty accurate. I think it is just a matter of personal preference as to which is better. I like the dashboard and the reports on the BMF site best but I like the comfort and ease of Fitbit. I upgraded to a Fitbit One today after sending my Bodymedia Fit back.

maybemarina

I feel pretty certain the heart rate monitor is way too high....

I have had a feeling that was the same case here with me, but I was unsure! This definitely helps me as I am getting similar discrepencies between my Garmin FR70 HRM and my BMF.

Thank you for all your hard work in making these comparisons -:flowerforyou: Greatly appreciated!

elpiper

i admire the work you've put in to compare them! I wasn't finding that my fitbit was making me feel motivated. I am much happier with the BMF

aleggett321

I'm two days into a comparison of the fitbit one and the bodymedia link. I've had the BML for several weeks. Love it but its getting to be short sleeve weather and I have to admit the medical device look makes me self conscious. Yesterday I wore the FB1 attached to the center of my bra, the BML on my left arm. At the end of the day, the FB1 showed about 400 steps more, the BML showed about 120 cal more burned. Today I moved the FB1 to the arm strap of the BML. At days end the FB1 showed about 700 extra steps taken but the calories burned were within 8 calories of each other.
I have to say that I greatly prefer the dashboard of the bodymedia program, as well as the interface with my iPad. Is it worth several dollars more a month? I'm not sure yet. If anyone is interested, I will post a couple of updates as my comparison continues.

chellebublz

Just a hint for those worried about the BMF on your arm, if you're a female, you can tuck into your bra as long as the censors are touching your skin it will work just the same as if you wear it in the armband on your arm. Just make sure its a form fitting bra and not too loose. I've done it a few times.

Michelle7897

I am glad that several people have found this helpful. This week I am going to compare my numbers between Fitbit and my Polar heart rate monitor during exercise. I want to see which numbers match up closest to my weight change for the week.

I agree that Bodymedia has a better dashboard design. I don't like that you must have a subscription to use the Bodymedia device. I think it should be included, at least some data like with Fitbit, given the cost of the device. Fitbit is currently redesigning their dashboard and hopefully it will be better. It is not awful, it is just not as good as Bodymedia in my opinion.

I ask the Bodymedia customer service about alternatives to wearing the sensor because of the problems I was having with wearing it on my arm. I was told that while they are aware many wear it on their leg while cycling, in their bra, or on their right arm it would not be accurate. It was tested and developed specifically for use on the left arm only.

aleggett321

I found the BM sensor to not be very accurate when worn in my bra. It measured total activity, steps taken and total calories burned much lower than when worn on my left arm.

SlvrBluGoddess

bump

LawRahB

Bump. Thanks!

Michelle7897

Today I ran wearing my Polar H7 heart rate monitor and my Fitbit One. I used the Digifit app on my iPod with my H7 strap. I am starting to think maybe the reason my HRM was so far off from my Fitbit before was because the Fitbit Ultra needed to be replaced. In the interest of full disclosure I must admit I dropped my Fitbit into the water a couple of months ago, so I am lucky it was still working at all since it is not waterproof. My new Fitbit One seems very accurate on both steps and calories burned.

Today's comparison:
Ran 63 minutes, 5 miles
Fitbit calories burned ~ 587
Digifit with H7 HRM calories burned ~ 580

rodow

bump

carmi_m

thank you for taking the time to post your experiment. You nearly answered all my queries! I have the BMF and was contemplating purchasing a HRM. I am wondering if anyone has used the garmin that will sync with the BMF? I would prefer the Polar that can be used swimming but thought it might be more convenient to have everything downloaded into one system. Now if they only had some sort of tazer device int here to zap me to remind me to keep moving!

paulperryman

Before I get into my results from today, I just found a feature on the BMF dashboard that I love. You can create a printable four page summary report of all your data customizable by time or a detailed food report.

Okay, so I walked/jogged in place for 60 minutes wearing my Polar h7 heart rate monitor chest strap. It has bluetooth and can sync to multiple things at the same time. A Polar customer service rep said that would not affect its accuracy. All of the numbers below were taken at the same time during the same workout using the same chest strap, which is supposed to be the most accurate.

After 60 minutes:
My Polar FT60 watch said I had burned 529 calories.
My Polar Beat app (same company as the watch & chest strap) said I had burned 613 calories.
My Digifit app said I had burned 564 calories.

I was surprised to see the numbers were not closer together, especially the Polar watch & Polar Beat app since they were both made by the same company as the chest strap.

I must say I didn't feel as though I burned that much, certainly not 613! I was still able to sing along with the music on my playlist for over half the time, although poorly and missing a few words here and there.

I also set the timer on my Fitbit and used the workout log on my Bodymedia Fit app during this time. Here are the numbers from them:

My Fitbit said I burned 423 calories and my total calories burned for the day was 1554. It gave me 2242 for my TDEE estimate for the day.
My BMF said I burned 419 calories and my total calories burned for the day at that point was 1542. It gave me 2393 for my TDEE estimate for the day.

I feel pretty certain the heart rate monitor is way too high. I have been entering the number my HRM gives on myfitnesspal and sometimes eating part of my calories back. I think this might be where my problem was. I think I may have been over estimating my burn, which meant my calorie deficit would have been much smaller than I thought. Some days I was very close I probably ate more than I burned without realizing it. I believe I will learn a lot in 30 days from my little experiment. Would anyone be interested in me updating this throughout the next few weeks?

I'm not surprised by the HRM results but this is the first time I've seen a Fitbit and BMF comparison. I don't use Fitbit but it is nice to see that BMF and Fitbit gave similar numbers.

I think the HRM will give more accurate results to people who have been pushing their cardiovascular system on a regular basis. Since the HRM doesn't know the cardiovascular ability of the person using it, it must use an 'average' in their calculation. Even if we input a weight, a person can be very overweight and have great cardiovascular ability, or skinny and unable to run a minute.

Thanks for posting your results. I'd be interested in seeing other results you get. It almost makes me want to get a Fitbit myself to compare various activities.

replying to an old thread but the FT60 and higher models register Vo2 which is what the professional testers use to determine your oxygen mix and thus how efficient your cardiovascular is but the Polar HRM's do it based on the resting heart rate, don't know how it does that without actually measuring your breath but on mine my VO2 tests i do the morning following a rest day have risen from 40-47 which is considered getting fit range and it then takes that and determines what your Heart Rate Zones are for efficient fat/caloric burns based on the current heart rate..

just out of interest i had a FT7 and now i have a FT60 and i used both of them to do a base 24hr test of my probably 24hr TDEE on a rest day (ie normal day not including intentional exercise) the latest one on the FT60 came up with 2800 calories, with an obvious margin of error, that would be above very active by MFP's TDEE activity levels not including going to the gym where i burn an average of 10-15 calories a minute doing cardio and 5-10 doing resistance/weights in 60 min sessions 5 days a week.

my job is a Storeman/Forkilift Driver in a very busy production/export warehouse.