Is body media working for you?

tigerblue

I've just joined the group since I will be getting body media link soon and I need feedback.

Is this working for you for maintenance or small loss? I need to lose about 5 lbs I have gained while trying to maintain and I want to then maintain again. I'm hoping this will help.

mgmlap

I have had mine for about 10 days. I only have about 10 pounds to lose..and yes..its working. I like how it tells me exactly what my daily burn is..so I ensure that I have a calorie deficit so I can lose.

ElizabethRaeBarnes

I have had mine for 2 months and love it. I have consistently lost weight. I am at a plateau now and changing my diet to finish my weight loss.

I like the body media because it tells me how much sleep have had and shows me how much I need. I always eat more when I dont get sleep.

It helps me track how much I have burned. I really had no idea before buying it. haha.

lisab0864

I've had mine for 2+ years -- the first 3 months were while I was still losing and the rest of the time has been at maintenance. My 3 month average daily deficit was about 700 cals (lost just over 12 pounds during that time). Now I try to maintain a deficit of 150-250 daily average -- mostly cuz I don't log my food as religiously.. It's been working -- I'm still (just below) goal weight.

tigerblue

Thanks!

I've been struggling with my numbers for maintenance, so it is hard for me to trust the numbers. I'm hoping this will give me an accurate count for MY BODY since the calculators don't seem to be accurate for me.

tahinilove

I'm the same! Still unsure whether to trust mine so hearing others perspectives is great!

dmw45

oh lol i answered this with a long post about how awesome it is but i cant read. you wanted to know about maintenence. I cant delete the post so I'll just say that I seem to be getting really accurate numbers even though im still trying to lose 2lbs a month.

saxygirl79

It is and isn't. I've been using my Link since Feb...I've only managed to drop 10 lbs since then. My average deficit is roughly 800-900, my burn is higher than my target all the time and I have my calories set at 1375 and am hitting it everyday. I was at 1200 calories and that was before I would work out, so my net would be much less. My net is still below 1375 after all my activity and everything is calculated - should I be eating even more?? I'm really struggling - I've lost 95 lbs so far and am only losing oz to maybe 1 lb a week.

This last week I even started to really eat low carb at least 2 days a week to help but I only managed to drop .5. Any help would be appreciated. I'm also trying to stick to 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein but that's been proving difficult for me as well. I'm just a mess!! LOL!

dmw45

Im not too worried about my target, i just check my numbers all day, workout at least a little every day, and leave a 1,000 calorie deficit daily which would give me a 2lbs avg loss per week if I stuck to it religiously. (I'm pretty good but not always. I've been losing an avg of 1.7lbs a week) If i want to eat more, I exercise more so I can maintain that 1,000 calorie deficit each day. Realistically, I burn about 2500 a day and eat an average of about 1500 calories a day. Which makes me much happier than the 1200 you get on most every diet. The BMF is totally working for me because I'm never starving so I stick to it.

tahinilove

It is and isn't. I've been using my Link since Feb...I've only managed to drop 10 lbs since then. My average deficit is roughly 800-900, my burn is higher than my target all the time and I have my calories set at 1375 and am hitting it everyday. I was at 1200 calories and that was before I would work out, so my net would be much less. My net is still below 1375 after all my activity and everything is calculated - should I be eating even more?? I'm really struggling - I've lost 95 lbs so far and am only losing oz to maybe 1 lb a week.

This last week I even started to really eat low carb at least 2 days a week to help but I only managed to drop .5. Any help would be appreciated. I'm also trying to stick to 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein but that's been proving difficult for me as well. I'm just a mess!! LOL!

Hi,

Yes i probably think that is too low. Your bmr is probably higher than 1375 to be honest! 1000 calories ( i personally feel) is too high a deficit. It might take more time, but around 500 would be better for your body and metabolism imho!

Also the low carb loss is likely just glycogen/water weight. You dont need to be low carb to lose weight.

Hope that helps and you continue to progress!

tigerblue

It is and isn't. I've been using my Link since Feb...I've only managed to drop 10 lbs since then. My average deficit is roughly 800-900, my burn is higher than my target all the time and I have my calories set at 1375 and am hitting it everyday. I was at 1200 calories and that was before I would work out, so my net would be much less. My net is still below 1375 after all my activity and everything is calculated - should I be eating even more?? I'm really struggling - I've lost 95 lbs so far and am only losing oz to maybe 1 lb a week.

This last week I even started to really eat low carb at least 2 days a week to help but I only managed to drop .5. Any help would be appreciated. I'm also trying to stick to 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein but that's been proving difficult for me as well. I'm just a mess!! LOL!

10 lbs since February is actually pretty good! I'd say it is working.

lethomp

Mine works great. Been using it since the beginning of the year and I've lost 50 pounds, still going. I track my food religiously and I maintain a fairly high deficit, thanks to my recent Y membership. This site and the activity, along with the BodyMedia, has really opened my eyes and I'm a lot careful about what I eat. I've gotten to where I know what kind of sustained daily deficit I need to get things moving again, and when I'm probably going to stay where I am. I've found the key is not to reduce intake drastically to bring about a large deficit, but to still eat so you're satisfied (good things) and ramp up the activity on a consistent basis.

I could maybe have done this without the BodyMedia, but I wouldn't want to. And it probably would've taken longer while I tried to incorrectly estimate my calorie burn for the day and during activities.

WannaBLoser2013

I am losing weight. Ever since I bought the bodymedia link armband my progress has been steady and I am working out less. Before I had the bodymedia armband I was killing myself at the gym burning calories like crazy and that made me extremely hungry, some days I couldn't help myself and I really needed to eat back my exercise calories. What happened is that my metabolism had gone up and I was already burning tons of calories without exercising and I didnt know it. I was going by what the calculators on myfitness pal and other websites suggest for my height and weight, but those things dont take into account your muscles, etc.
According to most BMR calculators at my weight and height and taking into account my activity level I should be burning 1800-1900 calories a day (just living), but I found out that I burn around 2200-2500 calories a day when I dont exercise, so I was going to the gym and exercising enough to burn 1000 calories on top of that and some days even more, and I wasnt eating enough (even though I was eating 1900 calories some days) and yes, I was losing weight at the beginning, but soon enough my body thought I was out to kill him and stopped losing.
Now I exercise less and I can easily eat less, because my body is not constantly asking me to feed him because I am not burning like crazy, and I am not kidding you I am losing at least 1 pound per week when no more.
In conclusion I love my bodymedia link armband and I think it works wonders :-)

volume77

Bumping

katevarner

I used mine to lose the last 23 lbs. in about 7 months last year and have continued to use it to maintain since October. I try to stay within about 100 calories of my burn every day, and while my weight has fluctuated up and down a couple of pounds, I have remained pretty steady--I weighed 111 on 10/1/12 and this morning I weighed 110.7.

amtzfamly

My wife and I purchased BodyMedia back in March. It helped alot when trying to figure out how many calories you burned. With MFP app, it helped drop the pounds easier. So far we've lost 20lbs ea. and are still working on losing more.

ssdivot

I had a bodymedia fit a couple of years ago and broke it, but it did work while I had it. I just got a Bodymedia Link, as I travel a lot for work and wanted to be able to upload on the road without having to carry my monster laptop with me. While I find it hard to trust the numbers, I decided to just eat 1000 less than what it says I'm burning per day, but not lower than 1700 average. If i sit around doing nothing all day I burn 2200. If I get my 10000 step goal in a day I burn around 2700-2800. I just completed my first full week using the armband and had almost exactly a 7000 calorie deficit for the week. I lost 1.5 lbs. I was traveling all last week and the sodium levels were off the charts too lol. Because of weight loss not being linear (mine seems to go in spurts) it will take a few months for me to see if it averages out to 2 lbs a week. I think it will though.

I love how the bodymedia now links with MFP. That truly is awesome. One thing that does not seem very accurate so far is the bodymedia's "estimated burn" that it gives you for the rest of the day. Today I went for a 4 mile hilly walk in the morning and now MFP is telling me that I should eat 2460 calories total because the Bodymedia Fit is estimating my total burn today to be 3400. That is too high as I don't plan on doing much the rest of the day. I've seen this before and it will readjust as the day goes on and get more accurate as I upload more data. I know the total will actually end up being 2800 to 2900 calories. I just use any "extra calories" over the 1700 the next day or later in the week ( i go by weekly calories) instead of using the "prediction" the day of.

Often it is hard to get my armband to upload using my phone..I can link the armband to the phone just fine, and see my data, but I hit upload and it sometimes keeps saying "armband upload failed". I have the app on my android tablet as well and usually can upload from there fairly easily but using the tablet requires wifi.

debaloo

I'm new to using the BodyMedia. I have had been wearing it for exactly 2 weeks and have lost 4.2lbs so far. I have noticed some things that I am curious about. If you have any perspective on this please reply.

- I took a 4 hour drive last week and it showed moderate activity the whole time I was driving. I may have been my biggest burn day yet. Anybody have this experience?

- Before I had the armband the elliptical at the gym would show that I burned 300 calories in 30 minutes and MFP has this number as the default calorie burn for 30 minutes also. I need to work out for 45 minutes to get to 300 calories on the armband. Would you say that the armband is most accurate? It's just such a big difference.

lisab0864

My BMF hasn't recorded any activity while in a car but I have heard of people having that issue. The one time I rode on the motorcycle w/my hubby the BMF actually recorded some vigorous activity but I figured it's cuz I really don't like being a passenger on motorbikes. It will however record activity (and steps) when I'm on the tractor but...........................my calories burned seemed to be accurate (based on what my weight did during haying season).
As far as the elliptical goes, my elliptical (and MFP) always credit me w/much higher numbers than my BMF. My heart rate monitor credits me w/slightly higher numbers than my BMF. On the day that I wrote everything down for my 54 minutes of exercise, my elliptical said I burned 532 calories, BMF said 522, HR monitor said 280, and BMF said 201. I use (record on MFP) my numbers from my HR monitor but allow the BMF to make any (positive or negative) adjustments to my day. Based on my 2+ years experience, I think over the course of your daily burn, the BMF is the most accurate.

tigerblue

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful. I've been wearing my BMF for two weeks now and keeping a deficit of around 500 cals. I haven't lost any weight, have maybe gained less than a lb, but it's TOM so who knows! I think my metabolism has been suppressed because I lost weight over the course of one year eating net 1200 cals and then continued netting no more than 1400 cals, usually closer to 1300, for another couple of years. Then I started gaining on those numbers. Well, My BMF says I burn around 2300 cals daily, so it would make sense that my metabolism has adapted and lowered.

Hearing so many of you having success with BMF helps me to trust it even though I'm not yet losing again. I am slowly upping my intake to reset my metabolism. I don't think I could trust this if I were not reading that the device seems accurate for lots of folks!

On a happy note-I'm not so hungry anymore since I'm eating more! Hope everything continues to stabilize for me!

Also, who knew that shopping and trying on clothes upped my burn soooo much and counts as moderate exercise?? Woooo-hoooo!

debaloo

My BMF hasn't recorded any activity while in a car but I have heard of people having that issue. The one time I rode on the motorcycle w/my hubby the BMF actually recorded some vigorous activity but I figured it's cuz I really don't like being a passenger on motorbikes. It will however record activity (and steps) when I'm on the tractor but...........................my calories burned seemed to be accurate (based on what my weight did during haying season).
As far as the elliptical goes, my elliptical (and MFP) always credit me w/much higher numbers than my BMF. My heart rate monitor credits me w/slightly higher numbers than my BMF. On the day that I wrote everything down for my 54 minutes of exercise, my elliptical said I burned 532 calories, BMF said 522, HR monitor said 280, and BMF said 201. I use (record on MFP) my numbers from my HR monitor but allow the BMF to make any (positive or negative) adjustments to my day. Based on my 2+ years experience, I think over the course of your daily burn, the BMF is the most accurate.

This was very helpful. Thank you. The fact that you have over 2 years of experience and used different devices, is comforting. I wondered how accurate it was in these different situations and even though it throws up weird numbers sometimes, it seems to be accurate overall. Getting that odd reading in the car threw everything into question for me.