Fitbit vs Bodymedia

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  • GailWool
    GailWool Posts: 1
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    Here's a recent NY Times article that talks about fitbit and other devices. (It's also how I learned about MyFitnessPal!)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/garden/devices-to-monitor-physical-activity-and-food-intake.html
  • lisab0864
    lisab0864 Posts: 154
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    1st day wearing and wore it attached to my bra. Not happy w/the results but hoping tomorrows will be better (will wear on pants).

    BMF as of 6pm:
    2647 cals burned (3021 estimate @ end of day)
    5:02 moderate activity
    51 mins vigorous
    13304 steps

    Fitbit (also as of 6pm):
    1731 cals burned (2155 estimate @ end of day) 866 cals less (days end) than BMF
    1:19 lightly active, 2:50 fairly active - 4:09 total (53 minutes less than BMF)
    33 minutes very active (19 minutes less than BMF)
    12450 steps (854 steps less)

    Pretty confident that my BMF is accurate -- at least what the calorie count is (and that is the important part). I've used it for 2 years and my (monthly) weight loss was always w/in .2 pounds of what the calorie deficit worked out to. I maintained w/an approximate 150 daily calorie deficit (attribute that to my less vigilant food tracking).
  • heymirth
    heymirth Posts: 448
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    I love my BodyFit and did the research before I bought it. It is supposedly more accurate the the Fitbit. The sync with MFP is great too, no problems at all so far. The battery lasts long and you can hardly notice it on my arm
  • AEFidgets
    AEFidgets Posts: 243
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    I love my Body Media, I have the core. Honestly I don't notice the armband at all and I wear short sleaves. No one has ever asked about it or commented on it.
  • Fat_Bottomed_Girl
    Fat_Bottomed_Girl Posts: 354 Member
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    I have been using the Bodymedia for a week or so now. I LOVE it. I came so close to NOT purchasing it due to the fact that I have had two Bodybuggs over the past three years and they BOTH sucked. I took a gamble and feel like I finally won with this one! :)
  • pamperedbecky
    pamperedbecky Posts: 14 Member
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    I was glad to come across this thread because I've been spending (wasting - ha!) a lot of time researching FitBit, BodyBugg and BodyMedia devices. Sounds like the BodyMedia one is the most current version of the BodyBugg, right?

    I will keep checking to see what people post about comparing more than one while wearing both. That's very helpful. What I'd like most is it calculating calories burned and it sounds like the BodyMedia one is the most accurate with that. I need to look at prices again to compare. Last I looked, I was just looking at BodyBugg vs. FitBit. I just don't like the idea of the fee. :(
  • lisab0864
    lisab0864 Posts: 154
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    Well I still plan on giving up my BMF at the end of the week but............................I will not be using the FitBit as anything more than a pedometer (thankfully I didn't spend much more for it than the pedometer I lost last year when I tried to give up my BMF)... It regularly records almost 40% less calories than the BMF records. Even after manually adding in my daily activities that do not require much leg movement or does have leg movement but has lots of other movements and/or are carrying heavy weight - the closest I could get the calories to read is just under 20% less. 20% probably would have been an acceptable number to me but not w/all the added logging it required (who wants to remember what time they did what or for how long each day). Setting MFP to "very active" and adding in exercise is far more accurate compared to the FitBit for me. If by the end of summer (when the new BodyMedia Fit Core2 is scheduled to come out) I still "need" it, I will be purchasing another BMF..

    I don't mean to offend anyone who loves the FitBit -- I'm just saying that it isn't for me...
  • MaggieSporleder
    MaggieSporleder Posts: 428 Member
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    I think you have to pay for the use of the website with the body media, where the fit bit is all free.
  • Louder4
    Louder4 Posts: 57 Member
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    Bump, does anyone love their Fitbit?
  • celebrity328
    celebrity328 Posts: 377 Member
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    I have a body bugg and dont like paying $7 a month just to load my info into a site... but I have discovered I am eating way to few calories and know what my average calorie burn for a day is at rest/work out days.

    I bought the BB a year ago and stop using it... putting it back on a month ago I realized how much weight I had really lost in my arms. I am able to keep it hidden most days ;) however some people have noticed a bump in my shirt/arm and asked me whats wrong... lol only thing I dont like about the arm bands, but if thats the only real down fall I guess I can live with it :)
  • neverwhich
    neverwhich Posts: 9
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    I have a BodyMedia and I love it. Only... I wear it tucked into the side panel of my bra (sensors flat against the side of my ribcage) rather than on my arm. In the beginning I wore it on my arm, but I found that the numbers were close to identical wearing it on my side. It's a lot less noticeable/intrusive in my bra. :-)

    I've had my BMF since March of 2012. It helped me stay on track to lose my last ten pounds, and I've been successfully using it for maintenance since June now.

    What a brilliant idea! Will have to try that, sometime!
    I've had my BMF Core for just shy of a year. I can't say it's done a lot for my weight loss, but it certainly does make me more aware of my activity level and quantity of sleep (though I'm not convinced it's entirely accurate on that front; I sleep slightly elevated due to various health issues, and the BMF consistently thinks I wake up for hours at a shot in the middle of the night. I don't). Even when I was blowing off my healthier lifestyle, I kept wearing it and updating the site, for pedometer and sleep data alone. I just "upgraded" to the Link (not sure if that was a wise choice, yet; thought it'd work with my Panasonic Viera TV for workouts and on-screen updates, but now it looks like that's a no-go), because Costco is having a deal where you get the site free for 12 months. The Core came with 6, when I got it there last February. Standard free trial if you buy it through BMF directly is 3 months.
    I don't know what's accurate, but I do know that the BMF numbers seem a lot more realistic than what various cardio machines have told me. The one thing you should know is that it barely works if you do a stationary bike workout. I mean, it WORKS, but it doesn't register that you're exercising. Kinda frustrating. I've learned that if that's going to be my workout, I need to take the armband off for an hour, then update the off-body data with my bike ride.
    I really do forget it's on my arm most of the time. The Link is significantly larger than the Core; we'll see if that makes it more obtrusive, but I love that bra trick! That sounds fantastic! :-)
  • AmyRose2010
    AmyRose2010 Posts: 26
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    Thanks for posting this question. I'm also in the market and appreciate the feedback so far. Keep the recommendations coming!
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
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    I have a fitbit 1. It's a good pedometer. I find that it isn't accurate at all when clipped on my bra. Much more accurate when clipped on my pant pocket. Calories burned are all day - based on a formula, so I'm not thrilled with the accuracy. fitbit recommends less calories than MFP, so syncing gives you - exercise calories. I don't track sleep with it.

    Would I buy it again. If I was looking for an accurate pedometer - yes. If I were looking for the complete package - no.
  • fritostyle
    fritostyle Posts: 27
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    bump
  • ashleab37
    ashleab37 Posts: 575 Member
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    Bump to read later
  • blablues
    blablues Posts: 37 Member
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    I've been using the Fitbit since July. It's nice as a pedometer, but the calories are too low so I wouldn't use it for calorie counting. I've been using an HRM to track the calories burned in workouts - especially for weights or yoga workouts where you are burning calories and getting your heartrate up, but not moving your feet much. The Fitbit does help me figure out how many miles I run in my gym's indoor track based on the running stride I figured out when I was running outdoors and used a GPS to track miles. It is also useful to see activity level for any extra walking I do. The biggest problem with the Fitbit is that it's just so easy to lose. I've lost 3 Fitbits (2 Fitbit Ultras and 1 Fitbit Zip) in the past 6 months. I lost one Ultra, washed the second Ultra, and just lost the Zip. The good news with the Zip is that they provide one free replacement, so hopefully I'll be getting a new one soon; the ultra they offered to replace with a Fitbit One at 50% cost.

    As for the BodyMedia - after I lost my latest Fitbit I started looking around at other options and decided to get the BodyMedia Link. I've had it for just a couple of days now, and I do like it. I compared the calories during my run this morning to my HRM and the BodyMedia was 50 calories less. I actually think the BodyMedia is more accurate since my latest HRM has been calculating calories higher than my last HRM and also higher than online calculators based on average heart rate. I also like that the bodymedia link syncs with my Android so I don't have to wait until I get home to see how many calories I'm burning. The downsides are the monthly $7 fee (which is just ridiculous to me to have any fee when so many websites provide this information for free), and it seems to overestimate calories burned while I'm driving. I might try that bra track to see if it fixes that.

    Overall, even with the monthly fee, I think the bodymedia is winning so far. I'm also happy to see that they are doing a more upgraded bodymedia in the future that integrates an HRM, then I can pretty much reduce my fitness gadgets to just one. :)
  • 2gabbee
    2gabbee Posts: 382 Member
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    Bump to compare info. Hearing Nike is coming out with wrist one also.
  • FaithMasters
    FaithMasters Posts: 1 Member
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    I've had 2 Body Media Fit's (older one, then newer one). I hated the visible band for work. Even with a sweater you can still see it.
    I picked up a FitBit and wore both together for a couple weeks to see how accurate the FitBit would be. In most cases the FitBit was within 80-100 calories (on the low side).
    I figured the worst that happened was I estimated a tad on the low side and got my butt moving to burn a few more calories. I promptly ditched my Body Media.
    No monthly fee for the FitBit and it interfaces with all kinds of apps. Picked up the Aria scale, as well. Haven't looked back.
  • CdnArtyWife
    CdnArtyWife Posts: 9
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    I have the BodyMedia and I love it. I thought wearing it on my arm would bug me but I forget it's even there. Its pretty accurate when measuring my activity.

    I've forgotten mine is there so much that I even stepped in the shower with it still on once!

    I don't find it bulky and no one has noticed it under my shirt sleeve yet...or if they did, they haven't asked me about it.

    I wear sleeveless tops when at the gym (both running and weight-lifting) and even the other gym members (all military folk) haven't said anything about it.

    It is insanely accurate, and I really feel I've finally got the "edge" on this "Cals in < Cals out" thing.
  • gennafer731
    gennafer731 Posts: 27 Member
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    I had the bodybugg last year when I started trying to lose weight. I didn't like it much, the website was a pain. Ionly used it with the display to see my burn numbers.

    I got the Jawbone Up a few months ago and I think it works like the Fitbit. It tracks activity level, steps, sleep. It has an iPhone app to sync to. You wear it on your arm like a bracelet. It's a bit bulky but it doesn't stick out like the bodybugg and it is pretty easy to wear all the time, Only issue is you have to press the button when you sleep which I always forget to do.

    I just got the new body media Core, which is made by the same people as bodybugg and is essentially the same thing as the previous bodybuggs but it also tracks sleep. The big plus to the Core is that is smaller, it uses a totaly different website and syncing program that is soooo much better than the apex/bodybugg site. Also you can connect myfitnesspal to the bodymedia site so you don't even have to remember to log your workouts. Sometimes if I don't want people to see my armband I put it on my calf if I'm wearing jeans, or I saw someone said they wear theirs in their bra (against their ribs) which is a great idea. There is a monthly fee for the website use but you get 6 months free when you buy one new.

    In my opinion the Core wins for being the most accurate measurement along with being able to link myfitnesspal so I don't have to log anything twice.

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