Body Media Fit users...help!

Well, last week I had an average daily calorie surplus.....

I aim for a 250-300 calorie deficit. I only need to drop a few and I'm taking it slowly.

Hi, I've had mine 21days now and been wearing it about 23.5 hours a day the past 2weeks. My average deficit over the last 3 weeks is right around 1500....I'm not trying for that big of a deficit I'm just not hungry enough to eat all my cals. I'm looking into adding more cal dense foods to get my deficit to about 1000.

As far as how much I've lost....3lbs since getting the arm band. My biggest loss is inches though...I've lost 2inches on my waist and can get 2 buckles tighter on my belt comfortably.

I'm sure I'm not typical though cause I'm new to this and I'm still trying to work my diet out.

I am addicted to my armband though...I feel nekid without it..lol

Tim

Be warned. BMF uses the Harris-Benedict Equation for calculations, which can grossly inflate its estimation of your BMR, leading to an overestimation of your burned calories. Please see Haybales' excel spreadsheet to adjust the numbers to more accurate ones (assuming you have your BF%, which you should as it is essential to determining a proper BMR value).

I do not have a BodyMedia Fit, but have been dreaming about the possibility that one day I might get one. Before I spend money on a gadget that may or may not help motivate me, I'd like to learn more about it.

Are you saying that there is a way to adjust the readings in the BMF?
Or are you saying to use the calories from heybales spreadsheet in place of the BMF?

Curious since I already use heybales spreadsheet. Also, if the BMF (and Fitbit) can't accurately give calories burned while lifting weights and can't calculate a correct BMR, then what good is it?

I have been using mine since the end of January, and have lost about 8 pounds. I have been maintaining an average of 800 - 1000 calorie deficit.

I've had my BMF since mid-January. My weight loss has tracked very closely with my caloric deficit (ie, when I average 750 calorie/day deficit for the week, my weight loss is within .2 pounds of 1.5 pounds). My goal is 750/day, but my schedule varies, and I had a stretch with many large formal dinners for work, in which I average deficit was much less, and my weight loss, too. Then I had a stretch of 900 calorie/day deficit for a couple of weeks, and I was within .2 pounds of what you would expect, 1.8 pounds/week.

So, for me, at least, it's been extremely accurate.

I think how you use it can make a difference. So, here's what I do:
I linked MFP and BMF so they talk to each other.

I set MFP activity level to sedentary, so it assumes no exercise (my BMF adjustment, then, comes out quite large - often ~2000 calories, because I'm not sedentary - but wednesdays and thursdays I'm pretty close, and I found otherwise I ended up with a surplus according to BMF, while at my goal in MFP on those days)

I wear the armband all day every day, taking it off to charge in the morning while I do morning chores and shower, and during my post-workout shower. This keeps me a bit above the recommended 23 hours a day, but works well. Eventually I'd like to get a Zeo sleep monitor, and then I'd wear the BM during morning chores and charge while sleeping. But I'm very limited in funds...

I sync the armband several minutes before each meal (it sometimes takes a while to sync between MFP and BMF, and if you work out in the morning, MFP seems to assume your calorie burn will continue to be high throughout the day, and then you overeat in the evening trying to get UP to your goal - that can be frustrating - by syncing at those times, and particularly before dinner, you know the right amount to eat)

I track _everything_ I eat every day in MFP, as accurately as I can manage

I weigh myself after my morning shower every morning, with my scale that measures weight, body fat%, skeletal muscle %, and "visceral fat" (though that last one I only have a vague understanding of from the manual of what it is, and don't really know what to do to effect change in it, or even what the units are...). It reports a few other things, but they're all actually calculations that MFP and BMF do themselves. However, I don't track the daily measurements, because they can all fluctuate quite a bit daily. Instead, each sunday I calculate the average of each measurement, and track that. When I do, I update my weight in both BMF and MFP, so BMF can accurately track. If you don't update, and loose much weight, I think you'll find your weight loss getting ever slower, because you burn fewer calories when you're maintaining and moving less weight. Updating it regularly helps it track accurately.

So, for me, anyway, with that setup, it's been exceptionally accurate and very helpful in my process.

I have had mine for over a year ( probably two ) I don't wear it as much as I used to. I used to "chase" the calorie burn it told me when I first got it, but that became annoying very quickly. I switched to just going by the average burn for the week. It has worked great for me, in both gaining and losing. My average deficit is from 500 to 700.

Some people do have weird things happen with it, like huge spikes in calorie burn while driving.