BodyMedia FIT LINK Armband - is it worth it?

Have you tried striiv? It's free, and might put off the gadget need for at least a week or two.
Some other mfp'ers and I race and compete against each day for steps. Having other people to compete against in real time helps keep me going. No arm band, so I usually just try to keep my phone in my pocket.

I have one and I absolutely LOVE it. I wore it for about 4 months straight after I bought it about a year and a half ago, and then fell off the wagon after a long chest-cold that knocked me off my workout routine. I wore it off and on for a bit after that, and finally found it again after our move into our new (old) house. I've been wearing it constantly ever since. Frankly, it's so addicting that I actually hate taking it off to charge / sync it, or when I need to "dress up" and don't want the outline of it to show under my sleeve.

Because it syncs to your phone with a push of it's little button, you can get instant feedback on any activity you're doing or give you a running total for the day if you're counting calories and want to know where you are BEFORE your workout or meal. The newest obsession I have with it is looking at my sleep cycle. I work a very demanding, long-houred, job and then I come home and toss and turn at night. Clearly, this doesn't help with my weight loss or energy...so for the past few weeks I've been checking my sleeping patterns and have found that I come out of sleep (usually tossing one way or the other in bed, etc) up to 19 (NINTEEN!!!!!!) times a night. Not good considering I rarely get over 7 hours a night, and often less.

So yes, it's an awesome gadget, and it really, honest-to-goodness, works (I'm not getting paid to say that!). I paid $249 for mine...if you can get it for $100, it's a steal!

I LOVE mine. I wear it all the time. It's SO motivating knowing what you're burning, and I can vouch for it being pretty accurate for me at least. Last week I went to have a DEXA scan done. It calculated my RMR at 1790 calories. The day before, I had stayed in bed and only gotten up for the toilet and water as I was unwell, and my BMF told me 1900 calories. Fantastic accuracy, amazing tool.

Will this help


For anyone interested, Body Media is currently selling the Link armband on Amazon for $99. This is the lowest price it has ever been - at least on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049POHK6/ref=ox_sc_imb_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


I'm jealous. In the UK we can only use the older Advantage model and its 127 POUNDS with only 1 month membership!!!

I'm glad someone asked this because I've been wondering the same thing. My last question is, do you have to have the subscription? Or can you use it for free solely with your phone?

I LOVE mine. I got it a week ago, and weighed in yesterday and lost 4.8 lbs. Just sayin... (ok I also started seeing a trainer then too). It makes me move more, it's fun to see the burn. I've been having random dance parties with my children. I would recommend if you have a costco membership getting it there. It's 120 but comes with a one year subscription, which puts it at a better price than amazon or the bodymedia store.

My husband thought it was so stupid when I bought it and was complaining about the money, and less than a week later he thinks he needs one now too.

My husband and I both have one and absolutely LOVE them. They are SO worth the money and keeps me on track more than when I was trying on my own.

So how does it calculate your burn? Is it a HRM too?

It's not a HRM. But it does have 3 accelerometers, and can sense galvanic skin response, ambient temperature, and skin temperature. So, if it's cold outside, your skin is hot and sweaty, and you're moving a lot, it can calculate how hard you're working. It's metabolism unit is the MET (Metabolic Equivalence of Task), where 1 MET is basically you lying in bed not moving and not digesting any food, just breathing and heart beating. It calculates the actual calorie burn based on your weight, height, etc. It's really the software behind the scenes that does all the cool stuff - the band itself just records basic data.

It has been quite accurate for me, at least based on it's net calories for the week vs. my weight change for the week (using 7-day average weight each week, to smooth out daily fluctuations) - as in within .2 pounds of the weight change you'd expect for the net calories. And I imagine most of that is accounted for in my approximations of food when eating at the dining hall at work or in restaurants (we several very good restaurants in our little town, but no chain restaurants, so no online menus with nutrition info).

LOVE my body media!
It is not uncomfortable once you find the sweet spot, I have lots of extra skin under my arms, that is still a bit fatty, so I had to find a good spot that was not rubbing, but keep moving it around. You also do not need to wear it tight at all. The ltitle plates stick to your skin and holds it in place well, so you do not have to keep the arm band tight.

I have been thinking about getting this also and I see you mention your arms have extra skin and are a bit fatty. That is my main concern right now is if the band would fit on my arm, Is it kind of elasticy? Do you think it would fit on someone with rather big arms?

Thanks!