Is your BodyMedia Fit OVERESTIMATING calories burned?

jimfoxer
jimfoxer Posts: 34 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I strongly believe that my BodyMedia Fit is overestimating my calorie burn for the day. I am a stickler about counting calories: I weigh all of my food, calculate calories even in my supplements, and on top of that I add 20% because I don't believe in the full honesty of nutrition labels. But, just using the raw numbers from the website, over the past 28 days the website says I should have lost 14.9 pounds (calculating deficit divided by 3500 calories a pound), when in actuality it was half of that. Yes, I know it isn't that simplistic and I know that there are other factors to weight loss (sleep or not enough calories consumed, for instance (BTW, I am eating 2000 calories a day, so that's not my issue)), but to be off by so much seems odd. I calculated that, in my case, my BMF is overestimating my daily burn by 625 calories, compared to what the scale says. And I don't wear my BMF while driving, as I know that's a problem (and my commute is nothing anyway).

Anyone else calculate the data from their BMF over the past 28 days and get something similar? Click "Specific Days" in your Dashboard, choose the past 28 days to report, take your average deficit, multiply it by 28, then divide by 3500. The answer is how many pounds the system thinks you should have lost. Then subtract that number by your actual weight lost, multiply by 3500, then divide by 28; that's how many calories off the system was per day from what your scale says. I'd love if you would post your findings!

Replies

  • jelr
    jelr Posts: 98 Member
    I am unsure. I know that my heart rate monitor and my BMF are greatly off for my workouts. I can exercise for an hour all out killing myself and it will give me about a 200-300 calorie burn on my BMF for that time period! Whereas depending on what I did my HRM gives me between 600-900 calories for the same time period. Craziness!
  • HaywireII
    HaywireII Posts: 71 Member
    How long have you been using yours? I've only had mine a little over a month and the calorie readings I get from it have been consistent over time. As far as pounds coming off the scale was dropping faster than it should have the first few weeks then slower than expected the last two weeks. If I average the entire time I've been doing MFP while wearing the armband though I am almost spot on for the 2 pounds a week I've been aiming for.

    I also had read somewhere else about issues wearing it while driving but haven't seen that be an issue. Driving and sitting in my office working at the computer both burn at about the same rate (which is also almost the same rate as sleeping sadly).
  • HaywireII
    HaywireII Posts: 71 Member
    Nothing came off last week then I weighed in this morning and I'm down another 2.5 pounds. That puts me at 2.41 pounds lost per week since I started 6 weeks back. I started off doing 1600 calories/day the first two weeks before I got the Link and realized how much I probably really am burning then moved to doing a 1000 calorie deficit off of the Link. Based on the first two weeks and four weeks with the Link I think I'm just about spot on.
  • jimfoxer
    jimfoxer Posts: 34 Member
    Thanks for writing back. I've had my BMF for a few years actually. I lost a lot of weight with it in 2010, then I was injured and didn't want to pay a monthly subscription so it went in a drawer. After putting most of that weight back on, I pulled it out of the drawer. I've used it consistently since January 2nd (New Year's Resolution), and have been monitoring since then. Thanks for letting me know that yours is spot on. I'll let it go another 28 days and calculate then and see if I need to adjust for calories myself.

    The driving issue with the Link is not noticeable on short trips. I remember the first month I had the device, I drove 5 hours to another state and when I plugged in my device my calorie burn was crazy huge - especially when I was sitting in a car all day. I don't know if it was caused by having an extended arm on the wheel or wheel vibration, but I've heard this problem often. I've read about school bus drivers who can't wear it while working because it shows their burn WAY too high.
  • HaywireII
    HaywireII Posts: 71 Member
    Mine is the Body Media Link. I remember looking into the Bodybugg when they first came out and thinking...monthly subscription! The nerve of them! Fast forward a few years and I'm still fat and I've got some best buy gift cards from christmas and it's on sale for $120. Monthly fees don't seem so bad now.

    The longest drive I've done since I bought it was about 45 minutes each way but it's been accurate so far. I only read reviews on the current Link and Core models before I made the decision to grab mine. I'm wondering if you're having a problem that's specific to the older models or if I'm just lucky that I'm not going on any long drives. If I do find a situation where mine goes crazy I'll post it here.
  • acurwen
    acurwen Posts: 7 Member
    I use the body media core, and I just did the 28 day report. BM estimated I should have lost 8.6 and I've lost 7.6, so not that far off. As long as I'm losing at a good pace, I'm ok with that.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    my BMF has always been within 10% accurate, and i've been wearing it for 7 months straight. Some weeks its 100% accurate, Other weeks i'll fluctuate , i assume water retention or whatever , but it always evens itself out to within 10%.
    In 7 months, my BMF says i should have lost 87 lbs, and i have lost 79 pounds.
  • Goosiesnougs
    Goosiesnougs Posts: 420
    YeS YeS YeS!!! I gained weight when I used it! Waste of time and money!
  • gdavidm
    gdavidm Posts: 14 Member
    I stopped using mine because of this very reason. It was way over estimating my calorie burn and telling me that I could eat way too many calories. Once I switched to just logging my excercise calories using my Garmin heart rate monitor and using the calorie guidelines per MFP I was spot on where the calculations said I should be. The body bug is a great tool for general trending of daily activity but not very accurate. At least not for me.
  • jules1202
    jules1202 Posts: 65
    I have only been wearing mine for a week but so far it is UNDERESTIMATING my workouts. :( I am about dying dripping sweat ready to puke during bootcamp and it says I only burned 179 caloried over 40 minutes. Umm no.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    I've been wearing one for 2 years and it's about as accurate as it can be. (according to the site >90%).

    But I don't count or log calories. I stopped when I started Primal Blueprint. There was just no need. Once I figured out that my weight management was based on what I put in my mouth and not how much calorie counting became pointless.

    Eat real food. Eat whole food. Live an active lifestyle. An hour a day on a treadmill will not negate the effects of an otherwise inactive lifestyle. Get out in nature. Walk, hike, swim, PLAY. Climb rocks and trees. Heck, climb a mountain.

    I don't pay much attention to the online calculators. They're all about averages too. And I'm far from average. We all are.

    There is a whole lot more to weight management and health than just calories. My N=1 told me I needed to eat a high-fat diet - the healthiest version of the standard american diet was destroying my insulin response. Apparently it worked because I dropped 12 pounds below what I have ever weighed since I hit puberty (136lbs at 14 years old. 120-ish as an adult. Now at 42 I'm 110lbs and maintaining easily). And I lost my belly. (When I started "dieting" I wasn't overweight - I was close but I started this journey based on other factors than weight - and my switch to Primal was based on a whole, whole lot of reading and research).

    And 149 calories in 40 minutes can be perfectly normal. How much you sweat has nothing to do with your calorie burn. Some people sweat more easily than others. That means your body is good at cooling itself down.
  • tneedham78
    tneedham78 Posts: 14
    I also have the bodymedia armband. I have been wearing mine for about 7 months. So I looked at 28 day file and came up with them saying I should of lost 8.176 pounds over the last 28 days. However, in reality I have actually gained 3.6 pounds during that time period. I have been struggling lately in balancing myself out with exercise and calorie intake. Average deficit (1022*28=28616/3500 = 8.176) So now knowing this, how do I go about adjusting my true exercise calories? I know that I have been eating too few calories so I have upped my calorie intake and I'm hoping that is why I have gained weight, but I figured it would of started going down again already.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Soooooo....... You were eating at a deficit large enough to have theoretically last 15 pounds in a month?
  • tneedham78
    tneedham78 Posts: 14
    Well, I guess so.....that is the average that my BM armband is telling me. However, I don't hit 1022 calorie deficit every day that is just the average over the month. I just went back and calculated my BMR which should be about 1452. I'm somewhat questionable on the calculation I should use to multiple it with. While I'm not completely sedentary. I do sit most of the day. I go to the gym 3-5 days a week depending on my schedule and workouts are 1 hour. alternating weights / cardio. So if I chose slightly active and multiple by 1.375 then I should be at 1959 approximately and if I want a 500 deficit a day then I subtract from the 1959? If so that means I should be eating about 1452 in calories daily? If so then I have been under by 200-400 calories...maybe why I'm been gaining instead of losing lately?
  • verbenaverbena
    verbenaverbena Posts: 12
    Stopped wearing mine in the past because of this but now wearing it to see if it is at least overestimating consistently.
    I'm 5' 1.75" CBW 102-104 lbs (lots of fluctuation) and 20-22% BF by home scale

    Last 28 day averages:
    kcal burned 1903
    kcal consumed 1400
    kcal deficit 503
    mod activity 2 hr 13 min
    vigorous 13 min
    steps/day 11,000

    So according to this I should have lost 4 lbs but I've just been bouncing around between 101 and 105 for 1m, usually stay around 102 or 103. Yes, I have a food scale - No I'm not a perfect user but hopefully not 500 kcal's worth of error.

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