Body Media Advice

I assume this is the body bugg you are talking about? If it is, from everything I understand you have to wear it on the arm they say to. I don't know why, but that is what I have gathered. And so I do.

I don't wear mine all the time. I hate their online interface so i just use mine to track calories burned when exercising and input the info in here. I would say that using their free coaching session did help answer the few questions I had (like why does the stupid thing fall out of synch all the time--- too many electronic devices in our world)

You can always experiment with both arms....it maybe just not wearing it on your dominant arm to get a correct reading? My DH bought me one for Christmas so I'm still playing with it. It has helped me see where my BMR is (the online calculators are way off).

You can always experiment with both arms....it maybe just not wearing it on your dominant arm to get a correct reading? My DH bought me one for Christmas so I'm still playing with it. It has helped me see where my BMR is (the online calculators are way off).

It is not designed to work correctly if you wear it on the right arm - it has nothing to do with what arm is dominant. When you setup your profile on the user interface, you let it know if your right or left handed and it takes that into consideration. You need to wear it on the left arm. Here's what the website says:

Can I wear the Armband on my right arm? Or upside down?
Algorithms analyze the Armband data to estimate your calorie burn. Those algorithms have been written to give optimal performance when the Armband is worn on the left arm, the right way up. The "right way up" has the logo closer to your shoulder and the lights closer to your elbow. We do not recommend wearing it on the right arm or upside down. If the Armband is worn on the right arm or upside down, we expect calorie burn values may show a difference of up to 8% for routine activities like resting, walking, running, household work and road biking. The differences can be significant when using certain exercise equipment.

You must of missed the part of my post that said experiment?

I read the instructions :P

I noticed that you said "experiment" - but why would you experiment with it when the instructions specifically say that it is designed to be most accurate when worn on the left arm, and they dont' recommend it be worn on the right? Some things are okay to experiment with, but some things are worth following instructions on... For something that cost as much as this did, I'm certainly going to follow the instructions to ensure I'm getting as accurate results as I can!

If the instructions clearly state it will not be accurate if worn on the right arm, I think I'd wear it on my left arm as instructed — not out of fear of damaging it, but because I'd want the most accurate reading possible.

I didn't mean to start a war LOL

I'm sure you didn't. It's all good. :laugh:

Damn it Jim, I'm a techie not a doctor!! . I'd like to know why the right arm doesn't know what the left arm is doing so BodyMedia can't record calories accurately if worn on the right. Would be great if BodyMedia would provide a technical explanation.

it most likely has to do with being closer to your heart to get a better reading. I work in the medical field and depending of what were are doing there can be a preference to which arm we use because of its relation to the heart. Just a thought.

I love my body media, I started taking it off at night though for some reason it isn't reading properly at night which very well could be because I too sleep on my left side. But no big deal, I like the sleep data but the calorie burn and steps is the most important to me as I have become obseesed with getting 10,000 steps a day. so much better than a pedometer that you keep accidentally resetting ughhhhhh