Using BML armband & working nights - very confused! help? :)

chantellove
chantellove Posts: 63 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all, I just got a Body Media Link armband, and I've been using it for 2 days now. I have some confusion in regards to how to calculate calories per day, since my days are not midnight to midnight, like "normal" people.

I'm not sure what to do about my calories in/calories burned, calculating everything, in regards to my schedule. BML does it from midnight to midnight, but I never go to bed before midnight--especially when I work late. Last night I worked until 3am, and didn't get to bed until almost 4:30am. Because of this, BML obviously says that I've burned more "today" (since 12:01am) than I actually have for my "day" today, because I've really only been up for 2 hours (slept from 4:30am to 12:30pm).

Here's the breakdown - yesterday, from 10:30am to 11:59pm, I burned 2500 calories. Then, from 12am to 4am, I burned another 600. So, in total for my whole day, I burned 3100 calories, and consumed 2800 (working from 4pm to 3am made me hungry!!). But anyway, BML is breaking it into 2 different days, but it wasn't--it was all one day to me. Does that make sense? Because BML put those 600 calories I burned last night, August 8, on to my burn for today, August 9, I also added the 500 calories I ate from 12am to 4am to today, too, in my MFP diary, to balance it out...will that work, or will it mess things up?

Basically my question is this: will the fact that the BML is adding the calories I burn when I work late, after midnight, which is technically still yesterday, to me, to the daily activity for the next day--will that make a negative difference/impact? Or will it not matter, as long as I'm also adding the calories I consume during that time to the next day as well, even though it was "yesterday?" Does this make any sense to anyone? HELP! :p

I just want to know how to make the best of the fact that I don't have a typical 9-5 schedule, while using BML and MFP together. I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong, or sabotaging my efforts. If anyone has any advice or info that would help me understand this better, or if you could let me know if you think this will work, I'd be so grateful! Thank you!

Replies

  • chantellove
    chantellove Posts: 63 Member
    Anyone? No one with experience using a Body Media armband and working nights?
  • BombshellPhoenix
    BombshellPhoenix Posts: 1,693 Member
    I don't have one but sometimes, if I cannot eat up to my calorie goal one day, I'll add what I didn't eat to my next day. I kind of take it as the weekly average. The calories don't change just because you wait to use them. I think that's what you're asking, right? :P
  • dtimedwards
    dtimedwards Posts: 319 Member
    I use one. I don't work overnights, but I work until midnight. What I do is:

    My calorie burn I go by the calendar day. My food intake I count the day as from the time I wake up until I go to bed.

    this works for me because I generally eat "breakfast" in the morning, "lunch" in the afternoon, and "dinner" at night.

    For overnights you might just want to go by midnight to midnight as a day, or perhaps set the timezone for MFP and Bodymedia to adjust to YOUR schedule. If you wake up at 3PM and start your day off with a plate of pancakes, maybe it would "work" to say you "live" in GMT+0 instead of GMT+8 or whatever your current settings are.
  • chantellove
    chantellove Posts: 63 Member
    I don't have one but sometimes, if I cannot eat up to my calorie goal one day, I'll add what I didn't eat to my next day. I kind of take it as the weekly average. The calories don't change just because you wait to use them. I think that's what you're asking, right? :P

    Yeah, that's definitely part of what I'm asking, and that helps. Thank you! :)
  • chantellove
    chantellove Posts: 63 Member
    I use one. I don't work overnights, but I work until midnight. What I do is:

    My calorie burn I go by the calendar day. My food intake I count the day as from the time I wake up until I go to bed.

    For some reason I'm being dense, and need a specific example to understand what you're saying. Can you break that down a but further? What do you mean exactly? What's the difference between the calendar day and the time you count your food intake, when using the armband?

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