Body Bugg vs Body Fit Media vs HRM's (polar/garmin)

They are strictly calorie. They do monitor your burn per minute which is also handy.

The HRM's aren't too great at calorie calculations. The two products are really different and keep that in mind. HRM's are good for zone training, Bodybugg's are best for calorie counting.

HRMs are only accurate for steady state cardio activity as the calculation embedded in the unit assumes this as well as a certain oxygen uptake.

HRMs using, age, weight, gender, duration and HR account for over 70% of total calories burned during exercise and the remainder are estimated using the above inputs which usually puts them at over 85% accurate. If you get a HRM that you can input your V02 Max in (assuming you know yours) the calories accounted for in the inputs would increase to around 85% making the total calculation more than 90% accurate. But again only for cardio activities is this true, it will over estimate strength training and calories burned doing nothing.

Body Bugg does not measure heart rate - it uses an accelerometer, heat flux sensor, galvanic skin response and skin temp. I think all of these could be thrown off environmental conditions (except the accelerometer).

I have a bodybugg, but I don't use it anymore (I'm very close to my goal - but it was VERY useful in the beginning!!)

The bodybugg and body media fit are worn all day. They measure many things to determine your calorie burn, activity time, etc., but heart rate is not one of them. You can search and find out exactly how they work, but I found it to be fairly accurate for me, and they taught me A LOT about WHY I got fat in the first place, and it was really motiviating for me to work torward the deficit I wanted. You do need to pay for a monthly subscription but in my opinion, it was $9.99 well spent!! (not sure what it is now, it's been about 6 months since I last used mine). I have a desk job, and you could see exactly when I was sitting down and compare the burn between just walking to the bathroom or taking the stairs up a level to that one. It became fun to see what I could do to get a better calorie burn for the day!!

A HRM measures your HR and estimates your calorie burn during that time only - it is not accurate to wear througout the day, so you are only getting a little space in time - not your entire day.

If you want more detailed info, let me know. I was happy to have the bodybugg, but I know that people with HRMs really like them too. It depends on what you want/need probably.

Can current users of the above please tell me if:

The body bugg and body fit media measure heart rate and allow you to train within heart rate zones? Or are they strictly measuring calories burned - requiring you to log them on a site they provide and have to pay extra for, or something like MFP? Do they become obsolete after you get to your goal weight and no longer need to track every single calories to maintain?

No, the BB or BFM do not measure heart rate they measure calorie burn per minute. It also tracks how much time of vigorous or moderate activity you've had during the day, by counting METs (metabolic equivalent / how much oxygen per kg of body weight used per minute).

If you don't have the (watch) display unit, then you will have to log in to the website & upload your data.

Alternatively,

I ahve been looking on Garmin and Polar's websites and they all claim to calculate calories...but I am assuming that those are only calculated during your exercise sessions and not your daily burn....or could you wear it all day and get the same calorie count at the bugg?
The HRM's have pluses like interval (time) training, gps, etc....which could be helpful as my fitness improves and I want to train smarter
These gadgets cost a fair amount of money and I really want the best bang for my buck, but it would appear that you can't have it all in one model - I can see this being the same situation for me as when ipods came out, I didn't buy the biggest one because I thought " I'll never fill it"...sure enough I filled it, and had to get a bigger, better one; don't want to waste my money buying 2 gadgets.

My main wants in the product are:
Heart Rate - to tell if I'm burning fat or working on endurance training
Calories Burned
Interval Timer

Anyone care to chime ?

I think a good HRM will suit your needs... you just won't get to see your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) that the BB & BMF can provide.

I am a proponent of HRM, so my views should be considered with that in mind.

In fact, if you are interested in an overview of the benefits of using an HRM, please read my blog here: http://bit.ly/uRFQKT

An HRM is the best tool for understanding your own physical fitness. As a secondary benefit, it can help you to accurately estimate the calories you expend during periods of physical exertion (exercise calories).

Because your heart rate under stress correlates to the amount of calories you burn, measuring heart rate is a reliable way to measure calories burned. As you become more physically fit, the amount burned changes in relation to your heart rate. Sophisticated monitors are able to either allow you to input your relative fitness level, or actually measure that level, making the calculations more accurate. In addition, your gender and age are important variables to accurately estimate calories burned.

So early on in your transformation from obesity to physically fit, calories burned is important to monitor your progress. Later in that transformation, accurately measuring your physical fitness and relative improvement to your fitness often becomes more important.

A good HRM is a great tool for your entire transformation, but realize that it becomes a better tool for you as you progress, and are in the latter stages of your transformation.

One of the numbers you can keep track of is resting heart rate. As you become more fit, this number goes down. When I was unfit and obese, my resting rate was approximately 70 bpm. As of last week, it is 38 bpm.

So, after all my research, it would appear that the bodybugg and bodymedia are one and the same, just bodybugg was licenced to 24 HR fitness.

No, the BB does not monitor sleep patterns like the BM. I have a Bodymedia.

I have had the BM fit BW unit that connects to my smart phone for 8 months and I was really overweight and it has really helped me achieve the deficits for total calories daily.Sleep data is also very interesting new studies released related to poor sleep habits increaseing risk for women to gain weight. It can record workouts and calories burned during workouts based on the data it collects. But as others have said it doesn't measure HR at this time just this week I got notification that they are adding HR monitoring in conjunction with Garmin units per many requests for this data. They released a beta collection update and will be collecting dat from folks that have both systems now. They have not added this data to the algoritims for thier calorie deficits at this time though. I am considering adding a HRM that will help me begin to improve my fitness level as well as the weight loss.

Hi. I think I am going to get this. One question I had, is that I am pre-menopause, and having hot flashes. Do you think the rise in temperature I experience throughout the day, will give me skewed results?

Hi. I think I am going to get this. One question I had, is that I am pre-menopause, and having hot flashes. Do you think the rise in temperature I experience throughout the day, will give me skewed results?

Not sure about this would be a good question to pose to the tech support folks at Bodymedia they are great and reply generally same day or next day to any questions I have asked.