Bodyfit media

I really want to try one of these devices like a bug or a fitbit but I don't want to have to pay a perpetual subscription fee to get the best use of it.

I am still working on an overall topic post, but having recently spent some time with a Body Bugg, here are some quick impressions:

1. The subscription provides more than just the calorie readout. They have more programs, recipe plans, analysis, etc, available. I think that, long-term, people will find it less useful and I wonder if that will affect how they market the product. Right now, it looks to me like they are trying to use a "cheap health club" business model--i.e. hook you into a long-term commitment with a "cheap" annual rate while you are still in the "motivated" phase. I am not defending the business model--for more reasons than I have time to mention here, but there is value associated with it that you could not get with the armband sensor alone, and, for 6.95/month, I think you get close to what you pay for.

2. I think there are still some issues with these devices and counting exercise calories. I found the numbers I got during exercises such as stationary cycling and the stairmaster to be significantly off from any other source--HRM, calibrated machine, my previous experience from having undergone metabolic testing--not unreasonably bad, but certainly more than the 10% 'underestimate" they claim. Treadmill running was OK. The other thing is that the Body Bugg did not seem to be sensitive to any type of EPOC. Even after some longer or more strenuous HIIT workouts, my calorie graph dropped down to close to resting level almost instantly after I finished exercise.

3. To me, the best use of the BB was as a motivator, feedback instrument, food planner. When you see graphically exactly when you are expending energy and when you are not, I found that it had a real impact on my routines. If I missed a workout, or spent a lot of time at my desk in the morning, when I downloaded the data at noon and saw the low numbers, I definitely picked it up after that to boost my number. It lets you see that if you don't have time to workout on a given day, you can still achieve a decent calorie expenditure just through regular activity. From that standpoint, for about $200 for the armband and a 3 or 6-month subscription, I thought the investment was reasonable.

Yes, the BodyFit software is compatible with a MAC