Bodybugg/Body Media Fit Questions Thread:

I'm starting this thread to be sort of a Q & A for people interested in the Body Media Fit/Body Bugg.

Ask any questions you like, I will try to answer them as best I can with my 4-5 months of use. I know there are other people here who know a lot about the devices and they may be able to help as well.

For starters:

How does it work?

Motion: The armband contains an accelerometer that measures motion from multiple perspectives.

Steps: The accelerometer counts steps by measuring the distinct patterns created by running or walking.

Galvanic skin response: When you sweat, your skin becomes more electrically conductive. This measurement helps the device understand how active you are.

Skin temperature: There’s an electronic thermometer inside your armband that monitors how hot you are.
Heat flux: When you move, your muscles produce heat. Your armband measures the heat that’s flowing from your body into the environment.

Does it track Heart Rate?

NO. Heart rate isn't very reliable for tracking calorie burn. Too many things can artificially inflate your heart rate including caffeine, medications, and genetics. These things raising your HR do not always mean that you are burning more calories.

How accurate is it?

One study done has shown that it is within +/- 10%.

Ask anything else you may be curious about.

Replies

pinkita

Is there a way to just "quick add" the number of calories you consume in a day on the BB site? I hate their food database, and it also keeps giving me errors everytime I try to enter a meal, saying my session has timed out and I need to login again. Very frustrating! I emailed tech support but they haven't responded yet.

glassyo

Update java. That's what finally helped me.

Also, you can set up a food on the bodybugg website where one serving equals 100 calories and log in your MFP calories that way.

pinkita

Update java. That's what finally helped me.

Also, you can set up a food on the bodybugg website where one serving equals 100 calories and log in your MFP calories that way.

I verified that I have the latest version of Java installed and it's still giving me that stupid message.

wolfchild59

I own a bodymedia. How do others do it, do you track in both places? Any help appreciated

I use MFP to log my food each day, but I follow the BMF guidelines for deficits, food settings and caloric burn.

I just use the Create Food button in the food logging section once a day and enter my entire days worth of calories and nutrients as one giant meal in the BMF site so that it has that info to keep track of my data to best possible ability.

wolfchild59

Is there a way to just "quick add" the number of calories you consume in a day on the BB site? I hate their food database, and it also keeps giving me errors everytime I try to enter a meal, saying my session has timed out and I need to login again. Very frustrating! I emailed tech support but they haven't responded yet.

Do they have an option to create your own food? If So, just log everything as normal in MFP and then create a food once a day that has all of the data from MFP as far as the calories and nutrient breakdowns. These devices pay attention to your weight logging vs. what's it factoring for caloric burn vs. what you eat each day to adapt better to you over time, so the more accurate the data you put into is, the better it will work for you.

Jazzyjules71

bump

forty3fab

Awesome thread here!

Hi everyone! I just got the Bodymedia Fit Link a couple weeks ago and I love it so far. I realized I was burning more than I thought each day (if it is truly accurate) . I also realized I do not get enough sleep either. I will always log my food here on MFP and then just add as one large meal on BMF as I have too many foods/recipes already saved on here....and all my friends!

Either way, I am having a hard time setting up my goals (I play with them all the time and cannot figure out where to keep it). If I tell it how many pounds I weigh and what I want to weigh, it asks me how much I have been eating and what my progress was over the last 30 days. Well, I didn't have any progress over the last 30 days, which is why I bought the BMF.

How did all of you figure out what to set your goals at if you had no success previously? Did you just wear it for a while and figure out what your average daily burn is and then create your deficit from that? The last report I ran on BMF said I average 2500 calories burned daily. Should I just go from there 2500-500 for a 2000 calorie day? I just bumped MFP up to 1900 (but it has only been today so far at that level and I'm a little scared eating that much).

Thanks for your insight and help!

chrisdavey

^^^ yes that's what I did. Found out my average cal burn & then set my target based off that. -500 for loss, + 500 for gain.

forty3fab

Thank you for your reply ChrisDavey, I will go with that and see what happens!

CMorning99

I find the step counter a bit wonky. I was at the mall the other weekend and walked for several hours...however i was carrying my bags on my left arm (where the BodyMedia was) and at the end the steps were way low...I figured it was b/c I wasn't swinging my arm.

I also started getting a permanent indentation in my bicep after 3 months of wearing...so switched arms now and it has also helped with the step count since I don't carry stuff in my right hand.

Mine came with a 6month subscription which ends in June. I have lost 11lbs wearing it but thinking that if I am not at my goal by June, I am not going to renew it and see if I can do it on my own now that I have a pretty good idea of what my calories burned are...and the thing is not the sexiest LOL

amymimi12

Can anyone recommend one over another - bodybugg or BMF? I'm thinking about getting one but not sure where to make the investment. Cost v. information v. accuracy v. ease of use with MFP. Also, I don't have an iPhone, so that may make a difference, and I would like a display with either one (need instant gratification/information!). Thanks!

keziah23

I just got a bodybugg v2 (ebay) with a 6 month subscription, I've been wearing it since last Thursday. The question I have is about the heat and sweat measurements. I don't sweat very much at all. Even after 90 minutes of intense exercise tonight I was only barely damp and my skin remains clammy. I have to get overheated to the point of heat exhaustion before I sweat. Will this affect the accuracy of my bodybugg measurements?

I wore my HRM (Polar FT4) while exercising tonight and it read 691 calories burned and the bodybugg showed 585 in the same time period.

keziah23

So I've worn the bodybugg for 2 weeks now but today was the first day I was able to enter my weight again because I changed my goal (didn't know what I was doing) and it said based on my weight loss that I must be logging my food incorrectly because it lost more than it thought I should have. I find it very amusing that there is no possibility in this system that it under registered my burn, nope just "you didn't do something right" LOL!

This is, I am 100% sure about my food log, I am on a medically supervised liquid diet, I know exactly how many calories I take in per day! So its under estimating/calculating/measuring my burn by about 3-400 calories per day!

Mawskittykat

Bump

pholbert

Because f wearing summer clothing I started wearing my BMF band on my upper thigh. I get a better steps count. Is there any issues doing this way that you know of?

wolfchild59

The website specifically says not to wear it anywhere but your arm. The accelerometer and calculations are based off of the movements of of your body from your arm, so I'd say that you're getting off reading from wearing it there. Heck, if I just wear mine a little lower on my arm I get inflated calorie and step readings.

I see people wearing them with short sleeves all the time and no one around cares. I personally layer a super-thin, crepe-style, long sleeve shirt under tees anyway, so it's not typically an issue for me. But the few days that I do just wear a tee or someone notices it, I just say it's a fancy pedometer and that's that, no one really cares.