Fit Bit? Body Bugg? BodyMedia? Nike Plus?

FITBIT! I use it every single day, and its amazing. It tracks your calories no matter what you're doing; sitting, sleeping, walking, running, biking...etc. It also tracks your steps, floors climbed, miles travelled, and gives you a daily "active score" depending on how active you are. It comes with a wrist band to wear and put it on to sleep and it tracks your sleep efficiency (which I love) - plus the wristband is really comfortable. You get a chart to tell you exactly how many calories you burned at what time of day, a custom-made plan for your calorie intake, etc. It also gives you goals to reach in each day/week so you get to compete against yourself to see if you can reach those goals. There's also a pie chart that tells you what percentage of your day was sedetary, lightly active, moderately active, and very active. It gives you a monitor that'll let you know if you're below the amount of calories your goal is for today, in the zone, or above (and how much more you need to eat/burn to get in the zone).
It is compatible with MFP. If you're logged in on both sites you can set them to connect with each other, and whatever food & exercise you log on MFP will be transfered over to Fitbit. I love it.

FITBIT! I use it every single day, and its amazing. It tracks your calories no matter what you're doing; sitting, sleeping, walking, running, biking...etc. It also tracks your steps, floors climbed, miles travelled, and gives you a daily "active score" depending on how active you are. It comes with a wrist band to wear and put it on to sleep and it tracks your sleep efficiency (which I love) - plus the wristband is really comfortable. You get a chart to tell you exactly how many calories you burned at what time of day, a custom-made plan for your calorie intake, etc. It also gives you goals to reach in each day/week so you get to compete against yourself to see if you can reach those goals. There's also a pie chart that tells you what percentage of your day was sedetary, lightly active, moderately active, and very active. It gives you a monitor that'll let you know if you're below the amount of calories your goal is for today, in the zone, or above (and how much more you need to eat/burn to get in the zone).
It is compatible with MFP. If you're logged in on both sites you can set them to connect with each other, and whatever food & exercise you log on MFP will be transfered over to Fitbit. I love it.

This!!! I've had a fitbit for about a month now and I'm lost without it. On top of the activity and sleep tracking my favorite part is that it syncs with MFP. LOVE LOVE LOVE... You can find it online for less than 100 dollars and there's no monthly subscriptions you have to pay for.

I didn't have the Nike+ Fuelband but I did have the Nike+ sensor and I only used it for a month or so before ditching it for a Garmin Forerunner GPS. I never much cared for either the device or the web interface (though that was two years ago - I'm sure they've improved it a lot). It, like the Garmin, was really only usable when I was running, not for everyday activity. I do think the Fuelband works all the time, but I didn't want something I had to wear on my wrist.

I debated between the BodyMedia Fit and the FitBit. For me the fact that the BodyMedia has to be work on the arm and would be visible much of the time when I wore sleeveless or short sleeved clothes was a deal breaker. I also didn't care for the $6/month you have to pay for the website to make the unit useable.

I wound up purchasing a FitBit which I've really liked. It definitely motivates me to move more and I don't even notice I'm wearing it. I like the Fitbit website and the fact that Fitbit integrates with MFP and other sites like earndit.

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I have the bodybugg and really like it.

FYI ... Bodybug is made by BodyMedia but the Bodybug has a few less features. Older version of the BodyMedia is GoWear Fit.

BODYMEDIA .... I used the BodyMedia for two years and loved all the details I got with it. It measured my calories burned all day, steps taken and within those calories it could also figure out when I was doing physical activity and if that activity wasmoderate or vigorous. All of these measurements are measured by your body temperature and the sensors on the armband. It also measured your sleep since getting enough rest is very important to your overall health. I was a huge advocate for this device and loved it and never had any issues at all. It was amazing to see the calories burned on days that I was sick and laid in bed versus the days I was kickin' butt in the gym. The BodyMedia does not measure your heartrate as a HRM does so if you are looking to do zone training you would still want to have a HRM but I am not sure if any of these tools you have mentioned do. OK the Nike+ will if you buy the additional Polar HRM strap that syncs with it.

BodyMedia and I finally had our departure about 2-3 months ago. It was hard but really I learned my calorie burn and how my body works. I am still active and now I use MFP to log my food. I have gone to the Nike+ GPS Sportswatch since running has become my new passion and competing in races. So distance, time and pace are my new numbers I want to see. Of course I still want to lose weight which is why I still stay active and keep my food journal on MFP.

Remember that losing weight is 80% diet so watchiing your food intake is the most important. Staying active and strength training is also important. Keep moving and keep logging that food. I can say that the BodyMedia got me jumpstarted and I lost 30 lbs using the tool which let me reach my goal of completing my first half marathon.

I use a BodyMedia FIT armband and I love it. It is a little more in depth than the FitBit... Like, it doesn't just read steps and movement and then do an estimate. It uses 4 different sensors to tell what's really going on... for instance, when I gave blood, all afternoon after and a little the next day, my resting calorie burn was WAY higher as it read my body replacing my lost blood, same with a high intensiy weight lifting session, it read my body's afterburn effect for the next few hours. It's pretty awesome. I love that it tracks my sleep efficiency as well. Just an all around awesome little gadget!

Oh! also, I work in an office so I have to wear it around my calf at work and the reading is just the same as on my arm.

The only downside is that it lets you track your food intake, but their food database is frustratingly sparse, but I track my food on here anyway and then just plug in cals. at the end of the day on there.

This ^^

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I have the Nike Fuel Band, my husband has the Fitbit. I use the band because I have lost like 12 pedometers and the fuel band looks like a bangel bracelet and is quite comfortable. The Fitbit is defnetly more for the money than the Fuel Band, but the fuel band works best for me. I do 2 -3 10 to 20 minute walks a day and my goal is to incorporate more activity in my life all day long.

both sync via blue tooth. The fitbit does measure how well you sleep, so that is helpful if you are having sleep problems… funny thing, since I have lost weight this year and exercise more, I am sleeping through the night very well.

The fitbit goes much longer without needing recharged. My husband loves his.

Good stuff! I am going to get the fitbit :-)

I have a fitbit and love it!

What a lot of people don't know, is that Body Bugg, and I THINK BodyMedia fit (because I believe they are similar products) both have nickel in the plate that sits on your skin. if you have a nickel allergy (think if it turns your skin green when you wear cheap jewelry, or worse if you break out from cheap jewelry) you may not be able to handle them.

I have/had a BodyBugg - LOVED LOVED LOVED ... and LOVED it. did not love the rash it made on my arm. I moved it around frequently to try to find fresh skin but after awhile, I was running out of spots and gave up. Very Very sad about it. I don't miss the monthly membership fee for it. I have since moved to the FitBit. it's not nearly as good in my opinion as the BodyBugg (and probably the Body Media fit) - but - it's an acceptable substitute under the circumstances.

I loved that you could isolate to the minute how many calories you burned, and actually use the slide bar to give you an exact calorie burn for a time frame. FitBit has something similar, though not quite as nice.

I have tested my fit bit to my polar heart rate monitor, and found that for the most part, they are really close when I use my elliptical. So I think it's a fair estimator. I have doubts that it is accurate when I lift weights, because from what I understand, heavy lifting burns some good calories, but because you're not really 'active' the fitbit doesn't register much when I do that. I never lifted with my Body Bugg, so I can't speak to that.

I do like not having something attached to my arm (wear the fitbit like a necklace). Do like the easy readout of the fitbit. I had the readout watch thing for the Bodybugg - the FitBit is nicer for that. Of course BodyBugg wanted you to pay for the online membership so making the readout unit nice was not a priority I am sure

Anyhow - I LOVED my bodybugg, and I do love my fitbit. choosing between the 2.. I think I like the FitBit better 90% of the time just because of the ease of use (and forgetting I even have it on) The times I miss my BodyBugg are when I think i'm missing out on calories burned (Such as with heavy lifting), and if I want a more specific range of calorie burn on the website. but neither of those outweigh the convenience (and lack of rash!) than the fitbit

I used bodybugg for over 2 years off & on, switched to a fitbit this past month and it feels like a huge breath of fresh air!!! I LOVE fitbit!!

Here's why I prefer fitbit over bodybugg:

1. It's smaller and more compact and can be worn clipped to your bra, so I feel confident wearing it all day and with any outfit. Bodybugg made me feel self conscious wearing short sleeves and tanks because I'm not happy with my weight and I felt it drew attention to my arm pudge. Plus it just screams "I'm on a diet!" when worn with regular clothing. In addition, the armband was uncomfortable, always needed to be almost too snug or else I'd have awkward moments of it sliding down my arm during meetings (and it makes a loud beep sequence when it loses skin contact). Bodybugg is ONLY calibrated to be used on the left arm. It is not accurate used anywhere else.

2. Fitbit has a digital display, so you can easily view your progress whenever you'd like (it shows steps, calories burned, flights of stairs, time, has a stopwatch, etc). Bodybugg has no display. With the original bodybugg, I purchased the wireless uploader and the digital display (watch) but the watch was often inaccurate and never consistently synced with the bodybugg armband. As a longtime user, I was excited when the SP version came out and ordered it right away. The SP is supposed to sync with the iphone app so you can see your progress it real time. I never could get it to consistently work, too annoying to mess with during a workout. So I could NEVER see where I was during the day without getting on the computer to upload. It was a PITA.

3. Fitbit syncs with myfitnesspal, so you can log your food here. Steps and calories burned are visible here. The bodybugg site is buggy (no pun intended) and a pain to log. I could never use it at work because I couldn't download the plug ins it needed due to security settings, and I'd often have to mess with different browsers at home. The BB food database sucks, not huge and a lot of inaccurate items. The app is horrible, slow and basically re-routes you back to the web site through safari. Too time consuming.

4. Fitbit is cheaper. One time fee of $99. No ongoing costs. Not sure the current BB price but my last upgrade was around $200 I think, then there is a monthly fee to use their site (necessary to see your data) which can be paid yearly, but is around $10 a month I believe.

5. Fitbit tracks sleep patterns, bodybugg does not. I love this feature!

The ONLY benefit bodybugg has over fitbit is that it IS more accurate (90% accuracy if worn correctly on the upper left arm) and yes, the fitbit is basically a glorified pedmeter. However, I still have 2 months left on my BB subscription, so I wore it along with the fitbit when it came to see how accurate fitbit would be in comparison- it was almost dead on for every workout, and my total daily burn was always within 200 calories by the end of the day. Bodybugg is better at estimating burn for things like weight lifting, because there is less movement for fitbit to pick up, but since it measures sweat and temperature it's more accurate. For cardio on my treadmill, the numbers for my burn were very close (like under 50 calories off!) For me, the difference is not enough to be a concern at all! So I highly recommend the fitbit, it's accurate enough for most people's needs IMO. You could always supplement by getting an HRM just to wear during workouts if super accuracy is desired, but I don't think it's necessary.

The fit bit itself really inspires me to be more active throughout the day, I love the size and ease of use and the mfp integration. Just wish I would've switched over sooner! LOVE it!!!

Hi great post on the differences between FitBit and BodyBugg!! I'm overall in agreement. I have been a BB user for the last two years and just bought Fitbit and have been wearing both to get a comparison. Here's my assessment -

1. Food tracker is much easier on FitBit. BodyBugg seems a bit clunky and often the system freezes, which is super annoying, especially your warm dinner is sitting in front of you and you can't eat it until you log it! lol

2. Size and wear - Fitbit wins here. The BB is pretty noticeable. I work in an office and could never take my suit jacket off during the day, as my zebra print BB strap would have been over the top for my office:). Fitbit clips to your bra, so no one can see it!

3. Application and usage for calorie tracking - Bodybugg wins here. I liked the feature of being able to specify time periods to see calories burned. With Fitbit - you can still do that but you must create an 'Activity' to measure it without having to manually add up the 5-minute increments. Not a huge deal though...

4. Accuracy - totally bummed to say this, b/c i WANT fitbit to be the total winner, but BB is the winner here! I have been wearing BOTH for the last couple of days. I'm a fitness instructor and teach multiple classes a day. Yesterday I taught three classes in a row (only adds up to 2.25 hours total). The bodybugg said I burned about 1000 calories, while the fitbit was off by about 500 calories. Today it was off by about 600 for total caloric burn. I measured my Zumba class as an example and BodyBugg said I burned 600, which is easily possible. I mean - I'm DRENCHED in sweat after teaching. That being said, I don't think FITBIT is as accurate. Can't be. One of the classes I taught last night was a body conditioning class. High intensity with weights...FITBIT said I burned about 300 calories. Just no way....I teach a HIIT class (High Intensity Interval Training) class which jacks your heart rate up (think plyometric drills and weight lifting combined). There is simply no way I burned only 300...

All that to say - I'm going to stick with FitBit simply b/c it's easier, more compact, love the sleep tracking of patterns, and in the end, underestimation of calories burned isn't really a bad thing, as it will just make me eat less.

hope this helps. PS - if anyone is in NYC and wants to take a Zumba class, or kickboxing whatever...you can come as my personal guest to one of my classes. Just email me!

www.kickingwithkara.com