Yesterday, I posted an article about whether the Bodybugg is useful for fitness pros. It was spurred by a conversation on twitter with another personal trainer, out of Seattle, @Targettraining. He asked if he could post a response. Here it is:
Guest Post by Shayne P. Norton
In the small article I will discuss why the Bodybugg is not for everyone, and why would you want it. So there are many controversies about calories in versus calories out, fat loss and weight loss. Well I am here to tell you the difference and obsession with the people of today.
I have learned in my field of personal training that personal trainers will lie to you at a corporate gym due to the pressure of sales from the management. Trust me I have been there and done that, also if there is a personal trainer that has said that they haven’t I would not trust them. A lot of trainers also do not know much about nutrition as well, especially with gadgets like the Bodybugg out there. Equipment like that is more focused on weight loss instead of the main idea of a wellness coach or nutritional consultant, which should be what do you eat? Why and what times do eat? How often do eat? These are things that trainers lack now days. Did you know that most trainers now have a garbage certification or none at all? A lot of gym now will hire trainers without experience, and then just have them take a 40 hour class getting them an Apex certification or Bodybugg Certification and all these teach you are how to use the Bodybugg and sell the apex supplement line. That is not what people need these days, they should actually be explained on why the need to eat the right foods and how important it is to eat throughout the day. People with the Bodybugg do seem to do a few things one is not entering everything that they have eaten so in that way the Bodybugg is not useful if you do not enter everything, and another is they become so OCD on having a calorie loss that they constantly have the calorie deficient to long in turn lowering their metabolism. So what that means is when they first started it is good weight is going down starting to see some results, then the body does its job…it adjusts to what you have done and starts to be more efficient at burning calories. Which we know as a plateau. This also happens when people do the same thing with cardio. Adaptation and your body overcomes what you are doing. So there is no reason to spend the money on a Bodybugg when it is all about education. The bottom line is if you do have a personal trainer that knows what they are doing, they will not sell you a Bodybugg; that person will educate you enough to overcome any of the obstacles that will happen to you. It should be focused more on getting rid of the fat on the body than dropping weight. Example of this is when you see someone doing the same thing over and over how much change do you see? You may see that person get smaller but not get anymore definition, which is what you are trying to do…get RID OF THE BODY FAT!!!! That is my focus and I have had total and optimal success doing this without the Bodybugg.
My response:
I agree with most of what Shayne is saying, however, I still think that they bodybugg is a fantastic tool. Again, it allows people to self monitor. It allows people to see the impact of being sedentary all day. It clearly illustrates that although I exercised today, if I don't keep moving for the remainder of the day, all of my hard work is going to be gone.
I have no response to personal trainers not being qualified in exercise science or nutrition as I have never worked in a mega-mart gym. I don't think you can blame the bodybugg for having a crappy personal trainer. It reinforces the fact that everyone should be an informed consumer – do your research on anything that you purchase.
EDITED 6/11/09:
I'm an introvert (at least that's what the Meyer's Briggs Test tells me), and that means that sometimes it takes me a bit to process my thoughts. I'd just like to add that not everyone has a personal trainer. Personal trainers are expensive and not sustainable. Hopefully, if you use one, you'll be able to get enough information from them in order to be able workout on your own. But for people who aren't fortunate enough to afford a personal trainer, and aren't sure if they're working out at the intensity that they should be, I still believe that the bodybugg is a fantastic tool. You don't need a personal trainer to lose weight. Yes, they will help get you to your goals faster, but they aren't required to lead a healthy life. And for people who don't know where to start, it's eye opening. Although I had kept a food journal for years, the difference that the bodybugg made for me was that it motivated me to move more when I wasn't working out, and I AM a personal trainer!
I also reverted the article to how it was submitted to me. I had edited the piece & decided that it wasn't fair to the author.
Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.