It’s true. The bodybugg is a pricey piece of equipment, and ultimately, only you can decide how much money you would be willing to pay to lose the weight you desire. I get asked this question A LOT. Is it worth it? When I started with the bodybugg, I only had 15 lbs to lose & was convinced that I had a slow metabolism. I knew that my workouts were good: I’m a personal trainer & nutritionist, so I knew WHAT I was eating was good too. What the bodybugg immediately exposed was that I was sedentary the 23 hours in the day I WASN’T exercising. We all know that moving burns more calories than not moving. The bodybugg illustrates that fact very clearly. Here’s my activity graph from one day. You can clearly see where I was moving & where I wasn’t. I apparently went for a run & Read More . . .
bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 4 – Activity & Accuracy
<< Previous Round bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 3 – Sleep Tracking So the reason I was initially drawn to the bodybugg was that it allowed me to see how many calories I was burning in a day. I knew how many calories I was eating. What I didn’t know, was how many I was burning; but why is that even important? Weight loss is a simple equation of consuming fewer calories than your body burns. There are TONS of food logging websites & tools, and as I mentioned, I knew what I was eating, because I was logging my food for years prior to knowing about the bodybugg. But eating is only half of the equation in weight loss and weight management. I can tell you that if you eat 500 fewer Calories per day than your body needs, you will lose 1 pound per week; I already knew that. Read More . . .
bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 3 – Sleep Tracking
<< Previous Round bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 2 – Food Logging According to the National Institutes of Health, 50 to 70 million Americans are affected by chronic sleep disorders, and I am very fortunate that I am not one of them. I didn’t realize this until just a few years back. I have no problems sleeping. Sure, occasionally I’ll have a night where I randomly wake up in the middle of the night, or have trouble falling asleep, but it typically doesn’t last more than one night & the visualization techniques I use will usually work to get me to sleep. The bodybugg armband has the ability to show sleep efficiency, but the web application doesn’t expose it. Sure, you can wear it to bed & you can see in the activity graph if you got up, but overall it doesn’t display anything different if you’re just lying there, awake Read More . . .
bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 2 – Food Logging
<< Previous Round bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 1 – Getting Going Logging your food is THE most powerful thing you can do to improve your diet & eating habits. Logging your food prevents you from mindless munching. It creates this awareness of everything that you put in your mouth – even if you're journaling your food with a pen & paper. I don't exactly know why it's so powerful – there are a lot of reasons: you become aware of everything that you're eating. Suddenly, you change your eating habits because you don't want to write it down (those 4 hershey's kisses that you scarfed off of your co-worker's desk. Additionally, you gain this awareness of how many calories are in the foods you eat. Whatever reason resonates with you, if you want to drop a few pounds, start journaling your food. Food journals have been around for ages! I Read More . . .
bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 1 – Getting Going
Hello, My name is Elizabeth & I'm a data geek. That's why I love my bodybugg. I've loved my bodybugg pretty much since the day I got it. The bodybugg is the first tool available that allows you to really see how many calories you're burning in a day. This is a fantastic insight for folks who are trying to lose weight, or maintain their weight loss because how do you know how many calories to eat if you don't know how many calories you burn? Since I'm a nutritionist, wellness coach and personal trainer, I instantly recognized how powerful of a tool this was & became a licensed reseller, which affords me the opportunity to distribute them to my clientele. Initially, the bodybugg didn't have any competition. The first competitor was the GoWear Fit, which is the same product distributed by the company that actually makes the bodybugg armband; Read More . . .
How Do I Edit my Meals in the Bodybugg?
The most common first question I get with the bodybugg application is, "I’ve entered my food, now I want to go back & change it & I cant." As far as editing the food log, yes you can do it & it’s easy; it just happens in a different place than where you initially log your food. I agree that it’s a little confusing. You click the “Calories Consumed” button when you’re entering in new meals, but not when you’re modifying previously entered meals. Editing Food Step 1: Using the Date selector, select the date for the food you want to modify. Step 2: Select the “Nutrition” sub-tab just below the “Calories Burned”, “Calories Consumed” buttons & just to the left of the Calories Burned graph. Once you’re on that sub-tab, you can edit any meal by clicking the “EDIT” button associated with the meal you’d like to change. Read More . . .
Heart Rate & the Bodybugg
There’s been a TON of discussion recently about Heart Rate Monitors (HRM) & the Bodybugg: The bodybugg should have one… Why doesn’t the bodybugg have one?… an HRM can do the same thing as a bodybugg at a fraction of the cost… and so on. So, I’d like to address some of the questions about Heart Rate & the Bodybugg. Heart Rate Monitors HRMs can range from $60 – 400. The most basic will tell time & HR. More sophisticated ones may also track GPS location, calories burned, speed, & allow you to upload the data to a website to look at it, and may keep history of several previous "files" (or workouts). I used a HRM for years because it was the only tool available to tell me how many calories I burned when I exercised. However, I tried wearing it the entire day once had no luck as Read More . . .
Is the Bodybugg Useful for Fitness Pros?
I mentioned in my last post that I’ve joined Twitter. I have two logins: @esherman that is more personal & I tweet about health stuff that interests me, and @bodybugg where I support the bodybugg twitter community. I’ve gotten to "meet" some great people, and have some interesting conversations. [click here to learn about the bodybugg & what it does] Here’s one that I’m currently having (keep in mind that twitter only allows 140 characters per post) @Targettraining The Bodybugg sucks, it is for those with no discipline and people that focus on the wrong part of fitness. @bodybugg that is absolutely false @Targettraining The BBugg is for trainers that are lazy or don’t know much about nutrition!!! That is how I feel.. @bodybugg As a trainer it’s a HUGELY valuable tool; it allows you to see into your client’s lives outside of the 3 hrs they’re with u @Targettraining Read More . . .
Are fitness apps a waste of time & effort?
I’ve been reading a lot of news stories lately about the accuracy of fitness trackers, which has been debate in the fitness community ever since I started in fitness over 10 years ago. The calorie readouts on the treadmills, ellipticals, and heart rate monitors were all that were available, back then. Soon after I started personal training, the bodybugg was introduced (and if you’re a long time reader, you know that I loved my bodybugg sooooo much that I became a reseller). It was expensive, but it was a great tool, and I finally felt like it offered the missing side of the equation to my food logging; you can log your food all you want, but unless you know how many calories you’re burning, you don’t have the full picture. Even if you are logging your food, how do you know if you’re consuming too many? Or not enough? I Read More . . .
3 Tips for Increasing Activity
Part 3 in the Runtex University Bucky & Bob Speaking Series In the ongoing debate of whether someone can be overweight and be healthy, one thing is clear: Being active and incorporating intentional exercise into your lifestyle is going to positively contribute to your quality of life as you age. It may or may not help you live longer, but then who wants to live until the age of 150 if you’re strapped to a wheelchair and feeding tube? The body and mind are so tightly inter-connected that regular, intentional exercise improves mood, quality of sleep, decreases stress and the risk of disease. What I have also found intriguing is that as individuals become more active, their bodies start to crave healthier options. Don’t be surprised if you start craving broccoli or salmon once you incorporate activity into your day. Your body was meant to move; treat your body well Read More . . .