Bodybugg Calories Burned

Another Frequently asked question about the bodybugg application is:

"Why do I have two different Calories Burned Numbers? I just got my Bodybugg last night. It seems to be working and when I uploaded data from the armband to computer, at the bottom it said I had burned 31 calories-had only been wearing it for a few minutes. The top display for the overall day is completely out of whack says 381 calories burned so far which can’t be done in wearing it a whole ten minutes?"

The Red arrows in this screen shot point out the conflicting data. Clearly the numbers are different, but why?

The top number shows the total number of calories burned during the entire day. The bottom number shows the number of calories burned during a specific time of day, typically your waking hours, which is illustrated by the darker gray area that the blue arrow is pointing towards.

This darker gray area is called the Time Selector. When you created your bodybugg profile, the questionnaire asked you about your sleep patterns. These are the hours that you said you normally go to bed & wake.

Although it defaults to your waking hours, the darker gray area is area is adjustable. Placing your mouse in the middle of the waking hours, you can click & drag to the left or right to span a different time frame.

Additionally, if you want to see how many calories were burned during a specific time (a workout or other event), you can make the area larger or smaller by dragging the small boxes at the top of the Time Selector to the left and right. Notice that when you do this that the From: time & To: time change to reflect the time of day that you are viewing.

So, why are the two numbers different to start?

Great Question! Bottom line is, your body burns calories 24 hours a day. Even when you’re sleeping! It’s typically referred to metabolism, but other terms are BMR or RMR. Your body needs calories in order to breathe, pump blood, digest food, breathe. All of those things that you do automatically without having to think about it.

How many calories your body burns at rest is a little trickier. I’ve written two blog posts you can find here:

Copyright Elizabeth Sherman. Purchase a Bodybugg through Elizabeth Sherman.