I have a Minifly - but I would imagine that the food logging programs for all of them are the same, since they are made by the same company. When I was first switching, I hated it, but now like it much more than my old one - this one automatically comes up with your usual choices, so you can easily click and go if you eat a lot of the same thing, which we all do. This only becomes apparent after you use it for a week or so. It is not fun to reenter the foods which you eat that are not on the list (again, since I did it for the old program, too) but really didn't take me too long to have most of my favorites in there. And the recipe option is a lot easier to use than my old one.
One thing I've heard about the GoWearFit is that it operates on the principle that you are eating the same number of calories - so you can only upload meals once every 3 days. Anyone have any comments on that?
I wonder if anyone else has experienced what I have: I have been wearing my Minifly for about 2 months now - and last week, it seems suddenly, I'm not burning as many calories at the same activities. I know that you can "adapt," but I've been doing essentially the same kinds of workouts for a year now, so why now, and why so much so suddenly?
If you have lost weight, a signifigant amt, you may need to run your BMR again AND your body gets use to the same WO's so mixing it up is a good plan to rev your metabolizm. I personally have gone from 2 cals at night to 1, so I need to work a little harder to meet my goals, BUT I can't and don't always want to cut cals so I just have to move more... off to walk the dog (and me)
-L
I ordered gowearfit and should be receiving it this week. I can't wait as this will force me to log all of my food. I'll check back to see for other's updates and opinions.
I got my BB last Wednesday and have been wearing it ever since. I really love it and can't wait until Thursday for my 1st weigh in.
As far as the food logging, I also am not impressed, it's fine, but I like fitday much better. If I wasn't already food logging then there wouldn't be an issue. I log my food into fitday and then transfer the calories into BB. This is partly due to the fact that I have so much info stored in fitday already. The other thing is that I can see a life without BB, but not without fitday. And if I ever quit wearing this, I want all my hard work (custom food entry) to still be available to me for free.
I really like my digital display because I can see in an instant where I am and I only have to download once a day. I also like the fact that it tells me when I have met my goals. But my FAVORITE is the trip feature. Taking the dog for a walk??? Set the trip and when you get home see how many calories that burned! Love it!!!
I am a big girl and a long time dieter. My biggest problem has always been that my mind (even though I know better) is very black and white. I am either on or off. Had a couple cookies...well now that your off your plan, might as well have a couple more!! But with BB, I can see that it may have increased my cals for the day, but I could move more to compensate or even make up for it the next day. I just could never think of it that way before. now I do!!
I've been consistently hitting between a -900 and -1050 daily calorie deficit the last few weeks, but after really doing a great job with all the chocolate and stuff on the 14th, I got overconfident on the 15th, and ended up with only a -200 calorie deficit for the day. If I underestimated on my tracking at all, or if the armband overestimated at all, then I might have just maintained for the day. Boo!
I'm mad at myself for not choosing to get up and get some activity in yesterday, I easily could have! So today I'm working on making up for it, I've already gone for a run, I'm finding more housework to do, and I'm going to take a spinning class and a yoga class at the gym tonight. I'd like to hit a -1,500 deficit today, which I think is reasonable for my weight and height, especially just for one day. Then tomorrow it'll be back to normal!
I am grateful that I can catch these slip-ups the day they happen, rather than only on the scale at the end of the week... and next time I'm tempted to have half a bottle of wine after sitting on my butt all day, I'm going to remember how lame it feels to plug in the armband and see how bad my choices were.
I'm fascinated by this! I read on a blog that the body bugg was not good at picking up the activity and calories burned from either the elliptical or cycling. Has any one run into this problem? The blog was written quite a while ago, so the algorithms may have been updated. However, I don't want to invest in a tool that doesn't accurately reflect my main cardio activities.
How about strength training? Any ideas on the accuracy there?
I feel that the GoWear Fit is accurate when I use the elliptical. The GoWear Fit doesn't show as high of a calorie burn as the elliptical does, but every trainer I have talked to has said that the gym machines are way off, and I believe them. I think overall it is accurate for showing your calorie burn, including strength training too.
If you are really into your stats, know that the GoWear Fit tells you the time you have spent at both "moderate" and "vigorous" activity, whereas the BodyBugg only tells give you one activity level (moderate).
I don't know what do you mean, accurate? It certainly does not accurately count steps on my elliptical - It gives me only around 2700 steps for a 3 mile workout. And the calories registered are a LOT lower than my heart-rate monitor suggests. I don't know how much movement is part of the calorie equation. (My elliptical encourages a smooth, non bouncy motion.) And it doesn't seem to give me a high enough "vigorous" minutes when I do HIIT on the elliptical - it doesn't use heart rate as part of the equation, so apparently doesn't know that I'm working myself into the ground! I can jog at an easy pace and register "vigorous," but on the elliptical I have to really kill myself for it. (I don't think that the BodyBugg makes the differentiation between "moderate" and "vigorous" exercise...)
On the other hand, I've found wearing it that "workouts" are in the great scheme of things a minor part of your daily calorie burn - and wearing my Minifly has encouraged me to increase my movement in a hundred ways that I found excuses to ignore before. I really like the reminder that walking while talking on the phone makes a difference, and that a trip around the block after dinner is really worth while! Without seeing the actual numbers, it was too easy NOT to do those things.
According to UPS tracking the GoWear will arrive the 19th!!!! Which means I can have it charged up and have the week end to play with it. This one is my wife's and I am also thinking about one myself after I master hers.
From my reading the GoWear threads it doesn't have the best food logging I have did some looking around. What does the members here that use an outside food logging recommend?
Well, I broke down and ordered a v3 with display yesterday! I'm so excited!!
I've been using my bodybugg again for about 2 weeks, and I don't know why I ever stopped! (Well, yeah, I do - I got lazy and bored with tracking food, but that's why I gained weight!) Anyhow, I'm amazed at how much I can accomplish even when I'm sitting all day (I'm a vet student - lot of classroom time!), and I love the fact that even though I eat a bit more on the weekends, I also move a LOT more, and it all balances out! Instead of kicking myself for eating "too much," I can just plug it in and see that I still have a 1500 cal deficit!
I've averaged a 1500 calorie deficit for the last 12 days, and had lost a little over 10 pounds before I got sick (though obviously that's not a normal rate as things move on!)
While I understand the limitations of the food logging of BB, I do find it's a useful tool once you get your "usual" foods entered. Honestly, while fitday has a lot of foods already present, I almost find there to be too many options for general foods, and I end up entering my own stuff off the food labels (i.e. there are 12 options for "cottage cheese" in fitday, but I still ended up entering my own 1% CC with the specific information, since they only have full-fat and low-fat) But I do understand the argument that all your hard work in the bodybugg software is lost if/when you decide to "graduate" to a non-subscription service.
Anyhow, I'm excited to have my second "official" BB weigh-in tomorrow, though it's going to be off by a bit because I've been down with food poisoning the last 2 days. (wanna lose 6 pounds fast? Empty your entire GI tract! Ugh!) I may enter my pre-sick weight, or skip this week's record, so that I don't have a dip and "regain" even though it's perfectly healthy.
Mel, I've worn my armband once biking outdoors, and once in a Spinning class last night. I thought the outdoor biking burn chart looked accurate, it seemed to line up about with what I was feeling as far as intensity level goes. In the spinning class, though, it does seem pretty low. If you look at the chart, I've highlighted the class, from 6:30pm to 7:15pm, and you'll see it's not much higher than me just wandering around the gym before and after the class. Earlier in the day you can see the 2.5 mile run I did, which was very intense. I wasn't expecting the spinning class to be as intense as the running, but I do think it should have been closer to 75% the intensity of the running, rather than 25% or so. I think the armband might have trouble with smooth, stationary movements, since the accelerometer looks for the sharp impact of running or walking to figure out if you're actually moving, instead of just sitting in a sauna or watching a scary movie or something.
jajabee- Thank you. That is exactly what I'd read on a cyclist's blog. I've also read that some people put them on their calf for spinning and get very different readings.
From my reading the GoWear threads it doesn't have the best food logging I have did some looking around. What does the members here that use an outside food logging recommend?
I personally really like the Calorie King Diet and Exercise Manager, http://www.calorieking.com/software/ckdietdiarywin.php . It does cost ya, but you can try it out for free for a week to decide if you like it or not and the program works for multiple people in your household.
If you don't want to shell out the big bucks, many people use the dailyplate, fitday, sparkpeople or caloriecount.about.com, which are all free.
(and me)
