Bodymedia frustration

[Hunnybee324]

I've had my bm for about 6 months. I'll be honest and say I've always been a tad skeptical of the readings but after reading so many posts on here about it's accuracy I finally decided to trust it and eat closer to the tdee reading in hopes of breaking a plateau. I just decided this, a week ago so I'm upping calories slowly since I've been undereating according to bm. BUT last night i folded clothes for about 30 minutes and during that time frame bm has me burning 5.8 calories a minute. I'm not dumb enough to believe that's right. Has anyone else had their numbers skewed doing a semi-sedentary activity like that. I was standing while folding but still that's what I burn doing a steady state cardio. I'm 5'0 110 lbs

[discdoggie]

I SWEAR it estimates high.



Either that, or when I was gaining I was regularly shoveling in upwards of 3400 per day.

[SuperMomx4]

All of the actual studies show +/-10% .

I have been wearing one for around 6 weeks. I have been cutting and religiously tracking calories and for me it is pretty spot on based on my level of loss.

OP- Do you feel like the daily totals are decently accurate?

[SuperMomx4]

I am gettin ready to fold laundry.....going to preform the least scientific test of all times. ;-)

[Hunnybee324]

Well, honestly I still haven't decided about whether the day total is close. It seems to underestimate on hiit just bc im not moving my arms wildly. And I noticed it will register steps taken when just standing still moving my arms doing something. I've never tracked it this close before bc I assumed that it was suppose to be smart enough to realize my folding laundry isn't a big calorie burned bc heat flux etc that it's suppose to monitor. Been eating at about 800+ deficit from tdee number and am maintaining. Haven't lost in months. Recomping I guess let me know how your experiment comes out.

[birdiefu]

I've had mine for...well it will be 3 years this August. I've worn it through bulks, cuts, maintenance, different activity levels/life stages. It has proven (for me) to be spot on when compared to what I log with my intake and average weight gain/loss (taking water fluctuations and monthly stuff into consideration).

I remember I got it at the end of my first cut and shortly before my first cut. I thought my maintenance was about 2100 according to calculations, turned out I was burning more along the lines of 2400. Did not believe my armband at the time, and had plateaued for a while at somewhere around 1900 cals. Slowly upped cals, found I actually lost a bit more pounds, then once I reached what the armband said was my maintenance, was surprised to see that it seemed to be correct! Did a subsequent slow bulk at about 250 (and later up to 500) cals above maintenance and body weight responded accordingly.

And yes, it can be generally +/-10% off, more for those with true metabolic or other physical issues. I don't think I've had many technical issues with it reading oddly - I think maybe in the beginning or around big software tweaks. If I remember correctly, at the start it sorta has to "learn" your body a bit to get good baseline readings or some such (I know my off-body baseline has definitely changed over time). There are a few known "issues" where readings can be skewed if excessive or very little arm movement (ex: bike riding can read lower, elliptical higher). But in the grand scheme of things and with the activities that I do, it seems to all even out in the end.

ETA: Oh, DD - I *know* I can shovel in tons of cals too, lol. 3k+ bulking and was still hungry for more. On my "fulk", I had about 4-5k/day average.

[birdiefu]

One other thing that I think a lot of people don't think of much, is that maintenance isn't really static. I mean, obviously there is workout vs. non-workout days, but even averaging those in, at least for me, there are patches of say, months, where my burn rate is a few hundred or more off from another time in my life

For example, on my very low cal cut with little activity (lifting 2x/wk no cardio) and decreased NEAT from being tired, my average burn rate dropped to about 2400. When on more maintenance cals lifting 4x/wk (no cardio), average maintenance is about 2700. When I add in a little cardio on top of that (say 2x/wk), it ups to around 2900 or so - I can often tell that my NEAT seems to increase post-exercise whether lifting or cardio. If I add in a semester at school (campus tromping), plus usual maintenance/bulking lifting, and maybe some cardio on top, my maintenance can average a tad over 3k. I think I once clocked a single day with a burn rate just over 4k, and that was a long, killer of a day!

Course the way people respond to increases/decreases in cals and if they have a high NEAT rate (fidgiters or can't-sit-still ones like me) or not plays a big role in burn rate and activity factor, perhaps moreso than actual time spent at the gym. Some may be burning more than online calculators, some may be burning more. I think a lot of ladies do tend to underestimate how much they actually burn though, and I know I was stuck in that mindframe years ago too.

It can also be hard (for ladies especially) to try to get to true maintenance but feel thwarted when they gain scale weight. A lot of times that weight is just extra GI bulk, glycogen, and water, but by thinking they are getting "fat", someone may think they are eating over maintenance when they aren't. Although I weigh myself frequently for fun, I really only compare long-term scale changes by looking at monthly trends (and under similar dietary conditions) to take into account hormonal and carb water changes.

[Hunnybee324]

Thank you all for your responses. I called bodymedia to ask what they thought. They had me reset my sensors. Being the nerd that I am I wrote down throughout the day what I was doing at what time and checked it last night. It seemed to be way closer to what I was thinking. The bmf advisor also said that if the clothes were warm right out of the dryer while I was folding it could skew the results from the heat flux monitor. So I'm guessing that's what happened bc last night I waited until the clothes were cold and folded and the burn was closer to 2.7-3. Isn't that crazy? No more warm folding for me I guess. Haha. Love all you beautiful ladies for the help.

[LaDonnaMF]

So worth it to get this vs. just a HRM?

[birdiefu]

So worth it to get this vs. just a HRM?

Depending on what you are using it for. A BodyMedia doesn't track your heart rate. A heart rate monitor is not accurate at all for tracking cals during everyday activities.

[kimm4]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

[discdoggie]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

I held out as long as I could,

[Echo814]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

It's because you rock and don't need it . I think since you don't come from a fuked up diet back ground you don't need it to prove you can eat more or need to eat less ( this isn't a dig at anyone else, some like it for data crunching). I know that with the calorie sticky it had my maintenance at 1800ish and once I got the BM I found out that it was 2100. It is very true once its averaged out I can burn 1800-3000k depending on my activity and it will average to 2100. If I eat a steady 2100 I maintain with +/- of 3lbs fluctuation.. It took having this thing to encourage me to eat over the 1800 cals since that's what the sticky had me at.

[kimm4]

It's because you rock and don't need it . I think since you don't come from a fuked up diet back ground you don't need it to prove you can eat more or need to eat less ( this isn't a dig at anyone else, some like it for data crunching). I know that with the calorie sticky it had my maintenance at 1800ish and once I got the BM I found out that it was 2100. It is very true once its averaged out I can burn 1800-3000k depending on my activity and it will average to 2100. If I eat a steady 2100 I maintain with +/- of 3lbs fluctuation.. It took having this thing to encourage me to eat over the 1800 cals since that's what the sticky had me at.

So many people use them, it makes me curious and I've almost bought one a couple time just for the heck of it. I suck when it comes to gadgets though...I have a hard time figuring out how to use the remote to my tv...

[SuperMomx4]

So many people use them, it makes me curious and I've almost bought one a couple time just for the heck of it. I suck when it comes to gadgets though...I have a hard time figuring out how to use the remote to my tv...

I got one for a couple reasons, but mainly I wondered how my schedule with my kids effected my TDEE. I wondered if the fact I had I wake so often during the night, of wear one of them on me half the day, or whatever....I never knew if my TDEE was way higher than I thought ,or if the fact that I barely slept and such was killing my TDEE. At the end of the day, it is pretty close to the number I get in the stickies here. And obviously is pretty close to the number you (kimm4) are working with because my progress on your plan syncs up perfectly.

It is the sciencey part that is interesting to me. Kind of fun to see how my sleep cycles and such.

[smdiskin]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

LOL..... me neither....

[sgtmom1]

So many people use them, it makes me curious and I've almost bought one a couple time just for the heck of it. I suck when it comes to gadgets though...I have a hard time figuring out how to use the remote to my tv...

I got one of the dotFIT exerspy version (Bodymedia does bodybugg, and a few others just place their name on it.) because I am a Sharecare Elite trainer and now a dotFIT certified fitness pro. I got it at the discounted rate. It gave me the ability to make myself accountable to ME. I use mine for a week or two during the month then won't wear it for a month or so. I wear whenever I travel so I can see what I should be doing differently at home. IT is spot on even when you have a messed up metabolic system like mine. I eat close to my calorie count and splurge once a week or maybe once every two depending. Now I am in the process of comparing the fitbit and body media. I bought my husband a fitbit because he wanted one like mine, but didn't want to pay what I did and for the monthly membership for him. Mine is free as a certified Fitness Pro. Now he will purposely run up and down the stairs, when I am not slaving him out in the field for the farm, just to meet his flights of stairs goal. My kids are begging for them too. This one tracks sleep, steeps and estimate calorie burn.

I am currently wearing it 4-6 days a week. Even when I am sick and not feeling well.

I do need to schedule a trip to Hill AFB and the BodPOD. time to check the BF% and it sucks.

I may need to look into doing more with but I am job hunting now. I need to find something steady to help pay the bills.

[wakechica]

So many people use them, it makes me curious and I've almost bought one a couple time just for the heck of it. I suck when it comes to gadgets though...I have a hard time figuring out how to use the remote to my tv...

Made me giggle

I find it to be spot on vs the calcs i do with the formula IF my days are the same. BUT some days I can be on my feet so much that if I ate what i planned I'd be in a 600-700 cal deficit. I use it more to see if I need to eat more/less.

[LHarwood]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

I don't use them. I just use a pen, paper and calculator :-)

[lilvonne28]

When I use the stair master or go to spin class, I put it on my calf, and enter a workout goal on my phone, That's how I get accuracy for those type of workouts.

[amiaow]

I don't have one either Kimm. I am curious though!

[IrishLassie78]

Are there any females on this forum that don't use these things for tracking or am I the only one left?

I don't. I'm already obsessive and neurotic enough. I don't need something else to reinforce those tendencies

[SuperMomx4]

I don't. I'm already obsessive and neurotic enough. I don't need something else to reinforce those tendencies

They are addictive little suckers. I may have just jogged around my house to try and get it to land right on 9000 steps. ;-)

[superja]

They are addictive little suckers. I may have just jogged around my house to try and get it to land right on 9000 steps. ;-)

Lmao my old phone had a step counter in it, and if I didn't get to 10000 a day I had to walk back and forth before I could go to bed. Glad to hear I'm not the only crazy person around.

[IrishLassie78]

They are addictive little suckers. I may have just jogged around my house to try and get it to land right on 9000 steps. ;-)

That's exactly what I would be doing and I'd end up driving myself and everyone around me crazy. I'd be completely obsessed with some arbitrary number of calories burned in a day and some arbitrary number of steps and knowing me, I'd stay up until midnight running up and down the steps or sprinting around the block trying to get it where I think it should be by the end of the day. When I first started seeing these things I really wanted one, but I've since decided weighing my food and tracking calories is as much number obsession as I need in day. I'm already a little nutso I think I'd go completely around the bend if I had one of those things...