Ambassador of Wellness : diets, motivation

bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 4 - Activity & Accuracy

Eliz — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:47:11 GMT

<< 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. But how do you know how many calories your body needs?

What often happens with folks is that when they decide to lose a few unwanted pounds, they deprive themselves of foods with substance & eat "diet food" or "rabbit food" & at the same time, they might even start to exercise. What inevitably happens, is that they create too much of a calorie deficit. One of the symptoms of having too great of a deficit are feeling sluggish because there's not enough energy to fuel workouts, and daily activity. And that doesn't make a person feel good, or motivated to continue. After repeated large deficits, other things that may occur could be either a binge or a plateau; and those two events surely will lead to a relapse & old eating and lifestyle behaviors.

By knowing how many calories your body burns on a daily basis, you can reduce the number of calories consumed just enough so that you have a deficit & will lose weight, but not so many that you're hungry or not able to perform daily activities.

What's interesting is that when you read the value proposition statements from each company, fitbit doesn't answer the "why?" Why do I want to use this product?

Fitbit

The Fitbit accurately tracks your calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and sleep quality. The Fitbit contains a 3D motion sensor like the one found in the Nintendo Wii. The Fitbit tracks your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities.

Bodybugg

Find out how many calories you burn with the revolutionary new bodybugg armband. Use the web-based program to track calories in and calories out so that you can stay in control of your weight. Get the coaching and support you need to be successful from a fitness professional or personal trainer.

Maybe that's not important to you. You've already connected the dots. But it will all come together when you look at how each of the parts interact with one another in my last blog post in this series. How the company views itself and how it differentiates itself from the myraid of weight loss aids on the market is the path in which the product is based.

Activity Display

So, here are two graphs of my activity for the same day. You can see that they mirror each other pretty well. Each bar on the fitbit's activity graph represents 5 minutes of activity where the bodybugg represents 6 minutes. What doesn't really make a lot of sense though is the fitbit's vertical axis. The numbers represent the total for every 5 minutes & this makes me do math. So where the fitbit shows that I burned 35 calories in 5 minutes, I need to figure out that it boils down to 7 calories per minute. No big deal, but slightly annoying.

Activity Breakdown

What I really do like though is the way that the fitbit has broken my activity down into 4 categories of effort: Sedentary, lightly active, fairly active & very active. Not only is it represented in the activity graph above, but then they also put it into a pie chart (and who doesn't like a pie chart?) so that I can see where I need to add more activity.

The bodybugg simply measures activity, which ends up being any movement or effort that registers more than 4.5 METs (read about METs). Registering activity is good, but breaking it down into vigorous versus moderate would be better. It allows users to better self-monitor.

If I have 2 clients & they're both exercising for 45 minutes per day, but one is running & the other is walking, they can clearly see how their effort is going to impact their results. Just a little more effort can make huge gains in progress when it comes to weight.

Accuracy

It's human nature to lie to ourselves. How many times have you heard yourself say "oh - it was just a little bite ..." or "I must have burned a million calories!" We consistently overestimate the number of calories we eat, and underestimate the number of calories we burn. We think: "I just worked out, so I deserve to eat that cupcake." which is the whole premise of the TIME Magazine article titled: Why Exercise Won't Make you Thin.

So, it's crucial that the tool we use to tell us how many calories we're burning is accurate. In my experience, the bodybugg is mostly accurate. I've been successful with it & many MANY of my clients have been truly successful too. No tool is 100% accurate at this point. What matters is that it's close enough that it produces results. So what about the fitbit? The short answer is that it depends on what you're doing in order to say whether the fitbit is accurate or not.

How It Works

The fitbit uses the same technology found in the Nintendo Wii. So basically, it's a motion sensor. It's pretty impressive that it's as accurate as it is considering it's based only on motion.

The bodybugg has 4 sensors: motion, skin temperature, skin perspiration, and air temperature. Between these four sensors, the bodybugg creates some sort of algorithm (magic & mirrors to me!) and is able to determine calorie burn.

Neither device is water submersible nor does each one work well with exercises that compromise the motion sensor (stationary biking, road biking, or roller-skating/blading to name a few examples). So, neither device is perfect.

Logging Activity

So, what do you do if you're doing one of those activities or swimming?

The bodybugg allows you to add activities if it has detected off body time (off body time will be editable if the device is off for 30 minutes or more during user-defined waking hours).

The fitbit allows you to log activity any time during the day. Actually, I found this part a little weird. Although I really like the idea of being able to 'correct' inaccurate readings - like when I'm biking or skating, I also had to log my runs - even though it knew that I was performing vigorous activity. So, when I log my run, instead of burning 35 calories every 5 minutes, it jumped to 54 calories per minute. Additionally, I needed to know my running pace (which I don't). When I guessed, it estimated that I burned an incredibly high number of calories! So, I had to futz with it.

Now, here's where the fitbit really breaks down for me: Me futzing with it, is one thing, but a user who isn't as aware of his/her level of effort, might really overestimate the number of calories that the activity truly burned. Because the bodybugg has 4 sensors & the fitbit only has one, in my opinion, it is a really smart pedometer.

One other piece that breaks down for me with the fitbit (and this goes for heart rate monitors too) is that neither consider body composition. Two women weighing 150 lbs can burn very different numbers based on body fat levels (30% versus 17%: the woman with lower bodyfat will burn more calories at rest and during exercise because she has a higher body composition of muscle). With the bodybugg, a user doesn't have to know his/her bodyfat percent, but because the bodybugg has a body temperature sensor (muscle has a higher temperature than fat) it is accurate in spite of the user's entered bodyfat percent.

Round 4 Winner

While the CDC estimates that 67% of Americans are either overweight or obese & 56% want to lose weight, I'm focusing on weight loss with the review of these tools, because in my experience, that's what most people are looking to these tools to help them accomplish.

Accuracy is crucial when it comes to the success of these tools; Lots of folks are successful with losing weight, but not many have figured out how to maintain that weight loss. Accuracy is important because the tool shows exactly the number of calories a person needs to eat in order to maintain their weight loss and activity level. Because 95% of folks who lose weight, regain that lost weight, it shows us that as a nation, we're alright on the losing part - where we need help is on the maintaining side. If I don't know how many calories I'm burning, I don't know how many calories I can eat in order to maintain my weight loss.

Although the fitbit activity graphing display is a little nicer, In my opinion, the bodybugg is the clear winner in this round.

	bodybugg	fitbit
Activity Display		win
Accuracy	win
Overall	win

bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 2 - Food Logging

Eliz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:25:00 GMT

<< 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 have logged my food on & off (mostly on) for the past 9 years. If I've noticed that a few unwanted pounds have crept on, I just need to start logging my food & pay better attention to my food portions & hunger cues, and I can get rid of them.

Over the years my eating habits have certainly changed, however it all comes down to eating fewer calories than you burn. The only way to do that is to log your food & know how many calories you're burning. If it's not easy to log your food, you're not going to do it, and therefore you're not going to be successful in your health goals. So, it's imperative that these companies make it easy for you to log your food.

So how do the bodybugg and fitbit software applications stack up when it comes to food journaling?

Ease of Use

The interface for food logging in the fitbit is really easy. As you enter your food, a list of matches pops down. Select the desired food, type how much, specify which meal, and click the log food button.

All of your meals appear on the same page, so it's easy to look over your day & add foods on the fly.

Both tools make it easy to add foods to your log, delete foods, and change the quantity of the food. The bodybugg application isolates each meal, so that it's not easy to move & change foods between meals.

Moving/Reusing Common Foods

What I really like about the fitbit food logging tool is that you can mark foods as favorites. Once you indicate that a specific food is a favorite food, it permanently resides in a holding place on the right side of the screen for you to use again in the future.

As your tastes change, you can un-mark a food as a favorite, & it will no longer reside there. I like this because if you've ever tried to log a pork tenderloin or a cut of beef (in any food database), you'll know that you get many more list items than you expected. (Lean, trim, separable fat, etc. Yikes!) Once I've found the one I want to use, I don't want to have to try to find it again.

Another feature that I really like about the fitbit application is that I can move foods from one meal to another very easily (click & drag) in case I accidentally log a food to the wrong meal.

What I don't like about the fitbit food logging tool is that I can't copy from one day into another. I can't do that with the bodybugg either, but at least the bodybugg allows me to say "I ate the same thing I ate yesterday" or the day before, or the day before that...

Food Database Completeness

I'm really not the one to determine the completeness of any food database. I typically prepare all of my meals at home, and don't eat processed foods or foods that have more than a few ingredients. My recipes ingredients are whole foods: fruits, vegetables & lean meats. I don't do semi-homemade.

It's my experience that we all eat about the same 100 foods on a regular basis, and no food database is going to be 100% complete. None have all of your foods in it from the start. You need to add some of your special foods as custom foods to any database. Once you've added your custom foods, then most food logging tools are good until you discover a new lovely food that hasn't made it into the database yet.

I can tell you though that I'm not sure that the fitbit database is correct. There were a number of foods that seemed much higher than what I recalled they should be (1/4 cup of corn logged at 151 Calories!) - and when I checked, in fact they were incorrect.

Custom Foods

Adding custom foods to the fitbit application is really easy. You click a link to add your custom food & you just name the food. The process is very similar within the bodybugg application. Easy. IMHO, the fitbit has a narrow margin of advantage here, and it's due to the bodybugg software architecture (a new window pop up takes longer), but also, the fitbit doesn't require that all of the macronutrients (Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates) add up to the total calories of the custom food.

Recipes & Menus

This point is definitely going to have to go to the bodybugg. Although the fitbit allows you to create menus, they aren't the same as recipes. Recipes can be used as menus, but menus can't be used as recipes.

As I mentioned above, I prepare 95% of my own meals. I cook a lot. I use the recipes in the bodybugg frequently for a few different concepts:

Used as recipes for meals that result in multiple servings: Soups, Stews, & Casseroles.
Used as foods that I eat in combination of one another - for instance, if I eat a certain salad frequently, instead of logging each of those items in the salad over & over & over again, I create a recipe of the salad & just add the salad to my food log.

The fitbit software only allows me to create menus - which don't have a number of servings. So, if within the fitbit food logging tool, I want to make soup, baked goods, or stuffed chicken breasts, well, I don't know how I would be able to log that.

Planning

This point also goes to the bodybugg. Although the bodybugg planning tool is clunky, it's there. With the bodybugg application, I can plan my food for the week, and as the meals go by, I can click the button that says "I ate my plan". It takes a lot of work to set up, but it's there. The fitbit doesn't allow you to log food in the future, or plan meals past today..

Reports

Again, this point goes to the bodybugg. The bodybugg allows a user to print out a report of the last 1-4 weeks of food logs. This is useful for the user who need to report to his/her nutritionist. The fitbit doesn't allow that other than printing each individual day.

Round 2 Winner

This round doesn't have a clear winner. The fitbit is quick & easy, but the database isn't completely accurate. Additionally, there are some features in the bodybugg that I really like & use (like recipes, reports & planning) that the fitbit doesn't have available. Neither application allows a user to copy a meal from a previous day & paste it into another meal (I often eat the previous night's leftovers for lunch the next day.)

I'm declaring this round a tie.

	bodybugg	fitbit
Ease of Use		win
Moving/Reusing Common Foods		win
Food Database Completeness	tie	tie
Custom Foods		win
Recipes & Menus	win
Planning	win
Reports	win
Overall Food Logging	tie	tie

Next Round bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 3 - Sleep Tracking >>

8 Reasons Why You Keep Falling Off The Diet Wagon

Eliz — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:14:40 GMT

Guest Blog Post By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a weight loss problem today. In case you’re confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics:

According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all ‘weight losers’ have regained the lost weight, and often gained back a little extra.

According to research by the National Weight Control Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent.

For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%.

This means that lots and lots of people have “successfully” lost weight. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a “not sticking with it” problem. Wouldn’t you agree?

In fact, the fall and subsequent weight-regain usually doesn’t take years. Many people have abandoned their new year’s resolutions within weeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, their diet is history!

If this is true, then shouldn’t we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven’t been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it?

I put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon.

Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you’ll start getting more lasting results.

How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was best for you! After all, even if you have the best nutrition program in the world - on paper - it doesn’t do you much good if you can’t stick with it in practice!

THE 8 REASONS

1. No focus: you didn’t set goals, you didn’t put your goals in writing, and/or you didn’t stay focused on your goals daily (by reading them, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.)

2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn’t put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goal is six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekend is higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach.

3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough.

4. No Accountability: you didn’t keep score for your own accountability – with a progress chart, weight record, measurements, food journal, training journal, and you didn’t set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else)

5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or 3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost “only” 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up.

6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn’t plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn’t have a menu on paper, you didn’t make time (so instead you made excuses, like “I’m too busy”)

7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, “I want it now” route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route.

8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn’t suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type.

So there you have it – 8 reasons why most people fall off the wagon! Have you been making these mistakes? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com