BUGGIN'

What's Bugging Helping You?

I do not own the rights 2 these pictures!

I put the bodybugg to the test and, instead, it tested me. Here’s how one little device changed my diet, my calorie burn, and—hopefully—my fitness.


Maybe you’ve seen gym members or Biggest Loser contestants wearing bodybuggs and thought it was overkill. But if my first month of being bugged has taught me anything, the bodybugg is a tool that helps you change your body and be truly honest with yourself, maybe for the first time in your life.

It’s 1:00 PM, and I just finished my training session.  I really thought I'd done so much today. The good news: it says I’ve burned 1,585 so far today—only 1,315 more to go before the day is over. The bad news: I'm beat and what I want 2 eat will not help take down the 1,315 left 2 burn.  But, the best news today is that all my measurements went down since my last measurements, my neck, legs, arms, hips, chest etc.  I also gained 9lbs of lean body mass/muscle weight(I didn't actually gain 9lbs on the scale but its actually a really good thing).  I also lost another 6.25 inches of fat off my whole body.  I'm so excited!!!

But the bodybugg is, by its nature, a good news/bad news thing—you cannot dodge reality unless you take it off, which basically amounts to quitting. And now that the new bodybugg is half the size and thickness of the old one, you can just about keep it strapped on all day. In conjunction with your specific body parameters (age, gender, height, weight), the bodybugg’s four sensors measure your motion, skin temperature, the rate at which heat is dissipating from your body, and skin impedance (sweat rate), which tracks your calorie expenditure with 95 percent accuracy.

The concept behind the bodybugg is simple—you must burn more calories than you consume if you want to lose weight. It automatically tracks what you burn, then the user enters what they eat. And this is easy, too, because the tracking system has a huge database of food built in. This morning, I entered “Luna power bar,” and it found my exact flavor and everything right away. The hardest part, really, is remembering what you ate and being honest about how much. “Most people underestimate how much they eat and they overestimate how much they burn,” says JK, Trainer of fitness education for 24 Hour Fitness.  My Trainer JK says that I on the other hand enter everything I eat (& I do mean everything) but, my problem is that I do not eat enough protein ever. 

I'm not a fan of meat...not that I care bout the animals but I just don't like the taste or texture.  I also am trying really hard to meet my quota for everyday.  With my brain injury I NEVER feel hungry!  Which most of you may think is a blessing in disguise but it's not.

 “People eat for many different reasons: emotional issues, boredom, or, sometimes you don’t remember putting the food in your mouth if you are pre-occupied.”

Those who actually log their food accurately, it’s shocking for them how many calories they consume. “They go to Starbucks and think they are getting coffee and a bagel, but they actually get a caramel macchiato, which is half their calories for the day. Because people really don’t know how many calories are in things.”

I’m in the midst of training for my marathon called life. And I eat healthy foods, so perhaps I thought I could eat more of it. But JK tells me this is typical, too. “You see people who want to train for a marathon and they gain weight. They think they are training and running every day so they eat a lot more food,” he says. “But the bodybugg holds you accountable. If you keep yourself accountable to bodybugg, you can’t help but be successful. If you’re using it properly you have to go out of your way not get results.”

The third thing I discovered in my first month of bodybugging is that I burn plenty of calories when I’m working out, but while I’m working on the computer, I might as well be sleeping. In fact, I burn just over 1.5 calories a minute.

I had a similar experience with my bodybugg when I first started using it. “I burn about 1.1 calories sleeping. When I’m at my just using my computer I burn about 1.1-1.3 calories. So I realized I had to change it up while I’m working. I had to move around, sit on a ball, jump up and down once in a while.

This season’s Biggest Loser contestants, who all used the bodybugg, learned a similar lessons early in their training.  I love this show.

At least for the moment, the bodybugg has done its job, and I guess that’s the whole point. :)