Put on the Armband, Take off the Pounds

By , SparkPeople Blogger
By BodyMedia
 
Janet M's journey to SparkPeople and – eventually BodyMedia's body-monitoring technology – began with a simple Google search.  "I was looking for an online calorie counter and SparkPeople showed up, so I checked it out."  Janet may have come for the calorie-counting, but she stayed for the community.  "They had groups that were my same age, groups that had similar interests – everything I needed. "
 
And the system worked.  In her first year with SparkPeople, Janet lost 60 pounds.  But then she stalled – first for a month, then for a couple months.  More than six months passed with no loss.   Janet felt that she needed something to jump-start her weight loss.
 
 With another Google search she found an armband used on "The Biggest Loser" and invented by BodyMedia.  This BodyMedia technology can automatically and accurately tell you how many calories you burn.   Janet uncovered that she wasn't burning the calories she needed to (something she always suspected).  With the combined tools from SparkPeople and BodyMedia, Janet got back on the losing track and has lost an additional 40 pounds since September. 
 
Hi, everyone.  I'm Theresa from BodyMedia.  SparkPeople has given me the opportunity to write a blog to tell you all about body monitoring technology (and in the process tell you more about BodyMedia FIT – I know, blatant plug).   We even spent a weekend talking to members of the SparkPeople community who use our devices.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the idea behind body monitoring.
 
Think about how many times you scan the dashboard as you drive, making subtle changes in your speed, gear and position on the road. Now imagine if you had the same insight into your body. Technology in the world of weight loss is changing rapidly.   There's lots of activity monitoring technology out there:
  • Pedometers measure steps and distance. 
  • Heart rate monitors help gauge the intensity of an activity.
  • Accelerometers track calories burned by measuring movement.
  • Multi-sensor body monitors combine temperature sensors, heat flux sensors, galvanic skin response sensors and accelerometers to measure not only movement but the intensity of an activity.
 
We all know that weight loss is all about calories in and out.  If you are using these devices for weight loss, accuracy is the key.  And even a little bit of inaccuracy can hurt, especially when the error is compounded over time.  Janet noticed this when she realized that her Wii workouts (using an accelerometer) was overestimating her calorie burn by almost 100%.  "If I used those numbers to set my caloric intake, I would be on a weight gain trend."
 
That's where our BodyMedia FIT Armband separates from the rest.  We've done lots of clinical tests to confirm our accuracy and discovered that we are the most accurate in the market.
 

Here's some additional info on what our BodyMedia FIT Armband delivers:
  • Activity: calories burned, down to a minute-by-minute profile, PLUS steps and the time you spent in vigorous and moderate activity.
  • Food: food-logging tool that give calories consumed PLUS a nutritional breakdown of your macro and micro nutrients.  SparkPeople members can continue to use the site's Nutrition Tracker and enter their daily totals into the BodyMedia system.
  • Sleep: a sleep efficiency score and your sleep/wake patterns along with how long it took you to fall asleep.
The new BodyMedia FIT coach looks at your data and gives you personalized feedback based on your unique profile and goals.  Also, if you use a heart-rate monitor, you can import the data and review it alongside your data from BodyMedia.
 
Learn more about our technology and save 20% now (exclusive to SparkPeople members)! Click here. Savings will be applied at checkout.

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