I bought a used "GoWear Fit" device on ebay, for $75 (which included shipping). The device is made by "bodymedia," and it is identical to the "body bugg" that apparently gets used on the show "The Biggest Loser" (which I have never seen.)
I have been using it to track how many calories I burn, and eat (the latter you have to plug in yourself, using its software. You can't use the device without the software, and the software costs anywhere from $7 to $13 a month, depending on how long you want to commit to using it.) The software displays in a webpage that shows me how much moderate versus vigorous exercise I'm getting, how many "steps" (or step-equivalent, because the readings are too generous to be actual steps) I take in a day, how much sleep I'm getting (versus time spent simply lying down), whether I'm running a calorie deficit or surplus, etc.
It's been pretty eye-opening.
For one thing, I burn a LOT more calories than I thought I did--on the order of 2000 calories on days I don't explicitly exercise, and 2500 on days I do. But I also EAT a lot more calories than I thought. A LOT. To give you a typical day where I feel like I'm actually kind of "dieting" (meaning I could have eaten a lot more than I did): I have coffee in the morning for breakfast, a salad for lunch, veggies and hummus with a small serving of tortilla chips for dinner, and nothing else (seriously, NOTHING else). What I just described is over 1400 calories. I'm not overestimating. I make the food myself, weigh everything... it's really, truly, over 1400 calories.
So on days when I eat "normally," I'm pretty easily hitting 2000. On days I splurge, I pretty easily hit 2500. This is all confirmed via rigorous use of the calorie tracking software. No wonder I've just been maintaining my weight for years!
I don't expect to use this little meter device for long--maybe a month or two, to get a sense of how much I burn and eat. After that, I'd be willing to lend it to whichever of you would like to borrow it. I think it's a pretty valuable tool.
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My friend John (common enough name and no pets) has an app on his i-phone that does much of what you describe - counts calories, interprets his exercise, etc. Kipsy, you might check it out.
ReplyDeleteKipsy already has that same app--it's actually what inspired me to look at the GoWear Fit. The GWF has the added advantage of measuring your calorie burn. It's interesting--but I have to confess, I'm increasingly disappointed in it. It underestimates a lot--for instance, a seriously intense spinning class, where I feel like I'm going to pass out and/or throw up, measures like a modest walk. That's because in a spinning class, you don't move your arms much. So it ain't perfect. But showing you how much non-exercise, passive movement contributes to your calorie burn--that has been super enlightening. I'd say day-to-day activity--walking places, taking the stairs, doing housework--is far more important to calorie burn than formal exercise. And food intake dominates both, by a wide margin.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is portion size makes all the difference. And condiments count! Hummus and chips could be 150 calories or 350 calories depending on amount and recipe (how much olive oil and tahini do you add)
ReplyDeleteWhat still really galls me is how some people can just eat whatever (TALL PEOPLE!) and I eat bird feed and am still stocky.
I just read John McDougall's book on a diet program and he says you can eat as much as you like as long as it isn't fat or oil. I'm with you Uncle Sam, I starve myself and maybe lose one pound, then eat one high calorie thing the next day and gain the pound back.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm still laughing that Uncle Sam called herself "stocky"
ReplyDeleteChip
Oh, I hear ya, Uncle Sam--portion control matters. And I don't do it. When I eat salad, I eat a BIG ASS SALAD. When I eat hummus, I eat half a pint, easily. I add no oil at all to my hummus. I use a lot of tahini. Like I said, I measure everything, so I'm not guessing on portion size or calorie content of the ingredients. In fact, I think dieting is pretty much the only way to lose weight. (Not to be healthy, but "to lose weight.") Exercise doesn't cut it. To give you a sense of it, I just got back from the Canadian Rockies where I literally hiked 12-17 miles a day (confirmed by my GPS as well as maps). My bodymedia, which is fairly accurate for this kind of movement, says I burned in the order of 3000-3500 calories a day. That's HIKING, strenuously uphill for half the way, for about 8 hours a day, and I would just burn (if I ate literally nothing) a pound or less of fat everyday. This was supported by the amount of weight I lost after doing this for ten days--I lost 3 pounds.
ReplyDeleteMomcat, you aren't gaining and losing a pound a day from one high-calorie dish. A pound is 3500 calories--you, too, are subject to the laws of thermodynamics. But you might eat a high calorie dish, which almost certainly has a lot of salt and carbs, which your body then processes with a lot of water. So what you've instantly gained is water weight.
Chip--someone once referred to me as "stubby." When my face fell, she "repaired" the damage by saying, "You know, like, you're squat." It still smarts twenty years later. (The girl who said it was in eighth grade, and liked me.)
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was helping to clean up after a "Dad and Me at the Pool" event by carrying a full garbage can to the dumpster. A man who was also helping started to protest that I might need help carrying it when another young man mentioned that I'd been carting heavier things and that I was "burly". I think he meant it as a compliment too.
ReplyDeleteI would like to take you up on your offer to borrow the BodyFit devise. I have a friend that needs to loose weight and I want to drop 5 to 10 lbs and we thought it might be easier to do it as a team.
ReplyDeleteok--I have to get it back from my roommate--you might have to wait a month or two! (You snooze, you lose.)
ReplyDelete