You want accountability for your exercise, eating, and weigh loss goal? You got it. This past week I tested out the BodyMedia armband. BodyMedia claims to improve weight loss three times by tracking calories burned, calorie intake, physical activity level, steps taken, and sleep habits. The armband doesn’t in any way actually burn calories or fat for you. It simply gathers information and allows you to look at your progress over time and gives you a detailed snap shot of what’s going on inside your body as well as how your food and exercise habits affect your body, fitness, and health.
Different methods work for different people and as long as you are diligent about downloading and viewing the information from the BodyMedia on a daily basis, you can make real progress using this armband. I actually found myself thinking about what my online BodyMedia profile would say to me at the end of the day when I uploaded the data from. Any time I was faced with a food choice, a decision to go to the gym or not, or even choosing between taking the stairs or elevator, I would always make the better decision just because I knew I would have to look at that decision again at the end of the day. I felt as if it turned into a game I was playing against myself, which in terms of long term health and fitness goals, isn’t such a bad thing.
How does it work?
BodyMedia is a small armband with a mini USB connection on it. You buy the band and sign up for an online account. In your online profile, you put in your info and the site helps you to define and create your fitness plan. You can tell it you want to lose weight or just be more active. You can pick how much weight you want to lose each week and how aggressive you want your activities to be. It then does some fancy BodyMedia calculating and tells you what your daily calorie intake should be and how many calories you need to burn to reach that goal. After the band charges up, you slip it on your arm and wear it around all the time (except in the shower or the pool). The five sensors on the BodyMedia constantly track your internal information and take a picture of what’s going on inside your body. Not only does it tell you what you’re doing during times of high activity, but it shows you what your body is doing during your most inactive times as well. At the end of the day, you hook the armband up to your computer via USB and it uploads all your info. You can track your numbers and compare them side by side to see your progress. Being able to see that you only took XX number of steps during the day may inspire you to do something as easy as get up a few times at work and walk around the building. Simple as that, and in the beginning of a fitness and health journey, it’s the little things that you need to take seriously that count. I’m shocked and impressed at people’s ability to sit for eight hours of their day at a desk job. I can’t do it. It hurts. But hopefully the BodyMedia will help you start to move enough so you too can rediscover that sitting for really long periods of time is in fact bad for you.
The down side?
Wear it or Jillian Michaels will yell you into submission.
It costs between $150 and $250 to buy the armband, and then another $7 to $13 a month for the online account needed to track the information the arm band gets from your body. Calorie King cost $85 a year or $12 a month and offers a huge online food and restaurant calorie library as well as several effective tools to help you figure out how many calories you burned in your workout, your BMI, etc. Many of the tools they have you can use for free as well. Sites like Calorie King don’t have the same level of in your face accountability as the BodyMedia armband does (come one, it’s on your arm. All. The. Time. It’s hard not to think about it.), but its easier for some people to pay $12 a month than it is for them to pay $150 all at one time. I also think that if you pay $150 for a product, the online subscription needed to make the thing you bought work should be free. Its frustrating that being healthy is so expensive. Living raw foods cost way more than a fast food burger, and it should be the other way around. Health should be affordable and it should be being unhealthy that causes people to take a look at their checkbook to wonder if it’s something they have the money for this weekend.
That being said, if you have the money, BodyMedia may be the perfect solution for you. BodyMedia accurately does what it says it will do, can be effective if used properly, and is private. However, if you need some extra help, I found plenty of YouTube blogs of people who not only used BodyMedia to be accountable to themselves, but also posted video updates of their progress for that extra push of public accountability and motivation as well.
Truthfully, I may not have been the best person to demo this product. I’m already good about exercising and eating, and I honestly don’t need to lose weight, so the BodyMedia armband isn’t really made for a person like me in mind. I’m also not much of an armband person. I found the band was frequently in the way during my yoga classes and I was constantly aware that there was something squeezing my bicep. It would be nice if I could put it around my calf, rib cage, or some other area, but the manual seemed pretty set on the band going around the bicep, and so I complied. Despite that, I think that if used properly, this product can be effective and easy to use. It’s always good to know more about your body and how your choices and actions affect your health, no matter what your long-term goals or results are. Health education is important. The BodyMedia armband can help you know how your choices affect your body and what they look like side by side with other choices you’ve made at the end of the day. You might be surprised, and that may be all the motivation you need.
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