This might be the worst idea yet for losing weight.
It’s called the “Bodybugg” and here is how it works.
You strap it to your arm and it measures and records your temperature, galvanic-skin-response, and movement. It’s kind of like a pedometer but it measures more parameters than just steps.
You upload the recorded data to a website and enter what you’ve eaten during the day and the online system calculates if you ate more or less calories than your body used. Or you can just enter your weight and the system will calculate — on a weekly basis — what your average calorie consumption was. If you gained weight, the system will assume you ate more calories than your body used and vice versa.
The BodyBugg costs about $400 plus a monthly fee to access the online system.
I’m sorry, but the concept behind this contraption is hugely flawed. It’s very possible people lose some weight using this device (just as they do using almost any weight-loss method, whether it’s a diet, a pill, or some contraption). The challenge isn’t losing weight — that’s the easy part. The difficulty comes in maintaining a healthy weight while living a normal life.
What do you think? Would anyone wear a contraption like this for the rest of their life and enter everything they ate into a computer on a daily basis? Absolutely not!
The only approach to weight loss that makes any sense is one where you end up living a life where eating plays the normal, healthy role it’s meant to play.
Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition, and Fitness
Tags: weight loss device
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February 1, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Anonymous
Did you even look at the research behind the sensewear armband or use the bodybugg? If not, your comments on the bodybugg are worthless. Aside from that, your background is no different than those that write diet books. Your conspiracy theories about nutrition and exercise research are the same as everyone elses. I commend you on trying to swim through the diet clutter but use common sense and research to back up your writing.
February 1, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Jason
I agree with Anonymous completely. How can you call a tool like bodybugg, which is based on the laws of energy, “the worst idea yet for losing weight”??? Did you even use the bodybugg?
As anyone that’s actually used bodybugg will tell you, it teaches you how your activity levels and your food intake impact your calorie balance. Isn’t your weight determined by your calorie balance? How is that concept “hugely flawed”?
February 4, 2008 at 10:06 am
Raving bodybugg Fan
Personally, I have worn by bodybugg for 150 consecutive weeks and it is the single best weight management tool available today! Not only did it allow me to reach my goal, but it has given me the freedom and flexibility to live a healthy life. Perhaps you should use it yourself before you judge it. As Plato said, “Should not the mind of the speaker know the truth of the matter about which he is to speak?”