Wellness Wednesdays: a tool to help on your quest

Have you watched The Biggest Loser and wondered what those black bands were that all the contestants wear on their arms? You may have heard the trainers refer to them as “bodybuggs“and mention things like “hitting your burn” and wondered what the heck they were talking about.

The devices that The Biggest Loser contestants are wearing are made to monitor several aspects of activity and weight loss. They go beyond the limited capabilities of heart monitors and pedometers and actually monitor steps & calories burned and give you a summary report at the end of the day. (If you include the wrist display, your results are updated in real time.)

I’ve been wearing my BodyMedia device for two weeks now and it has proved invaluable. I was not nearly as active as I had liked to think and the device showed that. (Apparently chasing a kid around doesn’t burn as many calories as you’d think.) I find that the immediate feedback of seeing how many calories I have burned in a workout provides added motivation when I feel like skipping it. I’ve made changes to my routine based on the information I’ve gotten from my BodyMedia armband and have already seen results.

I also like that it gives me the ability to monitor my progress throughout the day. If it’s mid-afternoon and I am not halfway to where I would like to be (either with steps taken, minutes of activity, or calories burned) I know I need to put some more activity into my day.

The bodybugg devices that The Biggest Loser contestants wear are made by BodyMedia and run about $199 for the armband. BodyMedia also makes the GoWear Fit (which as far as I can tell is virtually identical to the bodybugg but ALSO measures the length and quality of your sleep) and starts at $159.

If you are ready to take your workouts and weight-loss to the next level, you might want to invest in one of these monitoring devices.

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GoWearFit may be purchased at the BodyMedia website or at Amazon.com.