FitBit vs. BodyBugg

VS

Finally, after a busy week, and a crazy weekend on the ambulance, I was able to sit down and write this!

For the last 2 weeks, I have been wearing my Fitbit consistently, and my BodyBugg when I could. I was starting to get a little annoyed with the bodybugg on my arm all the time, and needed to take a few days break.  I don’t have a day by day comparison, but enough to know what I liked

First off, what’s a FitBit, and how does it work?

“The Fitbit Tracker contains a motion sensor like the ones found in the Nintendo Wii. The Tracker senses your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities. The Tracker measures the intensity and duration of your physical activities, calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled, how long it took you to fall asleep, the number of times you woke up throughout the night and how long you were actually asleep vs just lying in bed. You can wear the Tracker loosely in your pocket or clipped to your clothing, even bras.”  – fitbit.com

So far, I have to say I have been really impressed with the FitBit!  It came very quickly in the mail, and was simple to set up.  All I had to do to was plug it in, register on their site with the given code, and set up my profile.

The fitbit it’s self is no bigger than your thumb, and can very easily be hidden on your clothing – whether bra, pants, belt, or pocket.  They do claim on their site to watch out for “death by washing machine.”   That made me lol, and I can see how that could easily happen if you aren’t paying attention, so be aware!

So what do I like about Fitbit?  You can wear it on your clothing, and it doesn’t have to be on your arm… I know I have a fun little tan line across my left bicep from the bodybugg.  Also, FitBit has a built in display, which shows you your calories burned, steps taken(built in pedometer), and mileage. You have to buy the display for an additional $79.99 from bodybugg, and it is worn on your wrist in addition to the bugg on your arm.  To upload fitbit to the website, all you have to do is walk by the port… that’s it! With bodybugg, you have to plug everything in, sign in, upload, fill in times when you weren’t wearing it, etc. Fitbit’s website itself is soooo much more user friendly, and the food data base is much easier accessed, and more extensive.  If it isn’t there, it is very easy to add!

Sleep!  Studies are showing more and more that sleep is a very important part of weight loss – if you aren’t getting enough sleep, your hormones leptin(will decrease) and gherlin(will rise) can be affected, which play a major roll in appetite and satiety. No sleep = increased hunger, and less satisfaction when you do actually eat, which can cause you to easily over eat.  Fitbit is able to track your sleep, plus quality of sleep.  You can wear your bodybugg through the night to track your sleep activity, and it will adjust your caloric burn accordingly, but it doesn’t give you a break down of what may be going on.

Accuracy – I thought for sure there would be a greater difference between the two, but there really wasn’t.  Most days the bug would show a higher burn, but the fitbit would still be within 100-150 calories.  The only day I noticed a big difference was on a Sunday that I didn’t do much of anything.  It was almost a 400 calorie difference, but it is better to under estimate vs over estimate. I would still say bodybugg is more accurate, because it is based on your actual thermagenics, but the 3D motion sensing of fitbit is close enough that I feel comfortable recommending it. General population America definitely over estimates it’s calorie expenditure, and under estimates it’s calorie consumption. Better to have a little more of a deficit to make up for this lack of understanding.  Do not wear in water activities, but you can manually record in your activity log what you have done.  Same goes for biking. It won’t pick up biking because your torso is stationary, but you can go through and manually enter your activity.

Price…  I purchased my bodybugg for $169.99(doesn’t include display – display is an additional $79.99).  It comes with 6 months free membership, but then you have to pay a $9.99/month to maintain access. You can get a cheaper monthly rate if you purchase multiple months at a time.  Fitbit – I purchased for only $99.95, and that includes your membership. Once purchased, there are no additional fees, but there is an upgrade option for an additional $49.99 that gives you a more in depth analysis of your data.

All in all, it’s nice to finally see something else on the market to give BodyBugg a run for it’s money.  I give it a thumbs up and say go for it! You can purchase a FitBit here: Fitbit

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