Healthy weight loss for geeks.
Posts tagged body bugg
Letter to My Trainer
0I’ve been working out with a personal trainer (I haven’t gotten permission to use her name, yet). We had a debate about whether the Body Bugg (BB) or a heart rate monitor (HRM) is a better judge of calorie burn.
If you’re not familiar with the BB, it’s a unit that you wear strapped to your upper left arm all day long. At the end of the day you plug it into your computer, upload your data, and the website will present a graph with your calories burned throughout the day. A HRM is more straightforward – you wear a strap around your chest just under your pecs and it transmits your heart rate to a wrist watch (or other device).
My Polar FT7 came in the mail today. I read the manual, configured it for my weight, height, age, and gender and it dutifully reported that my max heart rate was 188 beats per minute (BPM). You can find yours by subtracting your age from 220. I ran the center portion under water, attached the WearLink® unit, and headed to Zumba. The results are in a letter to my trainer; Jason Tucker; and of course; my Zumba instructor, Kelly Emerson of Vancouver Zumba.
========================================================
Hi [there],
Today I wore a Polar FT7 during an hour of Zumba and came up with the following: 619 cals burned, 59:53 duration, 146 average bpm, 161 max bpm, 10:36 spent in fat burn range, 49:17 spent in fitness range. I uploaded my Body Bugg data and selected the same ~1 hour period and it reports 784 calories burned.
The Body Bugg site says the skew is due to having multiple data points instead of a single data point “which is what other calorie estimation devices such as pedometers and heart rate monitors rely on.” So, is an HRM inferior technology for measuring calorie burn? Maybe, but it’s possible it’s marketing hype. For me, it’s all relative. Whether it’s the scale, Body Bugg, HRM, or Omron body fat tester – their efficacy isn’t in question because as long as you’re using the same device to measure each data point you can tell when it’s going up and down.
I’ll continue to wear the Body Bugg to collect the waking-hours data and the HRM for workouts where intensity is something I’m interested in maintaining. That would be anything other than kickboxing and Zumba since I don’t have much control over the routines. I always squat a little bit lower and squeeze the abs a little bit tighter because I know that’s what is going to get me the most bang for the buck, but I don’t need an HRM to tell me that.
I’m looking forward to hitting the elliptical and seeing how consistently I can keep my heart rate in the fat burn zone. From what I’m seeing from the Zumba data my cardio fitness time is already covered.
/sk
Zumba Testimonials
1Which testimonial would get you to a Zumba class?
The Hot Womens (aka The Instructor Whose Butt Defies Physics)
You’d think being the one of the only guys in a Zumba class is awesome. You’d be right. I spent a lot of money playing an arcade game called Dance Dance Revolution – you know the one, colored arrows? and the four arrows on the floor you step on? Zumba is like playing DDR on random mode only instead of colored arrows you get to follow pretty ladies. =) It doesn’t get much better than that and they really make me feel welcome at every class.
The Weight Loss
When I started I weighed 450 and now I’m down to 350. That’s a lot of hours doing mind-numbingly boring cardio. In an hour of Zumba the average person burns 500-600 calories. At my current weight I’m burning 850-900 calories and I have the body bugg graphs to prove it. Since I started with at Fit on 1st doing Zumba I’ve lost another 15 lbs, inches all over, and I had a blast doing it!
Great Classes (aka The Gym We Do Not Speak Of)
I had been going to a local gym’s Zumba class and – whew, crowded. The instructors were great, but when you have to be careful not to move your arms away from your side so you don’t thwap your neighbor. Yes, it’s that bad. When I found Fit on 1st I was so excited! The class sizes are manageable and the energy is amazing. Each instructor adds their own flare to the class so you’re never bored. Two thumbs up – come give it a try! The first one’s free. =)
What’s The Secret?
22 years ago
I got a Facebook comment on a recent Body Bugg update (3944 calories burned, 2958 calories consumed, and a 986 deficit). The question: “How do you burn so many calories, must have the secret…”
This was my response (written first thing in the morning, so bear with me):
I wish I could say it’s all muscle, but that only accounts for maybe an extra quarter calorie per minute (225 calories over 15 hours)**. I burn ~2750 calories a day at an idle, so that extra 500-1000 comes from deliberate daily exercise. 30m on the treadmill, a couple 15 minute brisk walks, etc. The 4500 calorie days are a Zumba class or a combination of weights and some intervals.
I’ve had a couple surplus days though – no exercise and usual intake. That’s good food, too. After tracking with a Body Bugg like this it’s really easy to see how tossing a Double Bacon Western Cheeseburger in the mix (or something similar) would EASILY pack on the pounds.
So, why 3000 calories at an idle instead of 2000 (USDA break-even calorie number)**? I’m carrying 100 lbs of extra ballast. I’m used to carrying it, so it’s like a workout you do for too long and plateau.
If I had to guess I’d say 2000 is a average, 2500 (extra 500 for the muscle composition), and then an extra 250 for carrying the extra weight brings us to 2750.
So the secret is to either be 100 lbs overweight (I really don’t recommend this one!) and/or lift weights to get the added benefit of the extra burn.
** This is a complete WAG (wild @$$ guess) based on what I’ve been heard from other bodybugg users who average 1-1.5 calories/min at an idle.