The Go Wear Fit, Part 1

After spending some time at JP Fitness Forums over the past year and a half, I have learned about a lot of cool stuff. One of the coolest being the Go Wear Fit. I had heard about the Bodybugg and had seen pictures and thought it was pretty neat-o, but was hesitant because of its size and price. Right around December of last year, someone posted a link about the new smaller, more affordable Go Wear Fit.

After crunching numbers and always guessing how many calories I was burning in a day, (or not burning as I would later find out) I decided this little tool would make my life a lot easier. I decided to use some birthday money on it and it was in my hands by late February. I have worn it every day since then except for a few days in June when we went to Mexico. It is one of the coolest gadgets I have ever owned. (Well, maybe that is a stretch since my extreme love of my Nintendo Game Boy as a child is frightening. That thing was awesome.)

What is so cool about it you ask? Well, it tells me how many calories I burn in a day taking the guesswork out of how many I should be eating to lose weight. Calories in vs. calories out, right? Well now I know how many are "out", and just need to make sure the "in" continues to be right. It also keeps track of my sleep patterns. Even though it only shows me getting an average of 6 hours a night on weeknights, I don't feel tired or sleep deprived. I would love to get more though.

I would explain how it works, but I will direct you to a recent article by Leigh Peele who explains how both the Bodybugg and Go Wear Fit work, as well as a comparison of the two.

There are a few drawbacks, I will admit it. One being the fact that you have a thing on your arm 24/7 and can get strange looks and questions from people. I almost always have sleeves on, so its not usually an issue, and if I am going to be wearing a dress or tank top, I will just take it off for that time. (You can enter your activity manually if need be.) The other is certain activities don't register as high as you might be burning in actuality i.e. biking. Movements where your arm is stationary don't record as high since the sensor is on your arm. Some other examples are yoga and strength training. This isn't really a problem for me, since I would rather have an underestimate of how many calories I am burning since I am trying to achieve a deficit.

I have learned a lot from the Go Wear Fit in the past 6 months about my activity levels and where I was going wrong with exercise and food. Tomorrow I will talk about what I learned and how my shift has focused in regards to activity and intake.