
GoWear Fit by BodyMedia is an armband that is a lifestyle and calorie management system. You may have seen “The Biggest Loser” contestants wearing a BodyBugg, and the GoWear Fit is the same thing. In simple terms, the armband tells you how many calories you burn each day, and specifically how many calories each activity you do burns.
Last summer I was on a weight loss kick and after trying almost everything for four months, I lost zero pounds (and zero inches)! I read 10 diet books, went to the gym almost every day, did weights, did cardio, and calculated my calorie intake, yet I was not losing even an ounce. WTF?? I was diagnosed officially with hypothyroid (low thyroid), which I suspected I had for years, but I never found losing weight impossible in the past. I am writing about this weight loss tool on my skin care blog because almost everyone is interested in new ways to achieve weight loss, so I wanted to share my experience.
Get your own GoWear Fit from Amazon
GoWear Fit vs BodyBugg
When I got my GoWear Fit last year, I bought it instead of the competing BodyBugg because it was cheaper. The two armbands used to look different, but now it appears that they are the same thing, but I think the GoWear Fit is still cheaper (and Amazon has the best price).
GoWear Fit for weight loss
To see what was going wrong with my metabolism, I bought the GoWear Fit armband to track exactly how many calories I was expending each day. The armband is pretty pricey (it now sells for around $175). I had read great reviews about it online, and there are whole message boards online dedicated to discussing the GoWear Fit, so I was super excited to try it.
The armband is easy to use – just slip it on, velcro it shut, and you’re good to go. At the end of the day, you plug it into your computer, login to the BodyMedia website, and it shows you a graph of how many calories you’ve burned during the day, as well as nearly minute-to-minute. I think the website has added some new features since I last used it in the summer. The graph of burned calories is pretty fascinating – it showed me sitting on the couch watching TV (1 calorie burned per minute), working on my computer (still just 1 calorie a minute), walking to the mailbox (3 calories per minute), doing yoga (5 calories a minute), etc.
What I discovered is that I burned about 1 calorie a minute sitting around, and I burned more doing anything else – walking down the hall, chasing the cat, walking around a store, etc. I know it’s pretty obvious, but you feel really encouraged to get up and do stuff so that it shows up on your graph at the end of the night. It’s also fun to see surprise calorie burns – I burned more calories shopping one day than I did doing yoga for an hour. Woohoo!
The armband also calculates how many steps you take each day, so it acts as a pedometer as well. I was always way, way below the magic 10,000 number:( It also calculates your physical activity (cardio) and again mine was pretty low, except the actual time I was at the gym. So the armband highlighted the fact I really wasn’t being as active each day as I could have been:(
GoWear Fit for sleeping
The most surprising benefit of the GoWear Fit is that it monitors your sleep patterns. The armband can tell when you are just lying there versus when you are actually sleeping. It showed me burning about 1 calorie a minute sleeping, but sometimes I burned even more, which is weird, since that meant I burned more calories sleeping than working at my computer! I wonder if this is totally accurate, or if being under a warm blanket can throw off the device? What I found out is that I am a perfect sleeper, and I have a great sleep efficiency, whatever that means.
My boyfriend always complains he can’t stay asleep and he’s always exhausted so I made him wear the armband for a few nights. His graph was dramatically different than mine, and it showed him waking up once an hour, and never getting restful sleep. I’m pretty sure he has sleep apnea, and this tool was the proof. If you suspect you have sleep problems, I could see this device helping you figure out if something’s wrong, and hopefully with a doctor’s help, you can then get treatment.
Is GoWear Fit worth the money?
My armband told me I burned around 1800-2000 calories a day, and there were a lot of days I didn’t go to the gym because I was so fed up with not losing weight. I was eating about 1300 calories a day, so why I never lost weight is still one of the great mysteries of my life. On the BodyMedia website, you enter in your weight, sex, and height, and I wonder if the graphs just give you a general idea of what you *should* be burning if you have a *normal* metabolism. Many women have metabolisms that are much slower than average, but I wasn’t able to find documentation that states whether the GoWear Fit armband can tell this, or if it just does an average for your weight and height. I still didn’t lose any weight after using the armband, and to this day I haven’t lost any weight, even though I’m an expert on what *should* work. However, given that this is a unique tool that gives you specifics about your daily calorie burn, if you’re at a weight loss plateau and nothing is working, if you need extra motivation, if you have sleep problems, or if you have no idea how many calories you’re burning, I think the GoWear Fit is worth the cost.
GoWear Fit disadvantages
The one bad thing about the armband is that you have to wear it almost 24/7. During the hot summer, I was wearing it around everywhere while wearing tank tops, so I constantly felt self-conscious. It’s not uncomfortable, though, so if you cover it up with a jacket or long-sleeve top, no one will know you have it on. Finally, the initial cost of the armband is expensive, but it is an investment into your health. You also get a three month free membership to the BodyMedia website, but after that you have to pay a monthly subscription to continue to upload your nightly data. Aside from the cost, and the slight embarrassment, there are no other disadvantages to using a GoWear Fit.
Bottom Line
The GoWear Fit, or BodyBugg, is an excellent tool to help achieve your weight loss goals for most people, although I do question whether it can accurately assess your metabolism rate. The armband helps to motivate you to move around more, and it gives you insight into how many calories each daily activity really burns, thus taking away your guessing, which can be way off at times. And it’s the first tool I’ve seen that can help diagnose sleep issues. After using my GoWear Fit for a few months, I felt like I had enough knowledge about my expended daily calories and sleep patterns, so I ended up selling it used on Ebay and getting back 90% of my money!
Have you tried a GoWear Fit or BodyBugg? What did you think?
Tarina Tarantino, the famous pink-haired jewelry designer, has ventured into a beauty line and now sells her sparkly makeup exclusively at Sephora. I’m so excited because I have tons of Tarina jewelry, and I love her style, so I’m sure her makeup will be great as well. I see a splurge coming on… The product packaging is super cute and it’s embellished with rhinestones, skulls, bows, cameos, a Tokyo theme, butterflies, and lots more.
Full Thickening Cream is a new hair product by Living Proof designed to create fuller, thicker looking hair that lasts all day, without falling flat. Since I have thinning, frizzy, limp, lifeless, straggly hair, I have been dying to try this product. Designed by scientists, it contains a new ingredient called Poly Beta Amino Ester-1 that thickens each individual hair strand, yet it doesn’t leave hair crunchy or stiff.
Hard Candy makeup, the fun, colorful makeup that was super popular in the 90s (especially their nail polish and eyeshadow) is now being sold for affordable prices at Walmart. I used to only buy drugstore makeup, but Hard Candy was the first cosmetics line that made me really excited about makeup, and it’s what brought me into Sephora to spend the big bucks (well $35 for an eyeshadow palette).
Cetaphil is the super popular facial cleanser that has a cult following, and almost every Dermatologist seems to recommend it for dry, sensitive, and acne-prone skin. However CeraVe is a newer drugstore gentle cleanser that is quickly gaining in popularity. Cetaphil vs. CeraVe – which one is better?
Having had more than one underarm cyst in the past year is yet another embarrassing skin care problem I’ve unexpectedly encountered. Not only is having a giant lump in your armpit embarrassing, it’s also painful and scary! Overnight I developed a pretty large painful bump, and as a hypochondriac I immediately freaked out and wanted to call a doctor. After about a week the cyst went away on its own, and I was extremely relieved. Then another cyst developed, in my other underarm! What was going on? I want to prevent other people from having the near-panic experience I had, which is why I’m writing about this!
You’ve probably heard of Renova, Retin-A Micro and Retin-A, and know they are good for treating acne and wrinkles, but which one is best? All three prescription-only products share the same main ingredient – topical tretinoin, a form of Vitamin A. Generally, Renova and Retin-A Cream are used to treat fine wrinkles, discolored skin, and rough facial skin, while Retin-A Gel and Retin-A Micro are used to treat acne. You can also get over the counter
I love taking pictures, and I don’t mind having my picture taken, but sometimes cameras seem to bring out the worst in my skin, and I feel like I look terrible half the time in pictures. Luckily I know how to use Photoshop, so I can enhance any photo that needs it! But it would be nice to look great without having to do anything, and that’s why I’m excited about the idea of having a camera that makes your skin picture perfect straight out of the camera.
Latisse is the new FDA-approved eyelash growth treatment that has been shown to grow thicker, darker, and longer eyelashes. Latisse is made by Allergan, the company best known in the beauty industry for Botox and Juvederm. The main ingredient in this prescription-only product is bimatoprost, which is thought to work by keeping your eyelashes in the growth phase longer than normal.
C E Ferulic by SkinCeuticals is an antioxidant serum that is used to prevent photoaging, sun damage, and free radicals, and it defend against environmental aging. The product contains 15% L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C), 1% alpha tocopherol (vitamin E), and ferulic acid, a newer antioxidant, which helps increase the benefits of the vitamin C and E.
Get
Savvy Skin posts via email!
