Bio Trainer versus Body Bugg

I looked into the Body Bugg a few months ago and really wanted one but they are pretty pricey. I found the biotrainer online. It's $49 and they offer a 10% discount to WLS surgery patients (use discount code: WLS).  This thing sits on your waistband and counts calories all day long. You can either enter them on bio trainer's website and use their menu options, calorie tracking, etc. for a fee or just write down your daily totals and keep track.  Having it total each day's calorie burn has been a huge motivator for me! I find myself wanting to increase the total calories burned each day so I can see progress. I like it better than a pedometer just counting steps or the heart rate (Mio) which may or may not calculate calories burned correctly. Whatever your method, keeping track of how many calories you burn each day and comparing to how many you ingest will help you forecast whether you are on track to lose or gain weight. Keep moving your body everyday!

How accurate do you find the device to function?  When I read this, I start to become leary.. "...  variations of about 15% max are typical. This is well within the accuracy limit for a consumer product."

I am by no means a professional athlete.  I believe it's pretty accurate compared to my Schwinn Exercise bike's calorie meter, it seems more accurate.  I believe the technology was funded by a National Healthcare study and their device was compared to hyperbolic chamber studies.  So, without getting into engineering or physics discussions... I'd say for $49 it is pretty accurate.  Even 15% of 1,000 calories burned is 150 calories plus or minus.  Overall, the idea is to get a baseline of current caloric burn.  Current calorie intake and start to compare/contrast to see if you are on track to 1) lose weight and 2) increase your calories burned over time. I put together a spreadsheet that included the reading from the Bio Trainer and my BMR, multiplied by 7 and did the same with avg daily calorie consumption.  Subtracted the difference and divided by 3,500 and my spreadsheet came extremely close to my actual weekly pounds lost.  So I think it's pretty accurate.

I was just curious; I hope I didn't sound confrontational.  :) Anything related to an infomercial gets me skeptical right away.  When I visited the website and saw the infomercial related media, I immediately gew leary -- but I wanted it to be true -- hence the reason I asked for your input. Thanks for obliging me. And yes, for $49 it sounds like a great buy.  I will definitely try this before I drop $$$ on the BodyBugg.  Thanks, Donna

LOL-- I just didn't want you to think I was an informercial either.  It's working for me and I am using their website too although they need to enhance it to over ride some USDA #'s for bariatric patients.  They do offer a 10% discount to WLS patients if you enter: WLS into the discount field.  It basically gives you free shipping.