Bodybugg science

Alright....I'm a bit perturbed at the moment. Just finished typing a huge entry and then my STUPID STUPID STUPID internet just shut itself off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could kill it. I hate dial-up!!!! Anyway, I will try to recreate what I just did. However, the b-ball pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.

Bodybugg.....The above picture is what I see everyday when I log into my account. This one is from Janurary 2nd. Everyday I log my food in. As you can see here {click on picture to make larger} I skipped breakfast that day due to waking up at 9 am {was supposed to be at work at 8:45} and had some chocolate to keep myself from starving. Anyway after entering my days food in, the computer calculated that I ate 1439 calories. The bodybugg on my arm calculated the calories I burned at 2226 which is slightly above my goal of 2047. Giving me a calorie deficit of 787 for the day. On the little chart you can see the blip at 9 Am when I was frantically running around trying to get to work. The large blip at noon when I go to the gym and work-out. and then several other blips in the evening when I was cleaning or walking up and down the steps, etc. Household stuff {sucks that cleaning burns that many calories}.

So how does it calculate how many calories I burn? This is taken from the website. It uses various sensors to calculate calorie burn. Other methods such a pedometers and heart rate monitors use only one sensor. The bodybugg uses 4 which enables it to "see" the wearer's context (sitting, sleeping, jogging, walking, etc.). this is what makes it so reliable.

The sensors:
1. Accelerometer - is a 2-axis micro-electro-mechanical sensor device that measures motion. This motion can be mapped to forces (g-force) exerted on the body. By taking gravity and motion into account along with the other sensor data, the wearer's body context and true level of physical exertion can be accurately predicted.
2. Heat Flux - measures the amount of heat being dissipated by the body via a thermally resistant material. In short, it mearues how much heat the wearer's body is giving off. Heat flux is an important parameter because the body thends to heat up the faster it burns calories.
3. Galvanic Skin Response - measures skin conductivity....which is affected by sweat due to physical exertion as well as emotional stimuli such as psychological stress
4. Skin Temperature - Looking at continuous measurement of skin temp in conjunction with data collected from the other sensors can reveal the body's core temp trends which are affected by the level of a person's physical exertion or lack therof.

The date these 4 sensors collect, in conjunction with the wearer's specific body parameters (age, gender, height, weight) enable the most accurate estimation of energy expenditure on the market today outside of a clinical setting.

There it is....enjoy =).