Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The bugg in action

Calories consumed: 1322
Calories burned: 2075
Calorie deficit: 753

I did really well on Tuesday. It was my first day using the Bodybugg, and it was a fun journey.

I didn't work out again, which I was bummed about because I was really looking forward to seeing how many calories I burn doing my normal routines, but I was up coughing in the middle of the night again, so I figured it best to get more sleep than to work out.

I put the bugg on first thing after my shower. I didn't take it off until around 9:30 PM. They tell you to keep it off for at least 1 hour a day to give your skin time to breathe. I put it back on before I went to sleep at 10:30 PM. If you don't wear it while you sleep, the program will estimate your calorie burn based on a variety of factors: age, activity level, height, weight, etc. I let it estimate on Monday night into Tuesday morning, but wanted to wear it Tuesday night into Wednesday morning to see how accurate the estimate was the night before. I'd like to not wear it at night, but if the actual to estimate is drastically different, I may wear it anyway.

Throughout the day, I was able to see, using the little watch-like receiver, how many calories I had burned up to that minute. I liked having this information. I also tracked my meals all day, which allowed me to see how many calories I had consumed. I synced (how the heck do you spell that word?) the bugg to my iMac when I got home from work, and after entering my dinner into the program, discovered that I had only consumed around 1000 calories, and that I had about 250 more calories that I could still eat, while still maintaining a calorie deficit of close to 500. So I had a bowl of cereal (which I measured to keep me on track) around 9:00 PM. Sure, I know eating late is a no-no, but undereating is a no-no, too, so I picked what I thought to be the lesser of two evils.

Let me go back to this calorie deficit thing. The basic principle that the Bodybugg program stresses is that weight gain happens when you consume more calories than you burn. It's simple math. So the program doesn't stress sticking to your calorie target for the day as much as it stresses sticking to your calorie deficit for the day. So my target deficit is 500 calories per day. Sticking with this will allow me to lose 1 pound a week and reach my goal by March 21. So although my daily calorie target is 1550, if I eat more than that, it's ok, but I have to also be willing to work out harder, longer, or more to burn more calories to maintain that 500 calorie deficit. It's pretty basic, and having the bugg allows you to keep tabs on this on the fly and make better food choices as the day goes on.

Speaking of which, I did well again meeting my three goals. I didn't nibble, I had no sweets, and my portions were average. I was tempted to nibble, but also didn't want to have to figure out how many calories were in what I would have nibbled on, so it was easier to just walk away. And the good news is that I wasn't really hungry throughout the day. It was a banner day. I wish they all could be like this. I'd make so much progress.

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