Armed with data, she becomes a instrument of her own success...

So raise your hand if you've seen "The Biggest Loser."  Have you noticed the armbands they wear?  On the show they're called the Body Bugg.  I got a similar device (made by the same company) called The BodyMedia Fit. 

I wear this armband 23 out of 24 hours a day.  It tracks my calories burned (90% accuracy), my steps taken (95% accuracy), moderate and vigorous activity (for instance, walking vs. jogging/running), as well as my sleep patterns.  Coupled with the information that I enter on the Activity Manager, such as my height, weight, daily nutrition info, and any exercise done when I don't have the armband on (such as swimming), I get a very accurate picture of my life. 

The summary basically wants to show if I'm running a calorie surplus (gaining weight) or a calorie defecit (losing weight). But eventually I can look at trends, if I'm getting complete nutrition, if i need to revise my sleeping habits, if I need to ramp up my activity levels.  It really takes much of the guesswork out of weight loss. There is a fudge factor when it comes to the nutrition info, but the internet is full of Web sites that compile nutrition info if I can't find something on the activity manager (they don't have all the chain restaurants, so a place like CalorieKing.com is helpful).

I also bought Dr. Huizenga's book "Where Did All the Fat Go".  The book explains the diets that the contestants on The Biggest Loser are put on (with a large part dedicated to what happened to the at-home contestants during Season 3 of TBL). What I found most interesting in the book was just about how delusional some people are about their health -- self-reporting vs. the tests. Most of the obese people on his show had no idea just how sick they were.  This is why I have my yearly physicals, put all of my blood test results into one spreadsheet, and try to get my doctors to talk to each other.

So this wasn't a review of the GoWear Fit inasmuch as I wanted to let you know where I'm at.  So far so good, but I hope to meet with a dietitian soon to discuss the info I've gathered and the direction I want to go.