Four Years+ of BodyMedia Data

Yesterday afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule.  Fortunately I found out that the manufacturer will replace my treadmill belt under warranty, so I could cut off the little ripped part and use my own treadmill.  I ran for 40 min and increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph to average 6mph.  The total distance was 4.0 mi.  This run didn't feel as bad as I expected, because I was still (and am still) quite sore from Legs & Back on Monday morning.  I walked an extra 10 min on the treadmill since we'd had a snow day, and I was home all day hardly moving.

This morning I did Insanity the Aslyum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  This worked up a good sweat.  My Basis Peak said I burned about 190 cal.

Today I took a look at all of the BodyMedia data I accumulated over more than four years: 1520 days of data.  I was interested to look at trends of weight gain/loss with my calorie burn and intake.  Well, unfortunately I did not find anything helpful.  Here's a screenshot of two key graphs:

The top graph shows the difference between the calories I burned (according to BodyMedia) and the calories I ate.  A positive number means that I burned more than I ate.  This is plotted over time.  The second graph shows my weight over time. 

As you can see, my weight has been gradually increasing.  Some of this increase is good: it's muscle.  I know this by correlating my waist circumference with it.  However, some of it is definitely fat gain.  Interestingly, over more than four years, I have not been in a weight maintenance mode for long at all - I'm either gaining or losing.  I was maintaining for awhile at about 1/4 of the way from the left of the graph, which is the fall of 2011, but that's about it. 

However, comparing the graphs doesn't give me much insight into why I'm gaining or losing.  I feel like a lot of the peaks and troughs in my weight graph are also mirrored in the calorie difference graph, which doesn't make much sense to me.

In this image, the top graph is the calories I ate per day graphed over time, and the bottom graph is again my weight over time.  Again, I am not seeing much pattern here.  After the maintenance weight part of the graph, I lost a little bit.  As you can see, my average calorie intake was not extraordinariily low.  Later, at about halfway through the graph, when I was also losing weight, I had some lower calorie days, but not exclusively - this was when I was zig-zagging my calories.  At about 3/4 through the graph, when I was also losing weight, my calorie intake was not the lowest.  The last part of the graph, from the highest weight to the end is my weight since my vacation this past August.  As you can see, I've hardly lost any of that weight, even though I'm eating some of the consistently lowest calories in the whole record.

Maybe that means that I should be eating a little more to try to lose that weight?  It's very frustrating.

Moday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played OK - better than the scores would indicate.  In the first round, my partner, Jill, and I lost 6-3.  One of our opponents was really great at the net.  In the second round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 6-2.  This really shouldn't have been so bad - we had two or three games we were up 40-30 and then lost.  In the last round, my partner, Anda, and I won 3-1.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Core.  I burned about 105 calories according to my Basis Peak.  I am quite sore from Legs & Back yesterday.

Last BodyMedia and Basis Peak Comparison

This morning I did P90X Legs & Back.  I know that I am going to feel this one later - actually, I'm feeling it already.  This workout always leaves me sore for a week after the first time I do it after a long break.  It's definitely a good workout, though.  My Basis Peak said I burned about 175 calories in the workout.  Definitely lower than the BodyMedia device would've said, but the highest calorie burn I've gotten from the Peak for weight-lifting-type workout so far.

The last comparison I'm going to do between my old BodyMedia device and my new Basis Peak is the total calories burned in a day.

• Dec. 31: BodyMedia 2748, Basis Peak 2125
• Jan. 1: BodyMedia 2821, Basis Peak 2002
• Jan. 2: BodyMedia 2910, Basis Peak 2191
• Jan. 3: BodyMedia 3061, Basis Peak 2128
• Jan. 4: BodyMedia 3148, Basis Peak 2538

Clearly the BodyMedia device calculates a much larger daily calorie burn.  In fact the BodyMedia totals are about 1.35 times larger than the Basis Peak's.  Which is right?  It's not clear.  However, I have felt for quite awhile that the BodyMedia calorie totals were too large.  Partly because if they were right, then I should be a walking skeleton by now, given what I eat.  But I also think that because I'm not that massive, and so it really would be unlikely for me to be consistently burning upward of 2500 cal/day with the activity I'm doing.  So I think the Basis Peak is probably closer.

That said, it's definitely going to be an adjustment for me to see the lower calorie numbers on the Basis Peak and not panic.  Hopefully I will adjust in a positive way, like not sitting around too much in my office.  We'll see how it goes.

I stopped wearing the BodyMedia device after download its data last night, and it's nice to not have the armband on after over four years.  And since the Basis Peak also has a watch and HRM, it's combined a lot of my typical exercise equipment into one item, which is nice.

Last Day of BodyMedia

Yesterday afternoon I had a practice with my tennis team - all doubles.  I played much better than I did on Wednesday.  In the first round, my partner, Joan, and I came back from losing 4-1 to tying it up 4-4 at the end of the round.  In the second round, my partner, Jill, and I won the first "set" 7-6, but then were losing 3-1 when the round ended.  In the third round, my partner, Grace, and I won 6-3.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  Today is going to be the last day that I wear my BodyMedia device, so I did another comparison, which I'll put below.

In the afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was to run for 60 min at an easy pace (5.8 mph for me) and then put in six 60-s hard intervals (at 7.5 mph for me).  The distance for this came out to be 5.95 mi.  My treadmill hasn't been fixed yet, so I did this run at TCCP again.  I also did a comparison between my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.

Here's a list of all the comparisons.  The second boxing and second run comparisons are the ones I did today.

• 500-step test: BodyMedia 469 steps and 21 calories; Basis Peak 516 steps and 34 calories.
• Run 1: BodyMedia 7960 steps and 460 calories; Basis Peak 7700 steps and 470 calories.
• Run 2: BodyMedia 9565 steps and 575 calories; Basis Peak 9545 steps and 584 calories.
• Boxing 1: BodyMedia 3619 steps and 372 calories; Basis Peak 4064 steps and 311 calories.
• Boxing 2: BodyMedia 2992 steps and 341 calories; Basis Peak 3156 steps and 295 calories.

The running is clearly the most similar between the two devices.  For boxing, the BodyMedia has a higher calorie burn by about 1.2 times for both comparisons; the Basis Peak has a larger number of steps.  I think both devices probably find activities like boxing and tennis to be confusing, because there are not clearly-defined steps and motions, so the algorithms sometimes pick up the activity well and sometimes not.

Boxing Comparison

This morning I did a boxing class.  It was another chance to compare my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.  During the class, my BodyMedia counted 3619 steps and calculate a burn of 372 calories.  In the same amount of time, my Basis Peak counted 4064 steps and calculated a burn of 311 calories.  Yet another confusing comparison.  I have no idea what pattern there is in them!

Here's a summary of the comparisons so far:

• 500-step test: BodyMedia 469 steps and 21 calories; Basis Peak 516 steps and 34 calories.
• Run: BodyMedia 7960 steps and 460 calories; Basis Peak 7700 steps and 470 calories.
• Boxing: BodyMedia 3619 steps and 372 calories; Basis Peak 4064 steps and 311 calories.

Basis Peak and BodyMedia Comparison

Yesterday afternoon I played tennis doubles for a couple hours with my team.  I did not do my best - I just wasn't seeing opportunities to get the ball at the net.  But it was good to get back to some tennis.  I also did a comparison in the calorie burns calculated by my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.  They were quite different.  The BodyMedia calculated about 560 calories, while the Peak calculated between 350 - 400 cal.  The Peak also counted a lot fewer steps, although I don't have exact numbers.

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I concentrated on really keeping my torso straight, which made some of the moves much harder.  My BodyMedia said I burned about 195 calories, while the Peak said about 125 calories; again, a pretty big difference.

I decided to do a test this afternoon.  I walked 500 steps around the house to see what calorie burn and number of steps each device measured.  The BodyMedia counted 469 steps and calculated a burn of 21 calories.  The Basis Peak counted 516 steps and calculated a burn of 34 calories.  This is the opposite pattern compared to what they were doing yesterday in tennis!  So which is correct?  Who knows.  The Basis Peak has definitely been overall counting fewer steps throughout the day and also calculating a lower calorie burn.  I have suspect the BodyMedia calorie burns have been too high for quite awhile, but I thought measuring the steps would be more basic and repeatable.  I guess not.

This afternoon I did my scheduled training run on a treadmill at TCCP, because my treadmill belt is still damaged.  (The repair place is ordering a replacement belt.)  I very carefully noted the start and end on both the BodyMedia and Basis Peak in order to do another comparison.  I ran for 45 minutes, increasing my spead from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, averaging 6 mph.  That gave me a distance of 4.5 mi.  This run actually felt pretty good, which I was surprised about, but can't complain.  For the comparison:  the BodyMedia counted 7960 steps and a burn of 460 calories; the Basis Peak counted 7700 steps and a burn of 470 calories.  These measurements were both much more self-consistent that my step test.  Maybe because it was over a longer period of time, so variations average out?  Or maybe running is easier to measure for the devices so they are more reliable?  Who knows.

Treadmill Problems

Yesterday afternoon I planned to do the next run on my training schedule, which was 45 minutes.  However, about 40 minutes into the running section, my treadmill started making a bad noise.  It didn't seem like it was going to blow up immediately, but it seemed prudent to slow down to a walk.  So I did 40 minutes and 4 miles.  The speed averaged to 6 mph.

It turns out that there is a small rip in the belt of the treadmill.  A section about a half-inch wide has peeled up.  Every time it cycles around the belt, it hits parts of the treadmill, making noise.   Possibly I can cut off this little piece and keep using the treadmill until I can get a repair person to visit, but we'll see.

My Basis Peak did pick up on the running pretty quickly, as it should.  It was very interesting looking at all the data from the run later on.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  This is a good combination to get a lot of sweat going, as well as getting good agility work and some plyo work.  My BodyMedia device said I burned 245 calories, while my Basis Peak said I burned 204 calories.  A bit of a difference, but not as different as the core workout yesterday morning.