The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Yes, the numbers are no different when on my right arm, as far as I can tell. I've only worn in on my calf when doing the ArcTrainer or biking, and I still have a much lower caloric burn than from my HRM.
The first time I did it on my right arm, I did do it upside down, and that might have been goofy. It wouldn't sync with the display and was off by about 100 calories, totally weird, and the only time that ever happened. It syncs normally when rightside up.
Like I said, I only use the right arm if I need a break.
The GWF site states pretty emphatically not to wear anywhere but left arm. There's a guy I follow on twitter (gwuser) who i suspect has something to do with BodyMedia (and is a bike racer, so burns most of his calories on a bike, and acknowledges there are inconsistencies in readings while on bike) He has some damn high burn days, so must read something.
Anyway, a month or so ago, someone asked him on twitter to look at some posts on Spark people about strange step counts when worn on leg. (can't remember if too high or too low). He said this was due to the algorithms reading movement patterns which are unique to arms, and do not correlate to legs while stepping (I think the person was on an elliptical). He recommended once again only to wear on left arm.
That said, like Jane, I often don't wear it if I'm going out socially and have short sleeves where it shows - more becuase I have such fat arms that the band makes an esp. unattractive bulge - not so much because it looks weird, well, maybe at formal events there's the looks weird piece also.
I use the edit off body function if that's the case. As mentioned if you use the burned same as.... option and did a similar activity at the same time in the prior week while wearing the GWF, you can get really close. Otherwise, you have to pick from their activities, which seem to estimate lower than it does when i actually am wearing the thing.
Ok, so this is pretty much the answer I was wondering about. You say you have worn it on your right arm and on your calf; it seems to work properly on both? I just wonder why they say to always use the left tricep. I was thinking it might not collect data properly anywhere else, but why wouldn't it? It just measures body paramaters that I think are pretty much similar everywhere. Maybe it's just for consistency.
Also keep in mind that upon set up, GWF asked whether you're right- or left-handed. I don't know exactly how that figures into the algorithms, but I think a right-handed person wearing the GWF on the right arm may get a higher-than-usual burn rate since there'd presumably be more low-grade movement on the right arm.
I've worn it on my left calf for biking, and the burn seems more accurate then. But that's the only time I've moved it. So far social situations haven't fazed me in wearing it--even wore it to a wedding (though I did have a black shrug so it may've "blended" a little). Didn't receive any comments about it.
Though if I'd been a member of the wedding party rather than just a guest, no, I wouldn't have worn it at all.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
If I walk and swing my arms naturally, the GWF measures.
What if I walk carrying my lunch bag and a bag of my workout clothes in my left arm, then my left arm isn't really swinging...
Will the GWF measure less than if I were carrying nothing and swinging my arms...
Why not do both - walk a set distance at a set pace with and without carrying things and compare the burn or steps...
I finally took mine off. I've had it on for 8 months, and I have a nasty white tan-line on my arm, and I'm tired of being asked "what is that?" and most of all, I'm pretty confident that I know my burn for almost anything I do now!
What's REALLY funny is that I realized the kind of strange GWFit habits I'd gotten into - the biggest one is that I tend to carry things in my right hand so that my left arm can swing freely
So, how can you separate the different burns for different activities? Seems like I can only look at the graph and where it's higher and say, oh, I was doing X at that time. Is there another way to get any more specific?
You can move the sliders at the top to cover specific time periods - so you can narrow down a 30-minute workout and see calories burned during just that time, for example...
So, how can you separate the different burns for different activities? Seems like I can only look at the graph and where it's higher and say, oh, I was doing X at that time. Is there another way to get any more specific?
Handedness has me befuddled a bit. I am completely ambidextrious. When I set up the GWF I chose right handed because I write that way. But that is the only thing I do that is "right handed" - though I can write with my left hand too. Everything else in my day is just based on which hand is closest to the task at hand. (no pun intended).
I think the GWF is, however, largely accurate for me since I lose weight at about the rate I predict from the GWF burn.
You can move the sliders at the top to cover specific time periods - so you can narrow down a 30-minute workout and see calories burned during just that time, for example...
Aaaah. Of course! Thanks. I hit my head today at work, so I think I'm a little fuzzy-headed, or I would have been able to figure that out, haha.
I suspect our arms move in space as we walk due to hip/leg shifting even if not swinging. Like others, I have been somewhat paranoid about carrying things in my right hand versus left. But then I did look at steps in my usual neighborhood siwng walk...the one I use to walk the dog, or just take a quick stroll. When I walk the dog, I prefer to hold his leash in my left hand, and my arm doesn't swing, more being held somewhat still and slightly forward. I've compared steps with dog and little arm movement with steps in same route no dog. Seem very close.
Then since this discussion started today, I've walked to several meetings, carrying my notebook/laptop in my left hand, on my left hip. Again, steps seem right for where I went, despite no real arm swing (but paying attention to the laptop movement, I think there is some natural shoulder swing even with an arm holding something more or less stationary.
That body swing might also explain why on a regular bike (versus a stationary recumbent) the GWF does seem to register close to right.
Handedness has me befuddled a bit. I am completely ambidextrious. When I set up the GWF I chose right handed because I write that way. But that is the only thing I do that is "right handed" - though I can write with my left hand too. Everything else in my day is just based on which hand is closest to the task at hand. (no pun intended).
I think the GWF is, however, largely accurate for me since I lose weight at about the rate I predict from the GWF burn.
Ha! When I was setting mine up, I did wonder about the ambidextrous people, since there wasn't an "ambidextrous" option.
Off-topic: Back when we were younger and my brother liked to make quips even more than he does now, he was fond of saying, "I'd give my left hand to be ambidextrous."
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
You know scribess..I just realized your location. Where in the shadows of the Rockies are you? I happen to have a little Rockies shadow too. Well a lot really.
I'm in Colorado. Google mistakes my zipcode for Denver, but I'm a little north of that.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
My guess is that we can spit on each other.
I am east of the land of Boulder, north of the land of Broomfield.
We probably follow each other around and never even know. lol
MQ5, if you happen to work for an educational publisher, that I'd find very freaky. I grew up nearer Boulder than I am now, so I am less in the shadows of the Rockies now, but they're still very much nearby.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
Sure it does. It does not have an altimeter and air pressure does not have a huge bearing on weight. Of course, if you are new to a high altitude you might have a higher calorie burn at first, as your body will have to work harder for simple respiration. But that would be very slight and would disappear quickly as your body becomes acclimated.
Scribess - happen to work in the same building as Mcgraw Hill lol
Are you weirded out yet?
Sure it does. It does not have an altimeter and air pressure does not have a huge bearing on weight. Of course, if you are new to a high altitude you might have a higher calorie burn at first, as your body will have to work harder for simple respiration. But that would be very slight and would disappear quickly as your body becomes acclimated.
Scribess - happen to work in the same building as Mcgraw Hill lol
Are you weirded out yet?
I work for a different educational publisher. The levels of weirdness are not yet astronomical.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
I grew up nearer Boulder than I am now, so I am less in the shadows of the Rockies now, but they're still very much nearby. 
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