On trial - KI-FIT
Back in June, I tried out a brilliant gadget, Ki-fit, described as a multi-sensor weightloss management system. I donned a black armband and only took it off to shower, or to upload the data via USB (can be done wirelessly) to see what it revealed.
The sensors in the armband (motion, galvanic skin response, heat flux etc) take direct measurements from your body and combined give the outputs of calorie burn, activity, steps and sleep.
And it was fascinating stuff. I blogged the trial at www.therunninginn.co.uk. It was an unusual week for me, where I was sleeping a lot more than usual, and running less, so calorie burning (and you’d imagine consumption) were expected to be less. But I was pleased to discover that on average I was burning around 3,000 calories a day (1,100 on a run – and 600 whilst sleeping, the rest typing at my computer!) – a good thing, as that was what I ate, too.
At first, logging everything I ate was tedious, but if I was focussed on weightloss, I think I wouldn’t have found it a chore. Online reports can be downloaded with a nutritional analysis of your day (this does depend on you inputting all the data of the food you eat, ie protein, carbs, fibre etc – most of which you can find on the food labels). This is really interesting if you’re never quite clear whether you’re getting the right balance.
Knowing that I would be facing a pie chart graphically showing me how much fat I’d consumed in the day, made me opt for healthy snacks.
And, science backs this product. A recent independent study, cited in The British Journal of Sports Medicine found it was only 5 to 10 percent less accurate than the ‘gold standard’, £25,000, portable oxygen analyser.
*£99.99, plus £16.41/month subscription. www.kiperformance.co.uk