Phone Coaching Notes

Here are notes from my Phone Coaching with Jamaica. I hope some of this helps with any questions other buggers may have.

Facts from Jamaica (the coach, not the beautiful country!)

• ONE pound = 3500 calories, so to lose 1 lb. per week you must have a deficit over the course of that week of 3500 calories.
• Never get below 1000 calories consumed.
• 2000 steps = 1 mile. A step is defined as a "toe heel stride".
• Your "activity" is measured as your resting low x 3. So, if your resting low is 2 calories per minute, when you get up to 6 calories per minute the bugg determines that you are doing "moderate activity".
• There is no journaling capability for the program at this time.
• Apex recommends that you get 96 oz. of water per day. You can use the reminder function to help remind you to drink water!

Labels on food are NOT ALWAYS correct, but you can check them. Here's how:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

So, if you do the math and come up with WAY more calories than the label says, the label is wrong. This helps you check "too-good-to-be-true" foods! This also can help you if your bugg program shows that you're eating more than your log reflects. (gaining weight even with a deficit in the program). You can check labels to make sure that the labels are right. You may also need to measure as maybe you're underestimating the portion sizes.

DO NOT DRAIN THE BATTERY!!! Push the button and if you see 2 green lights the battery is good. If it is not green, charge for a bit when you can. Just do not let it run all the way down.

The "My Nutrition Plan" tab is useful if you want to budget calories for a special event, such as anniversary dinner or something. You can plug in what you're going to eat and drink and then plan that day and even day before around it to "bank" up the calories you need to maintain your deficit.

Once you hit your target in a specific program, CREATE A NEW PROGRAM. So if your goal is to lose 10 pounds in 2 months and you hit that goal in 6 weeks, create the new program at the 6 week mark when you hit the goal. If you set bigger goals (lose 50 pounds in 10 months) then you will be creating a new program less often. Whether or not to do long or short term goals really depends on the person and what motivates you. **Personal note here...I set short goals...I think my first one was for 1.6 pounds per week, which took me to mid-April. I'm almost to that goal weight, so I will start a new program once I hit that goal number. I do better with short term goals...I like to hit the goal, then set a new one! That's just me though. I'm more likely to succeed at losing 100 pounds if I look at it 10 at a time instead of 100 over a long time period. Do what works best for YOU!

And finally, a question lots of people have...do I wear the bugg when I'm sleeping? Jamaica suggests that you wear the bugg once every 4-6 weeks during sleep just to update your resting low. Your resting low will hopefully go UP as you increase muscle, so you want to make sure the bugg is aware of that when it goes up.

I did ask her WHERE to wear this thing! I've heard so many things, so I wanted her opinion. She said "closer to your shoulder than your elbow, along your triceps". OK...what about during biking. She said the only time you don't wear it in the aforementioned spot is when you are doing STATIONARY biking...then and ONLY THEN you should move it closer to your elbow and turned away from your body.

Honestly, I don't really know what all of that means, other than closer to elbow or closer to shoulder. I feel like normally my bugg is turned away from my body, so maybe I wear it wrong on a daily basis. I am going to talk to my trainer and see if she can pinpoint for me the exact path that my triceps runs from my elbow to shoulder and hopefully that will help me know where to put the bugg.

Jamaica also talked about "banking" up calories for special events, but I didn't take much note on this because honestly it's something I can't really see myself doing. If I know I'm going out or whatever I'm just going to be more careful that day and then make sure I exercise. Then if I feel like I ate too much and/or exercised too little I will compensate the next day. I suppose it's better to do the compensation ahead of time, but again, I think you have to do what works for YOU, and that's how it works best for me right now. Maybe once I'm done with the majority of the weight loss my view on that will change...I'll let ya know!

So, that's the low down from my phone coaching session. It lasted 30 minutes exactly, which was kinda disappointing because I thought I had 45 minutes coming to me. I did feel as if she was rushing me off the phone, and she even said she had another client to get to. I was going to mention that I had 45 minutes, but she was in a rush and I didn't have any more pressing questions. I would've liked more clarification on WHERE to wear it, but I think she answered that to the best of her ability and wasn't able to give any more of an answer.

Let me know if anyone has any questions!

Lori