I am so inspired by our user success stories that I read – they are always the highlight of my day and I do make sure I read them as often as I can. We often share them around the company – your success fuels our passion to do more with our product. One of our core values as a team is that “we believe in the notion that we have a real impact on our consumers’ lives”. Your stories confirm that. I have seen time and time again the impact of how the product can change someone’s lifestyle through the inspiring success stories. You can view some of the stories online at BodyMedia.com or our Facebook page.

There is one story in particular that hits close to home for me. Less than two years ago, my younger (only in numbers of course) sister, Jenny, made a drastic change in her lifestyle that has enriched her life in many ways and made me, her big sister, REALLY proud of what she accomplished.

In April of 2009 she set out to lose 100 pounds over the course of the year, the old fashioned way no less. No help or program, no surgery, just steady increases in activity and watching what she ate. Of course this approach isn’t right for everyone, but our family really admired her ambition, and Jenny has always been a little strong willed.

Over the course of 12 months she lost an amazing 100 pounds all on her own – walking, exercising, watching what she ate, and tuning into The Biggest Loser each week to stay motivated. She pretended Jillian was on her shoulder all week watching what she did. That is enough to keep anyone focused!

About halfway to her goal she plateaued, as often can happen with any weight loss program or effort. By that point in time, I had started at BodyMedia, so I sent her our Armband. Her first response after a few weeks was “I wish I had this Armband since the beginning to guide me! I had no clue what I was or wasn’t doing, and the power of knowing my numbers was a huge motivator.”

She accomplished her goal on April 15th, 2010 and has been able to maintain her weight loss for almost a year now. Check out these amazing before and after pictures. Since meeting her goal, she puts the Armband on occasionally to get her weight back down a bit or keep herself honest. Her story is really rewarding for me. Although I can’t take credit for her achievement, as she did all of the hard work, it makes me feel great that I was able to be a part of the effort. Equally, all of us here at BodyMedia want to see your success as well!

We have been running a tongue-in-cheek ad that pays tributes to “Losers.” Join our “Losers” club; submit your motivational tips and success. Send us your stories and pictures or post a message on the blog or Facebook page, so we can keep each other motivated.

There are many reasons why resolutions fail, but to me, the number one reason is making the connection and thinking through how you may need to change your habits or lifestyle factors that could impact your ability to achieve your goal. Having a plan that makes your resolution not just about a one-time change, but part of your lifestyle is critical to your success.

For instance, every year I start off with the goal to get better organized, whether it is my kids’ room or my office. I may start off the year cleaning out my e-mail or going through my kids’ closets. However, by mid-January, when school is back in full swing and I am busy at the office, I realize I am back where I started. I didn’t take the time to think through a larger, ongoing plan for organization, like setting up e-mail folders or cubby-holes for the closets.

Setting a goal to lose weight or eat healthier is no different. Research shows there is a large lifestyle component to losing weight. People need to think through their habits that need to change, similar to the way a smoker that always has a cigarette with his morning cup of coffee needs to rethink their morning ritual. Certain activities can trigger your brain to think about eating. For instance if your goal is weight loss, think through your eating patterns: what activities do you associate with snacking, how can you change your daily patterns to eliminate temptations to eat items that may get you off track?

When combined with a lifestyle intervention program, the BodyMedia FIT Armand is proven to help you lose three times more weight, which was the driving factor behind our new partnership with Jenny Craig. Understanding your body’s numbers (calories, steps, activity and sleep), can give you the motivation factor to understand how the choices you make impact your health and fitness and cause you to think through your diet and wellness habits.

Starting off the New Year using the BodyMedia FIT Armband and Activity Manager isn’t just about achieving a New Year’s resolution. It can be a tool to change your behavior and be successful in the long-term. So don’t be so hard on yourself if slip a little, look at the larger picture and make the changes you need to stay on track.

Good luck and please share your success stories, so we can highlight them in this blog. Happy New Year!

All of the information can cause a lot of consumer confusion when trying to figure out which messages are accurate. The reality of the situation is a lot of the weight loss products on the market are not approved or regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meaning they don’t have to validate or back up what they are claiming or saying about their product with clinical research. Although recently, the FDA is putting new regulations in place to limit the claims weight loss products can make without research to prove them.

One highlight of my job is getting to hear consumers’ thoughts on weight loss through focus groups and feedback on our website or Facebook page. I have spoken to a lot of consumers who are looking for guidance when it comes to weight loss products. There are some commonalities I always hear – people want to use something safe and they want to know there is research to support that it works.

BodyMedia FIT™ is classified as a Class II Medical Device, which is regulated by the FDA. What this means for you, is that you can be assured that every claim you hear about our product is validated and true, because we “report” back to the FDA. In addition we adhere to the safety and quality guidelines as outlined for companies such as ours and are ISO 13485 certified (medical device certification).

We are constantly conducting research studies to validate the efficacy and accuracy of our product, which helps us develop new products and partnerships as well as new claims to help you understand the value our Armband can provide.

Just this week, we released the results of two new exciting studies. The first study conducted by the University of South Carolina showed that when you combine BodyMedia FIT or SenseWear (our system for professionals and physicians) with a lifestyle intervention program like a support group, you can lose three times more weight than someone that tried to lose weight on their own. The second study conducted at the University of Iowa validates that the BodyMedia technology is 90% accurate in a real-world setting outside of a lab or a gym. What this means for you is that across the course of everything you do in a day (and we know it ALL counts) we have very strong accuracy. While others might claim higher figures, it is generally for certain activities, not the entire day.

These studies join a growing body of clinical evidence (over 130 published studies in medical journals) that reinforces the value of our body monitoring devices to help aide in your weight loss success.

So what I can say with 100% accuracy is that whatever your weight or fitness goals are, BodyMedia FIT is clinically proven to help you lose weight and achieve your goals… and I promise no pictures of skinny models in bikinis.

We are constantly challenging ourselves to objectively demonstrate the value of BodyMedia FIT technology in rigorous clinical studies, too. So we’re extra thrilled to share with you the results of the first 4 months of an on-going clinical trial evaluating the impact of our wearable body-monitoring system.

The detailed results were presented today at the 29th Annual International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) Trade Show and Convention in San Diego.

These results show that people who wear our body-monitoring system can lose up to 3 times as much weight as those who don’t use the system. Whether a person is participating in a group weight control program or following a self-directed plan, this wearable technology can boost results.

The clinical trial is still under way, and we look forward to sharing the final results with you in the new few months.

If you’re a BodyMedia FIT user, we’d love to hear how the system helps you reach your health and fitness goals. Send us an email to share your story: testimonials@bodymedia.com.

To find out more about these results, please see the announcement we released today.