We Tried It: The Gruve Calorie Burn Tracker

That's Fit recently road-tested the Gruve, a movement sensor device that tracks your calories and lets you know how your doing with the click of its "Halo Light Bar." This device was developed in conjunction with the Mayo Clinic to monitor daily activity and encourage more movement.

The small device clips onto the waist of your pants and is barely noticeable. You download the days' activities into a computer program and it tells you how many calories you've burned for the day, as well as which time periods you were the most and least active.

Between downloads you can check how you're doing with the "Halo Light Bar." When you push it, the bar lights up and the color tells you how you're doing. It starts out red until you've burned 25 percent of your daily caloric burn goal, then shifts to orange (up to 50 percent), then yellow (up to 75 percent), then blue (up to 100 percent). When you have met your calorie burn and movement goals for the day it turns green.

The other great part of this device(and ironically it only happens when I'm blogging ... ) is that it'll buzz you if you're not moving enough. The company, Muve, said that if you're sedentary for too long, your metabolism will drop. Using the inputs from the computer, the Gruve will estimate what your "drop time" is and buzz you five minutes before you go into this state and then again as you enter into this state. It's disconcerting, but it does get you to get up and move around a bit.

The Gruve retails for $199, which includes one year of tracking in their computer program. They are offering a discount until April 15 where you can buy the device for $129.95 if you enter the promo code BlogNGruve.

The Pros
It's a simple, easy-to-use device that lets you track your movements during the day and keep a detailed journal through their computer program. It is unobtrusive to wear. If anyone notices it, they'll just assume it's a pedometer. It has good science behind it and can work well as a motivational tool.

The Cons
It's a little pricey and, the biggest drawback for many people will be that it's not Mac compatible yet. (It will be in July 2010). This was a big con for those of us who live in a Mac world. I had to partition my hard drive and download drivers and a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn't want to do. I blew about four hours of my day to get it up and working. While I appreciate the buzzing that the Gruve does to remind you to get your lazy butt up off the couch, it was a little disconcerting and I never got used to it.

The Takeaway
This is really a high-tech form of journaling, and journaling is a great way to stay on target for calorie goals. If you paired this with a food journal it would be a great one-two punch to the scale. I like the Gruve and will continue to use it when my pants get a little tight.

If you'd like to check out a similar device, check out the Bodybugg, the device used on The "The Biggest Loser."