When it comes to fitness tracking devices, most people may think of wearable devices such as Apple Watch or Fitbit; but if you look closely, most of these manufacturers focus on “health” and don’t mention anything about weight loss. Why?
Wearing a fitness tracker like the Apple Watch doesn’t necessarily motivate people to change their behavior, according to a study in The Washington Post.
The report outlines how fitness trackers affect users’ motivation, physical activity, and changes in weight, blood pressure, and other values; the report also cites a 2016 research report based on Fitbit fitness trackers .
The 2016 report found that Fitbit users maintained physical activity better than participants who did not wear it; but after the study was tracked for a year, it found that these physical activity habits of Fitbit users were not enough to produce weight or weight loss. Changes in blood pressure.
The Washington Post also asked John Jakicic, who studies obesity and weight regulation at the University of Kansas, for his opinion. He said products like the Apple Watch are designed with the assumption that “if you give people information, they’ll act.” measures to change their behaviour”, but this is not the case when looking at the longer term.
Jakicic pointed out that if people are provided with related equipment, it usually does not change people’s behavior. It should be said that it will change behavior in a short period of time, about 2 to 3 months, but if the time is longer, this wearing A small item on your wrist might end up in a drawer, or you might wear it continuously and not pay attention to it at all.
The Washington Post also quoted Gary Foster, chief technology officer of the world-renowned weight management brand Weight Watchers, who pointed out that about 40% of members will use this type of fitness tracker to obtain exercise data; but so far Weight Watchers has not found The relationship between fitness tracker use and weight loss.
Foster further stated that wearing a smart device like this can make it easier for users to keep track of their exercise status, but this kind of fitness gadget still cannot automate one of the most important weight loss data-what you eat. Without this kind of data, just tracking your activity data is almost useless.
(First image credit: Flickr/Cedrick Hobson CC BY 2.0)
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