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Thread: Real World Benefit of wearable fitness trackers?

  1. #1

    Real World Benefit of wearable fitness trackers?

    Hi All,

    I am trying to determine whether or not it wil be useful to me to go down the wearable fitness tracker road. My Walkyrie uses fitbit and seems to like it, it helps her keep mindful of movement and sleep and food tracking, etc. My question is, have you found this kind of device helpful with real world value, or have you found it more of another electronic novelty, rather than it really being an aid to modifying behaviour, tracking, etc.

    I am in my mid 50's, have recently started back into lifting and some cardio and sprinting.

    I'm interested to hear if you have found the data and feedback worth the financial and time investment.

    Thanks so much!!

    TS

  2. #2
    When I'm doing cardio pushes I find it helpful. I try to do that 1 to 2 times a year where I increase my cardio for a 6 week period by focusing on that. Because I'm doing cardio morning and night in those cases.

    I think the answer really depends on you. If you can export the data in a way that you share it with friends/family and create a sense of accountability, then it's great. Jocko Willnik posts a picture of his watch every morning at 4:30am when he wakes up to work out. He sometimes misses due to travel, but in his mind he knows if he skips, then there's a bunch of people on instagram that are going to give him shit.

    If you can make it competitive with friends/family or possibly set up some kind of requirement for you to donate money to a charity you dislike if you fail to meet X goals in Y time frame, then having the tracking can help.

  3. #3
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    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...rticle/2553448

    The only long-ish term study I’m aware of says that they are of a negative long term benefit. Short term studies are six of one, half dozen of the others on results.

    None of them have shown to be particularly accurate at predicting calorie expenditures or measuring heart during exercise.

    I view them like a creatine supplement, it really doesn’t do anything for you, unless you believe it does, then it’s really helpful. (Yes I’m aware that creatine is the most tested and proven non-steroid supplement out there, and that 2% best case scenario improvement is not readily achievable, sustainable or statistically significant). They can be of significant real world value, while providing no useful information.

    Here’s a simple personality test about fitness trackers. What’s your vehicles fuel economy?

    1. If you would get the number off the dash, and not bother to verify. A tracker is right up your alley.
    2. If just put gas in the tank when the light comes on. A tracker will be a short lived novelty.
    3. If you start talking about fuel blends, city or highway, speeds, traffic conditions, blah blah I hate myself for bringing this up. Then a tracker will make you miserable.
    4. You drive a jacked up diesel F250 with mud tires and tell everyone you get 25mpg. Get the tracker, it’ll give you one more thing to lie about.
    Last edited by txdpd; 05-05-2019 at 11:19 PM.
    Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by powell556 View Post
    When I'm doing cardio pushes I find it helpful. I try to do that 1 to 2 times a year where I increase my cardio for a 6 week period by focusing on that. Because I'm doing cardio morning and night in those cases.

    I think the answer really depends on you. If you can export the data in a way that you share it with friends/family and create a sense of accountability, then it's great. Jocko Willnik posts a picture of his watch every morning at 4:30am when he wakes up to work out. He sometimes misses due to travel, but in his mind he knows if he skips, then there's a bunch of people on instagram that are going to give him shit.

    If you can make it competitive with friends/family or possibly set up some kind of requirement for you to donate money to a charity you dislike if you fail to meet X goals in Y time frame, then having the tracking can help.
    I don’t have a wearable tracker, but I do record all my indoor and outdoor bike rides to Strava(bike/run/swim tracking app).
    1) It’s nice to have record of what you did. It’s my automatic logbook.
    2) You can’t cheat and say/think you did more than you did.
    3) You can see yourself getting faster, which feels good.
    3) If you have folks following you, there is a bit of pressure/motivation to get the miles in.

    Before investing in another device, you might see if there’s a phone app that has some of the features you’re interested in and try that first.

  5. #5
    Member
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    My Fitbit Versa was a major part in me losing 40lb from August to January, and maintaining that weight loss since then. Basically, I didn’t believe the calorie numbers it showed... then I finally started entering what I was eating and said “holy crap, maybe it is accurate”. I tried a calorie reduction and soon found the weight melting off.

    I have to wear it consistently and track all my food, but by doing so and correlating the calories burned and eaten with weight, I found my average daily error between the two was about 150-200 calories.

    A tracker with heart rate monitoring etc. will be more accurate WRT calories burned. IMVHO a tracker without heart rate isn’t worth it.

    Right now I’m still reliant on it to regulate my eating. I have years of bad habits to make up for and it’s going to take a long time to calibrate my brain and stomach. I think it’s finally starting to work a little; I can generally do OK provided it’s a “normal” day and not a vacation or a visit with family (I have no willpower when it comes to Mom’s cooking).

    My personal thought is that something like this is very beneficial for weight loss/weight management provided you have the discipline to eat what the numbers tell you. I think that’s a problem many people have—they know they need to eat less, but they don’t know how much they should eat because they don’t know what’s going out, and they either way undershoot and starve themselves, or don’t reduce enough and see no changes, and both of those end up not lasting. But doing this means you need to be able to look at your numbers and see “I can’t eat more than this” and stick to it, not just “I’ll eat whatever I want and see what it comes out to in the end”. For me, this has the effect of both making sure I lose/maintain weight, and motivating me to do more and exercise more so I can eat more
    Last edited by gtae07; 05-06-2019 at 06:00 AM.
    "Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire." - R. A. Heinlein

  6. #6
    Thanks so much for these replies! I really appreciate it.

    Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    I used one when I was just getting back into working out because it was already built into my apple watch. I found it helped with compliance by offering metrics that aided in fat shaming myself (which totally works BTW). Now that I work out every day, I only wear it to the gym because it's not busted enough to warrant a new G Shock. I don't even pay attention to the workout metrics anymore. Unless you need its GPS capabilities, it's probably going to be a short term equipment purchase.

  8. #8
    Member
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    I'll add that my Fitbit was originally purchased because I wanted a smart-ish watch and it seemed to be the best capability to price ratio. The health l-eelated features came second (after I'd had it a while) but I'd say they were well worth the money.

    I do find benefit in the workout metrics and such too. And overall it does motivate me to keep moving and doing more. I've had it almost a year now.
    "Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire." - R. A. Heinlein

  9. #9
    Smoke Bomb / Ninja Vanish Chance's Avatar
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    Nov 2011
    I think @txdpd summed it up pretty well. They're useful for giving you ballpark estimates of your activity / lack-thereof. However, they're definitely not scientific instruments, so if you're a fitness junkie, you probably won't get much use out of it.

    I've enjoyed the Fitbit Charges I've had, and they're not that expensive. If you find yourself not using it, clean it up, throw it back in the box, and karma it on PF.
    "Sapiens dicit: 'Ignoscere divinum est, sed noli pretium plenum pro pizza sero allata solvere.'" - Michelangelo

  10. #10
    Site Supporter Jay585's Avatar
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    I've made a few posts about the Fitbit Charge 3 in the 2019 Weight loss thread.

    For me, it's been a fun toy, but I wish I hadn't spent the money on it. IIRC it was $100 something on Amazon, and I would've preferred to use that money to buy more beef. I've got it so I wear it and use it now, but mostly I just balk at the numbers I'm given (I burned 6700 calories today? No friggin way!)
    "Well you know, it's a toolbox. You put the tools in for the job." Sam

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