Activity Trackers May Undermine Weight Loss Efforts, Says Study (sciencedaily.com)

schwit1 quotes a report from New York Times: Wearable activity monitors can count your steps and track your movements, but they don't, apparently, help you lose weight. In fact, you might lose more weight without them. The fascinating finding comes from a study published today in JAMA that found dieting adults who wore activity monitors for 18 months lost significantly fewer pounds over that time than those who did not. The results suggest that activity monitors may not change our behavior in the way we expected (warning: may be paywalled), and raise interesting questions about the tangled relationships between exercise, eating, our willpower and our waistlines. Specifically, the study found that participants who used wearable devices reported an average weight loss of 7.7 pounds, compared to the 13 pounds lost by those who didn't use the devices and only used health counseling. "While usage of wearable devices is currently a popular method to track physical activity -- steps taken per day or calories burned during a workout -- our findings show that adding them to behavioral counseling or weight loss that includes physical activity and reduced calorie intake does not improve weight loss or physical activity engagement. Therefore, within this context, these devices should not be relied upon as tools for weight management in place of effective behavioral counseling for physical activity and diet," said John Jakicic, the study's lead researcher and chair of Pitt's Department of Health and Physical Activity.

Comments

Re:The Self Reward Syndrome

[EEPROMS]

I used to go to the gym 3-4 times a week and do all the exercises etc and lost next to bugger all weight but I did get bigger muscles. The issue is to lose weight there are two simple rules, don't eat anything with a high GI (carbs) index and don't eat too much. If you avoid bread and cakes, beer (I drink spirits now), snacks etc all things high in carbs you will find the weight just falls off. Also reward yourself at least once a week with a sinful dinner setting and that way you don't get bored. Yes exercise should still be in the picture but is a wast of time if you don't get rid of the carbs,