EVER LOOK AT YOUR FITNESS TRACKER AND THINK…IS THIS THING WORKING?
I KNOW I HAVE!
Earlier this month I shared a few of my Favorite Empowering Non Scale Victories to track your progress. And many of you responded well but wanted to know if I suggested using a fitness tracker and If I liked my Apple Watch. So, I decided it was time I gave my 411 on Fitness Trackers.
If you’ve ever been in the market for a fitness tracker you know there are too many brands and styles to even mention. That’s why instead of sharing my experience with my apple watch, or breaking down the fit bit, I’m going to give you the basics on the metrics and my perspective to help fill in the gaps for you.
Fitness Trackers are also known as activity trackers are devices or apps used for monitoring and tracking fitness-related metrics like:
1. Exercise Activity
2. Calories Burned
3. Heartbeat/heartrate
The 3 metrics above create controversy because some believe fitness trackers do not accurately track any of those metrics, where others believe one brand or style work better than others. But for me, I think they are a great indicator of your daily efforts and give you a measurable goal to either maintain of exceed.
Exercise Activity : Most fitness trackers are pretty accurate when tracking your steps in a day, but can be skewed by any movement your hand makes. As for your exercise activity, it may vary but if you consistently set your workout settings you can track what you burn during a specific exercise style. Note, Keep an eye on trends.
Calories Burned: I am going to be honest and say there is no way any fitness tracker can accurately calculate how many calories you burn. They only estimate your overall calorie expenditure (calorie burn) based on trends, basic metrics and data collected when you wear your tracker regularly. If you can set your profile settings with your muscle mass and body fat percentage your tracker may be more accurate, but if you are unable to set those two metrics I would consider the CALORIES BURNED data a great indicator of your target burn goal.
Heartbeat/Heartrate:
Most fitness trackers will do a great job at calculating your resting heart rate when you aren’t moving much. But they may not be accurate during your workouts due to time delay & technology. The best way to track your heartrate is using a chest strap monitor.
To put it frankly, like anything, fitness trackers are not a magic pill and will not directly improve your health and wellness efforts, but they are a great tool to help hold you accountable, keep you on track, and help you make measurable progress.
If you’re using an APPLE WATCH share your workouts with me! EMAIL ME to get my APPLE WATCH details.
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