fitness Trackers may enhance weight reduction

The survey, which concerned greater than five,000 folks who use the popular weight reduction app Lose It!, observed that 60 percent of users said they misplaced more weight after they paired a health tracker with the app, compared with after they didn't use a tracker. In fact, ninety six percentage of the responders stated they were the usage of an interest tracker at the side of the app.

adding a health tracker to the app might also offer "every other level of duty" for customers, said Charles Teague, CEO of Lose It! "Motivation is a main thing in supporting our contributors shed pounds and it changed into exciting to see the role connecting an pastime tracker to Lose It! can play," Teague informed stay science.

The survey also showed that 92 percentage of customers said using a fitness tracker with the app helps them stay stimulated.

however, it is able to be that folks that use this app are extra devoted to their fitness trackers than folks that don't. 80-seven percent of Lose It! customers stated they wear their activity tracker every day, and seventy eight percentage stated they have used their hobby tracker for a 12 months or extra. that is in evaluation to some other latest survey, which found that about one-third of american citizens who very own a fitness tracker or smartwatch abandon the device within six to twelve months.

the use of the health tracker collectively with the app may also supply users a higher overall picture of their health, Teague said. The Lose It! app calculates how many calories customers need to devour according to day to attain their weight loss desires, and consists of a calorie tracker and a database of meals. customers also can manually log their exercise and weight, and venture pals to compete toward a particular purpose.

but the app does now not automatically music workout routines, sleep or weight, and can most effective song steps routinely if human beings are the usage of an iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, and that is where a health tracker may step in.

Dr. Mitesh S. Patel, an assistant professor of medicine and health care management on the college of Pennsylvania school of drugs, cited that the new survey changed into no longer a scientific have a look at, so there are limitations to what people can draw from the findings. as an example, customers did no longer have their weight measured objectively, so it is now not clear whether they in reality did shed pounds, Patel stated.

Patel, who turned into not worried inside the research, agreed that the people who answered to the survey are probably greater influenced than the average individual within the populace.

And it is probably not the wearable tool itself this is causing people to shed pounds, but rather how the wearable or the app engages customers to encourage them to alternate their conduct, Patel stated.

although wearable devices have the potential to help humans alternate their behaviors, greater studies want to be carried out to look at which engagement strategy works nice for users, Patel said. those studies need to be properly designed and consist of a control group (as an example, a set that does not use a fitness tracker, to be in comparison with a set that does).

Patel and co-workers are inside the method of analyzing which strategies help encourage people the most to trade their conduct. A preceding take a look at from Patel's group discovered that maximum telephone apps are simply as precise at counting steps as wearable gadgets.