Will a fitness tracker help

[MeSarah]

If I want to lose weight will a fitness tracker help me to stay motivated? I've been debating getting one of these for years, and I still don't know if it's worth it. My friend loves his and it really has seemed to help him, but he's also someone who naturally loves to track using numbers, so I'm wondering if the reason he might be getting more benefit out of it is because of this? What do you guys think? Any fitness tracker lovers out there?

[MadMike]

A lot of people find that they're motivated by them but only if they use them properly. You need to use it all the time, even if you don't plan to exercise that day. It's not just for measuring days that you plan to be active. So even if you decide to take the weekend off, measure that. It lets you know both how active you are and how inactive you are. Also, try to invest in one that you feel you can rely on and use it properly. The cheapest ones out there aren't expensive but they're not that accurate either. If you wear them in the wrong way, your data won't be accurate and you'll know it. If it's wrist-worn, put it on your non-dominant wrist and wear it for every minute that you're awake. If you want to track your sleep quality and it has that feature, wear it overnight, too. Have a schedule to keep it charged during periods of inactivity. The more you can trust your numbers, the more you'll let them drive you forward.
It's a matter of your actual desire to get healthy and your willingness to use the tracker properly. If you're not going to do that bare minimum of putting something on your wrist (the correct one) and check your numbers on a regular basis - daily at least - then probably don't bother.

[Speeddemon]

A lot of people find that they're motivated by them but only if they use them properly. You need to use it all the time, even if you don't plan to exercise that day. It's not just for measuring days that you plan to be active. So even if you decide to take the weekend off, measure that. It lets you know both how active you are and how inactive you are. Also, try to invest in one that you feel you can rely on and use it properly. The cheapest ones out there aren't expensive but they're not that accurate either. If you wear them in the wrong way, your data won't be accurate and you'll know it. If it's wrist-worn, put it on your non-dominant wrist and wear it for every minute that you're awake. If you want to track your sleep quality and it has that feature, wear it overnight, too. Have a schedule to keep it charged during periods of inactivity. The more you can trust your numbers, the more you'll let them drive you forward.
It's a matter of your actual desire to get healthy and your willingness to use the tracker properly. If you're not going to do that bare minimum of putting something on your wrist (the correct one) and check your numbers on a regular basis - daily at least - then probably don't bother.

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about it. They can be a useful tool. That said, unless you're really serious about using one it's just a waste of money and you shouldn't bother. If your wondering if you'll be a dedicated tracker, perhaps for the time being you should just download a fitness tracking app on your phone and see how that works out for you. I know that's not as convenient as wearing something on your wrist, but if you're not even willing to make the most of a free app, you're probably not too dedicated to making the most of an expensive fitness tracker either.

[enviroTodd]

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about it. They can be a useful tool. That said, unless you're really serious about using one it's just a waste of money and you shouldn't bother. If your wondering if you'll be a dedicated tracker, perhaps for the time being you should just download a fitness tracking app on your phone and see how that works out for you. I know that's not as convenient as wearing something on your wrist, but if you're not even willing to make the most of a free app, you're probably not too dedicated to making the most of an expensive fitness tracker either.

That's pretty much true. I agree. I never got that much use from fitness apps with pedometers because I put my phone down all the time. But the wearables that track you and give you all the extra data are just giving you information. They're not doing anything for you. So you need to be willing to actually get active and use the information you're being provided to learn about yourself - good and bad. If you take it off on a regular basis, you're cheating yourself. That's the exact opposite of the point to wearing trackers. If the data you're using is fallsified because you don't wear it during your non-active days or because you just can't be bothered, then that data is useless to you. Your daily data is only good because it helps you with your long term trends. If your long term isn't accurate, you can't do anything with it.

[BabyButtons]

That's pretty much true. I agree. I never got that much use from fitness apps with pedometers because I put my phone down all the time. But the wearables that track you and give you all the extra data are just giving you information. They're not doing anything for you. So you need to be willing to actually get active and use the information you're being provided to learn about yourself - good and bad. If you take it off on a regular basis, you're cheating yourself. That's the exact opposite of the point to wearing trackers. If the data you're using is fallsified because you don't wear it during your non-active days or because you just can't be bothered, then that data is useless to you. Your daily data is only good because it helps you with your long term trends. If your long term isn't accurate, you can't do anything with it.

Exactly. It's all about the long-term and being consistent with tracking and understanding the information you're provided and how to best use it to help you. Maybe MeSarah if you want to try a fitness tracker, get a cheap one from Amazon or something. I know it's not as good as getting one of the big brand ones, but if you're really not sure, a cheaper model will at least give you an idea of whether or not you'd even be interested in wearing it all the time. I only recommend that because I agree with enviroTodd that using a phone app doesn't work well for a lot of people because we put our phones down a lot, so they aren't constantly tracking.

[enviroTodd]

Exactly. It's all about the long-term and being consistent with tracking and understanding the information you're provided and how to best use it to help you. Maybe MeSarah if you want to try a fitness tracker, get a cheap one from Amazon or something. I know it's not as good as getting one of the big brand ones, but if you're really not sure, a cheaper model will at least give you an idea of whether or not you'd even be interested in wearing it all the time. I only recommend that because I agree with enviroTodd that using a phone app doesn't work well for a lot of people because we put our phones down a lot, so they aren't constantly tracking.

You could try that with a cheap tracker, but check out the reviews to make sure it does relatively well. If it's to glitchy or unreliable, you won't be able to test your own consistency because you won't trust what you're wearing. You'll shrug it off as inaccurate. Also, if you're going with a cheap one, commit to a short-term that you plan to stick to. The reason is that one of the best things about trackers is the data you accumulate over time. If you go much more than a month with your cheap one, you'll feel as though you're "starting over" when you have to get a good one because your old data won't be included in the data for your new device which, I'm assuming, will be from a different brand and have a different app. Think about choosing a brand and sticking to that. Start with the cheapest model or even an older or used model that you can test out so you can collect data on the app. For instance, get an old, cheaper fitbit model, even if it's second-hand. Collect your data on the Fitbit app while you test it out. Then, when you upgrade to something better, you'll just need to link that to the same app and you won't lose your past data and will build on it.

[MeSarah]

Thanks for everyone weighing in on this. I've got a lot of serious thinking to do now. I truly appreciate all your honesty and advice and I will take it to heart. I truly don't want to waste my money but at the same time I feel like I won't really know if I'll like one until I own one.

[brightstar]

Thanks for everyone weighing in on this. I've got a lot of serious thinking to do now. I truly appreciate all your honesty and advice and I will take it to heart. I truly don't want to waste my money but at the same time I feel like I won't really know if I'll like one until I own one.

That makes a lot of sense. It would be great if they weren't so expensive! Or if there were cheaper more basic ones that you could trust.

[Speeddemon]

That makes a lot of sense. It would be great if they weren't so expensive! Or if there were cheaper more basic ones that you could trust.

Exactly! It would be great if the big fitness brands had a money-back guarantee. Like if you were not satisfied with the device after 30 days you could return it. Or if they had some sort of rent-a-fitness tracking program hahaha.

[Bethie]

Exactly! It would be great if the big fitness brands had a money-back guarantee. Like if you were not satisfied with the device after 30 days you could return it. Or if they had some sort of rent-a-fitness tracking program hahaha.