It took a two-year study before researchers at the University of Pittsburg figured out that wearable technology has nothing to do with losing people weight the more they use it.
To follow up with the facts, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article discussing and proving the said research as reported by Katrina Clarke from The Star. Moreover, they put into research 470 overweight adult for study with age ranging from 18 to 35 years old.
In the said study, researchers applied low-calorie diets with physical activities and group discussions, counseling, meeting sessions face-to-face. Seems similar to the Big Brother house, right?
Because after six months, the participants were divided into two groups: the first group has the activity trackers for monitoring, while the second group was only self-monitoring the activities through logging onto a study website where members only met the researchers once a month over the next 18 months.
As a result, researchers proved that the second group (the one without the trackers) lost an average of 13 pounds. On the other hand, the first group (the one with the trackers) lost only an average of 7.7 kg.
Head researcher Dr. John Jakicic told CNBC his concern for the public to understand that buying a wearable technology doesn't mean a success for a weight loss goal.
"The biggest takeaway isn't just 'Hey don't use them, they don't work," Jakicic said. "Maybe relying on these devices too much will hamper your effort. Before we recommend them to everybody, we need to say they're for some people, but for some, they don't work well. We have more to understand that."
Jakicic also added that " People may tend to focus on the activity that they kind of lost touch with the other pieces that are important for their weight- and that's having attention to their diet."
Though these wearable technology or fitness trackers can help in tracking weight loss improvements, it offers nothing more and nothing less. Do not believe in false advertisements saying that they can make people lose weight more.
