What to look for in a fitness tracker
WRITTEN BY: COACH CHELSEA C | EDITED BY: KRISTEEN WARD
The last couple of years have been a whirlwind, and as many of us are working from home more, it’s easy to not get as much movement as we’d like.
Fitness trackers can help—they’re wearable devices that can be used as a great tool to invest in for activity accountability, heart rate, and to give you a baseline goal to aim for. One in five Americans uses a Fitbit, Apple Watch, or other wearable fitness tracker, according to the New York Times. With their popularity and benefits, many people are deciding to purchase them.
Still not sure? Before you make the decision, check out a few fitness tracker shoulds and shouldn’ts.
What fitness trackers should be used for
Counting steps
If you’re working a job where you may not be active or are sedentary throughout the day, you don’t get as many steps as you should. The tracker can help you get an overview. Tracking your steps consistently each day will give you an accurate measurement of how active you’ve been.
Activity Reminders
A lot of trackers notify you when you have been inactive for a certain period of time. This is a great reminder and accountability feature. It helps you increase your NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) —this calculates your daily energy output when you’re doing your everyday activities like standing, walking, or even fidgeting so you know when and how your body is using energy.
Hydration
Typically fitness trackers come with an app you download on your phone. Water is a crucial part of your weight care journey—it helps your body move, boosts energy, and gives you the ability to sweat in addition to many other benefits. By recording how much water you’re drinking, you can stay on track. (You can also track what you drink by logging a water routine in the Found app.)
Heart rate monitor
Research shows heart rate contributes to a healthy metabolism, blood pressure, and the health of your heart. What’s really cool is that the trackers show your resting heart rate beats per minute (BPM) and heart rate BPM during exercise. You’ll know what your heart beat is while moving, and whether you may be pushing it too hard, or if you need to increase your movement while doing certain activities.
What fitness trackers shouldn’t be used for and issues
Calorie burn
It would be great to see how many calories you burned in a day or during a workout by looking at your tracker, but unfortunately some of them tend to be pretty inaccurate. Some trackers are unable to distinguish the difference between types of movement— thus overestimating the calories burned, and giving you a false sense of achievement. (In fact, movement has plenty of great benefits, but weight loss isn’t one of them.)
Inaccurate software
Some trackers are really well tested in certain aspects like counting steps, and some not so much—one study found that the heart rate monitors on a few trackers weren’t syncing correctly. A few trackers have had very little testing and very little software development—use your best judgment when choosing which one you’d like to go with.
It can be easy to cheat
Sometimes even shaking hands or unloading the dishwasher can boost your step count massively—outside influences can also trick the skin-electricity gauge in your tracker into thinking you're moving more because you’re sweating on a hot day. Some trackers don’t work well for people with darker skin. Keep an eye out for false steps adding up—otherwise you’re likely to feel like you’re reaching your movement goals when you’re not.
Comprehensively, trackers are a great investment. Use them for activity accountability, to be more aware of your activity levels (or inactivity levels), and try not to use them for the data that can be more ambiguous—like calorie burn.
Take some time to log your meals, movement, and other dailies in the app to track your progress. It gives you time to reflect, and science shows it supports your success.
About Coach Chelsea C
As a coach, I’m passionate about nutrition and mental health. I’ve been a health coach since 2021, and I joined Found because the goals and values of the company line up with my own. In 2021 I earned a certification in Health Coaching from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I’m also a certified personal trainer and cancer exercise specialist. As a Coloradan who lives in the mountains, I spend my free time hiking and skiing.
SOURCES
McCarthy, J. (2021, November 20). Gallup Health Series: ACA, Mental Health, fitbits and more. Gallup.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022, from
McCarthy, J. (2021, November 20). One in five U.S. adults use health apps, Wearable Trackers. Gallup.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022, from
Bhatnagar, A., and Nystoriak M.A. Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2018; 5: 135.
Popkin, B. M., D'Anci, K. E., & Rosenberg, I. H. (2010). Water, hydration, and health. Nutrition reviews, 68(8), 439–458.
Roberts, A.,and Skjong, I. “The Best Fitness Trackers.” Wirecutter, 6 Dec. 2021.
Tedesco, S., Sica, M., Ancillao, A., Timmons, S., Barton, J., & O'Flynn, B. (2019). “Accuracy of consumer-level and research-grade activity trackers in ambulatory settings in older adults.” PloS one, 14(5), e0216891.