Fitness Tracker slows weight loss?

Uhh… maybe, but not exactly. There has been a recent University of Pittsburgh study, not a bad one, I might add – 470 people aged 18-35, decent group – that suggests that using a Fitness Tracker could cause less weight loss. Apparently, half the group with the tracker lost only 7.7 pounds, and the other half without the tracker lost 13 pounds. What does this mean?

What the study does not do, thank goodness, is suggest a direct correlation why this is happening. Some of the analysis is of an indirect correlation. In other words, the Tracker did not cause less loss. What caused less loss, is the people being able to see the results (or lack of results) and thus the finding that the difficulty was disheartening. And in a sense, the Tracker equipment and any available data, uploading it, looking at it – was a distraction.

I would like to suggest one more possibility. Putting on and wearing the tracker is a burden… and I’m concerned that the commitment to wearing the goofy tracker subtracted from the commitment to losing the weight. The people wearing the tracker felt that they had already done enough by making that commitment, and were satisfied that this would somehow do the trick.

But all is not lost, and don’t throw away your tracker. Just don’t let it distract you. Bring it in, and let’s talk about it at your next appointment. And stop thinking about losing weight, think about increasing your fitness and vitality, will you?