Should I Use a Fitness Tracker?
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
In recent years, wearing a fitness tracker has become increasingly common. In fact, Pew Research Center found that as of 2020, about 20% of Americans report wearing a fitness tracker.
Many do so to become more active by tracking their physical activity or their daily step count. This ideology may have some merit; a 2019 meta-analysis in JMIR mHealth and uHealth found that step count and activity levels increased for participants who wore a fitness tracker compared to those who didn’t, at least in the short term.
People may also decide to wear a fitness tracker to monitor their sleep quality, heart rate, and stress levels since many fitness trackers also track these data points.
While fitness trackers are often used to promote health, they can also cause harm, especially for those with a history of disordered eating or disordered exercise.
In this blog, learn who might benefit from wearing a fitness tracker, the potential harms of wearing one, and how to decide if you should wear a fitness tracker.
Who Would Benefit From a Fitness Tracker
Some people may find a fitness tracker to help them meet their fitness goals or understand their habits better.
If you are training for a race (like a 5K, marathon, or cycling tour), wearing a fitness tracker can help track your mileage to be sure you’re ready for the big event.
It can help you to monitor your progress as you work towards your ultimate mileage goal. For some, being aware of your pace may be helpful, too. However, be aware if this is breeding unhealthy comparisons and negative self-talk.
In some cases, wearing a fitness tracker can help build a baseline awareness of your physical activity patterns.
It may reveal that you are more active than you thought through unstructured forms of movement like cleaning the house or walking around the office during the workday.
On the contrary, it may reveal that you are more sedentary than you thought.
While this awareness may be beneficial, it can also get out of hand and lead to unhealthy behaviors or thought patterns.
Potential Harms of Wearing a Fitness Tracker
Even for those who start wearing a fitness tracker with good intentions, it could lead to disordered movement or eating patterns. At the very least, it can interfere with the process of tuning into your body’s cues.
If you are tracking numbers like calories burned, it can easily lead to restrictive food behavior. (For the record, fitness trackers are notoriously poor at estimating energy expenditure—a fact backed by a 2022 study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.)
By paying attention to the calories section of your fitness tracker, you may feel that you need to earn your food by burning a certain number of calories instead of trusting your body’s hunger cues to guide eating.
It can also lead to disordered exercise patterns if you become obsessed with reaching a certain number of steps or doing a certain type of exercise.
You may find yourself overriding your body’s need for rest because you haven’t reached an arbitrary step goal (The common goal of 10,000 steps a day is not rooted in science).
So, for some people fitness trackers may be helpful, but for others, they can foster or exacerbate disordered tendencies.
So, should you wear a fitness tracker?
When deciding whether or not to wear a fitness tracker, consider your personal history. A few signs that you may not want to wear one are:
History of an eating disorder or disordered eating
Tendency to become obsessive with numbers like calories or steps
Difficulty connecting to your body’s cues
Achieving a Healthy Balance
If you do choose to wear one but worry about falling into disordered patterns, there are ways to achieve a healthy balance.
You can try only wearing it to track training sessions or taking it off for a few days at a time. This can prevent over-reliance on the device and obsession with the numbers.
Either way, be aware of your body sensations. Don’t ignore how your body feels because the tracker says something different.
If you notice wearing a tracker is hindering your ability to achieve a healthy relationship with food and movement, then refraining from wearing it might be the best decision for you.
Final Thoughts
A fitness tracker can help you reach your fitness goals, but it can also lead to disordered behaviors.
Make sure that the fitness tracker is serving you rather than fostering an unhealthy preoccupation with calories or steps. If you have a history of disordered eating or disordered exercise, it may be best not to use a tracker or to only use it for workouts and not for your daily life.
To foster a better relationship with food, movement, and your body, our 3-part registered dietitian-led masterclass on intuitive eating is a great resource.
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