Alright Veeky Forums, are these things a fucking scam, or what?

Alright Veeky Forums, are these things a fucking scam, or what?

My girlfriend got a Fitbit two years ago, and, even though she reaches her "goals" on most days, she's gradually been gaining weight ever since (and not the good kind of weight). She knows it's not actually helping, but she's addicted to the little buzz vibration it makes when she reaches a goal.

Multiple research studies have confirmed that fitness trackers do not help and may even make users less fit. What can we, actual Veeky Forums educated people, do about these maladies upon the fitness community?

>What can we, actual Veeky Forums educated people, do about these maladies upon the fitness community?

Be better. That's enough.

Up the goal and eat less? Hardly rocket science

Fitbits are great though. I wear mine every day. The only problem is normies think using one is an excuse to pig out.

It's not a scam it's just not a solution.
It has decent hardware and an okay app, but it doesn't magically make you lose weight. Anyone that's read the sticky knows it takes a lot more than walking to change your body. That being said you can use it to help improve yoursef. It can help you determine if you've overtrained, tell you if youre sleep is poor, and remind you to move around at the office.

Also
>Gf

I'm a statistician, so I like the tracking and data visualization. I got a charge 2 for my anniversary in October, and have gone from 235 to 205 with it.

Is it 100% accurate? No. But it's internally consistent. A 500 calorie run today is analogous to a 500 calorie run tomorrow. Was it exactly 500 calories? Nope. It was probably in the range of 400-600, according to their website. But together with calorie counting, it has really helped me change my lifestyle. Whatever it takes to get a person motivated.

i'm thinking of getting one of similar things (garmin vivosmart hr has caught my eye) for tracking my heart rate after heavy squats and sprints, and to see my vo2 max gains and sleep patterns, but are those things actually good for that? i've heard they all kind of suck at near max levels of heart rate.

Data scientist here. Had an ionic and returned it. I think if you know what you're doing Fitbit doesn't cut it. If you wanted heart rate data, you would wear a chest strap. If you wanted sleep data, you would use one of those EEG sleep masks. Same with calories, if you're a statistician, why are you using some subpar software pandered to fat people instead of writing you're own?

Just get a chest heart rate monitor if you really want that. Sleep patterns are bullshit, just Google the studies.

>are these things a fucking scam, or what?
I'm not a strong believer. They are highly useful, but they only augment - not replace - hard work.

>she reaches her "goals" on most days,
That means her goals are set too low.

If she hits the pedometer goal without going out of her way to walk/run, raise that goal. Otherwise add a calorie-intake goal.

You better be a female having such gay pictures on your drive.

I'm a statistician, so I like the tracking and data visualization. I got a charge 2 for my anniversary in October, and have gone from 235 to 205 with it.

Is it 100% accurate? No. But it's internally consistent. A 500 calorie run today is analogous to a 500 calorie run tomorrow. Was it exactly 500 calories? Nope. It was probably in the range of 400-600, according to their website. But together with calorie counting, it has really helped me change my lifestyle. Whatever it takes to get a person motivated.

They're not a scam if they're used in conjunction with (NOT in place of) a regiment of diet and exercise.

I got one because just having something strapped to my wrist is a good reminder for accountability. And I disregard the MFP calorie adjustments

I have a blaze and generally enjoy having it, mostly for the heart rate and sleep monitoring. It obviously does nothing on its own and I think it's odd that people think that buying a fitbit will somehow motivate them or make them more fit simply by existing, but it can be a handy tool if used properly with an understanding of its limitations. The calories burned tracking is not good, at all, and needs to be approached with a lot of caution. The heart rate monitoring tends to be spot-on though, so if you're looking to hit a target heart rate without having to stop to fondle your wrists and count to ten it can be helpful. The sleep tracking is also good - it detected that I wasn't getting enough REM sleep when I got it. I sought help in getting higher quality sleep - having no idea beforehand that I had a problem - and I feel much better these days.
tl;dr, not necessary or even that great, but a good thing to have if you've got the money.

I think counting steps is stupid and hate fitbits. that being said I have a garmin vivofit to help me keep track of my workouts per week, my time i spend per week exercising, heart rate, and my sleep schedule. Its not a "fix" to get fit, just like tracking your calories isnt a way to lose weight if you make no changes. Its a tool, and you use it as such.

Using it to bring awareness to your habits can be helpful if you have the education and insight of nutrition and metabolism to utilize it properly, but many probably use it as an excuse to treat themselves. "Oh I met my steps today, so I can have dessert." Even though that dessert is probably more calories than what they burned meeting those steps. Not much you can do for those people until they can can be honest with themselves enough to realize theyre not doing themselves any favors. Maybe your GF should try keeping track of her calories she ingests for a week to see that her "goals" shes reaching is no where near enough to offset the food shes taking in. It would be an eye opener, and maybe motivate her a little more when she realizes shes wasted a met goal with the chips she ate that day or something.

I fucking love my Apple Watch. It’s great at tracking cardio, but the calorie tracker for strength training is basically fiction lol

garmin vivoactive hr. I dunno what even the damn thing was called anymore. I just use it.

Bought a Flex 2 (just a band with a tracker) mostly to track the calories I burn when swimming so I can eat enough to account for it as I'm bulking

also the buzzing of alarms and meeting goals is really nice

The discipline required to maintain an actual diet and exercise regimen negates the need for a meme wristwatch.

I'm a male (girl)

Is the sleep tracking any good?

>Alright Veeky Forums, are these things a fucking scam, or what?
Yes. They're garbage for 'fitness' use and just provide tracking and biometric data to the manufacturer, which they sell to marketers, who build a personalized profile of you so they can send you targeted ads for shit they want you to buy. Data also bought by the government so they can track your movements and activities.

Whether you believe any of that or not is irrelevant. You do not NEED this garbage just to be fit, it does NOTHING for you. Just lift, that's all you need to do.

You can take a look online, there are a few studies.
It does a good job detecting when you fall asleep, when you wake up, and when you move around.
I did a little research into sleep cycles though, and the answer is that it cannot be great because the only way to actually measure sleep stages is with magnetic and electric sensors (picrelated). There are a few projects out there trying to do this, I'm keeping my eyes on Neuroon open

I just mine for the heart beat and timing my sets properly