Are fitness trackers really worth buying?

Here are some of the most significant pros and cons of fitness trackers.

Pros

1 – Keeps track of your Progress

Exercising daily can be redundant. Until eventually you lose focus and stop doing it.

Having a fitness tracker lets you see how you’re doing each day.

If you see the steps you did today are less than yesterday, you’ll want to make up for it the next day.

If you see that you did more steps today than you did last week, you’ll feel good about yourself.

2 – Motivates You to be Active

Having visual evidence of your progress will give you a sense of pride and accomplishment. When you see yourself steadily making progress, you’ll want to do it every day.

3 – You Can Set Goals

Because you have an idea of the number of steps or the distance you’re capable of, you can challenge yourself to add more gradually.

If you usually do 10,000 steps daily, aim for 12,000 steps beginning next week.

4 – You’ll Want to Eat Healthily

Fitness trackers can monitor not only your activity but your food intake as well.

They allow you to log all the food you ate. Seeing this will make you feel conscious of your food choices.

5 – Lets You Stay Connected

Fitness trackers let you receive notifications, text messages or calls conveniently while you’re in the middle of an exercise.

6 – Monitors Heart Rate

Fitness trackers can monitor your heart rate by measuring your pulse.

Sensors detect changes in your blood volume while the heart pumps blood.

Cons

7 – Not 100% Accurate

This is especially true if you bought a cheap one.

The activities tracked are just estimates and not an accurate measurement.

If you want a reliable figure for your heart rate, check with a heart rate monitor.

8 – It Needs to be Charged

It can already be bothersome to have to charge your laptop, phone, and other gadgets. Having a fitness tracker means there’s one more gadget to charge.

9 – It’s Expensive

Wearable fitness trackers are expensive. Especially if you want a good one.

And it will be even more expensive if you end up seldom using it.

10 – You Focus on the Numbers

You start focusing on the numbers instead of enjoying your exercise.

Exercise is meant to keep you healthy. And it can also be fun and relaxing. But this changes for some once they have a fitness tracker.

The numbers are there to let you know how you’re doing and to motivate you. But some become fixated with the numbers that they push themselves over the limit.

Eventually, you’ll end up burnout or injured.

11 – You Might Compare Yourself With Others 

Fitness trackers allow you to share your figures through social media.

If you went beyond your usual mileage, this entitles you to bragging rights. After all, reaching that wasn’t easy. You feel ecstatic.

Then you see a friend’s mileage exceeding yours. You start feeling bad.

The next day you head out to exercise. But your motive is no longer fitness but competition. And it starts bringing out negative emotions.

It distracts you from the ultimate purpose of having a fitness tracker – to live healthier.

Despite knowing the pros and cons of fitness trackers, it is undeniable that they offer a lot of benefits. How you use it determines if it will work for you or against you.