Your calorie tracker isn’t accurate…sorry!
Okay admit it - you’re friends with somebody who proudly posts their wrist watch after a workout displaying how many calories they burned. Oh god maybe you’re that person… well I’m here to say - keep posting King/Queen. After all, if you didn’t post a selfie in the gym, did you even go? While I’m totally on board with this semi-humble still-flexing approach - your wristwatch is not accurate with calorie expenditure.
How inaccurate?
The authors of a 2017 study found that while wrist-worn trackers were pretty good at measuring heart rate, they are absolute dogshit at estimating calorie expenditure. Here’s a quote, “none of the devices provided estimates of energy expenditure that were within an acceptable range in any setting."
P.S. Check out the chart at the bottom to see individual accuracy percentages by each device. Taken from the study listed at the bottom of this article.
Why does it matter?
I’m all for game-ifying fitness - trying to hit a new high score of calories burnt in an exercise isn’t a bad idea (even if it isn’t accurate). The problem comes from when you eat back those calories. “Weeeellll I did burn 450 calories today during my workout, I can eat an extra serving of fries today.” Wrong. You can’t.
So what are these trackers good for?
Pretty much everything else! My favorite part about them is the step tracking - which is surprisingly accurate. Hitting a minimum of 6,000 steps per day is a great goal.
Verdict: Wrist trackers are useful - just make sure you’re using them correctly.
