You may have seen people posting on social media about the number of steps they’ve taken each day. If you haven’t seen this, you’ve probably noticed other people wearing bands on their wrists that are similar to watches.
All of these people are wearing these bands to help them reach their fitness goals. The question you may have is, ‘do these fitness trackers really work?’ We’re going to look into why these products are so popular and how they can help you reach your ideal weight or fitness level.
Keep reading for more information!
Fitness Tracker Functions
The first things you must know about fitness trackers is that they aren’t just simple step counters or pedometers. If they were, people would likely just use their smartphone–either by using a pre-loaded health app or downloading their preferred program.
With this said, a fitness tracker definitely counts your steps, but they monitor other movements as well. These bands can determine whether you are laying down, standing up, sitting, or even playing a game of bowling–and can calculate the calories burned with each of these activities.
Additionally, fitness trackers can monitor your heart rate. Some smartphones may have this ability by touching a biometric reader, but these readers only work when you touch them. Because you are constantly wearing your fitness tracker, you have access to your heart rate at all times–more on the importance of this later.
If you decide to spring for a higher-end tracker, you will find that these products can measure your sleep. Sure, you know about what time you fall asleep and the time you wake up, but these bands can tell you the quality of your sleep, if and when you reach REM sleep, and whether you are truly sleeping all the way through the night.
Fitness trackers are also capable of keeping track of your blood pressure and other vital signs. Even if you aren’t actively trying to get fit, this can be great information for your doctor to know about any underlying conditions.
Pairing Trackers With Other Devices
One of the biggest benefits of choosing a fitness tracker as opposed to a traditional pedometer is the fact that you can pair these products with your phone. Often, the tracker will have an app that is specifically built for it and can be used with the iOS and Android operating systems.
Generally, these apps will allow you to input the types and amounts of food you consume throughout the day and have suggestions on how much activity you need to burn off the calories. Additionally, there are usually helpful suggestions for on-the-go meals, how many macronutrients you should consume, and ways to make your favorite meals healthier.
Having the ability to not only monitor your movement but also your food intake can allow you to develop healthy, lifelong habits to enable you to reach your goals and maintain your weight. Also, when you must input all of the food you eat, you become more conscientious of portions and the types of food you are putting into your body.
How to Find the Best Fitness Watch
If you decide to search for fitness watches online, you will be inundated with products and reviews. Because there is such a wide variety of these trackers and numerous price points, it can be difficult to determine which is best for your needs.
Often, the more features a fitness watch has, the higher the price. It can be difficult to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a product that you aren’t even sure if you’ll like or use. (How many times have you bought gym equipment with the best intentions, only to see it collect dust!?)
With this said, the ID101HR fit band is a favorite among new wearers of fitness trackers and people that can’t live without them. It can do everything you need it to do but is listed at a great price point!
Reaching Your Goals
As you can see, choosing to wear a fitness tracker will allow you to monitor all of your vitals. These vitals are a great indicator of the progress you are making or the areas of health that you should improve to see the desired results.
If you happen to be competitive in nature, you can work to improve the number of calories burned or steps taken from the previous day. However, you don’t only have to compete against yourself. Through the available apps, you can choose to become involved in virtual communities which will allow you to see other users’ rankings.
The ability to see these rankings will often drive you to work harder and take more steps to ‘win’ or ‘beat’ the competition. You may also choose to invite your friends, family, and co-workers to take part in a more intimate contest.
Regardless of whether you choose to compete against your own personal best, the app’s fitness community, or people you know, there is a level of accountability that will make reaching your health goals fun and easy.
A New Take on Health
Obviously, fitness trackers are a great way to get healthy, lose weight, and reach your goals. However, because these products offer numerous functions, they will allow you insight into your health that you may not otherwise have.
This can be beneficial in preventing diseases and other conditions that come with being overweight, an unhealthy diet, and poor sleep habits, allowing you to live a long & healthy life. If you would like to read more articles on great ways to get healthy, check out our fitness blog!