‘Fitbits’ won’t make you slim, but nor will low-cal diets

A really interesting study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on September 20th 2016. It was called “Effect of Wearable Technology Combined With a Lifestyle Intervention on Long-term Weight Loss”.

The study was badly reported in the media. Med Page Today was the most accurate with “Fitness Trackers Flop for Long-Term Weight Loss”. The Telegraph newspaper doesn’t know the difference between being fatter and achieving less weight loss: “Fitness trackers offer no weight-loss benefit and can make users fatter, says study”. The BBC also got it wrong with “No proof' fitness trackers promote weight loss”. There was evidence for weight loss with a fitness tracker at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months – just a very UNimpressive amount.

The study did have a really striking finding, but it had nothing to do with ‘Fitbit’ type technology...

 

The rest of this article is available to site subscribers, who get access to all articles plus a weekly newsletter.
To continue reading, please login below or sign up for a subscription. Thank you.