Study finds popular fitness trackers can overestimate calories burned



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Although fitness checks may be interesting for motivation or to keep an eye on overall activity levels, they may not be very accurate in estimating the amount of calories that the user has burned. The research, which comes from Aberystwyth University in the UK, found that three popular fitness trackers tended to overestimate the amount of calories burned by users, in one case exceeding the actual amount by more than 50%.

The researchers studied the accuracy of the Leftsfit, Letscom HR and Fitbit Charge 2 programs for a BBC program in Wales. In total, their work involved 12 participants, including six men and six women.

During the tests, these participants were asked to walk 10 minutes on a treadmill at about 2.5 km / h, then to jog at about 6.6 km / h. Researchers used indirect calorimetry to control the amount of oxygen used by participants during exercise, comparing it to data collected by fitness trackers.

Based on their data, the researchers found that when walking, the Letscom HR had the most accurate calorie burn estimate possible, overestimating this number by only 2.6%. In comparison, the Letscom HR overestimated by 15.7% and the Fitbit by 53.5%.

However, the figures were reversed when comparing jogging data – Fitbit had the closest estimate, with an underestimated prediction of 4.3%, while Letscom HR had a rate of 39, inflation below 33.4% and inflation rate below 40.1%. Overall, the researchers found that the three models of fitness monitoring were more likely to predict female participants than male participants.

Of course, the risk of inaccuracy does not mean that these trackers are not useful. Users can use tracking devices to monitor the duration of their activity over the course of a day and to track activity over time. Even if a group is inaccurate to a certain extent, the numbers it offers over time will remain consistent and provide an overview … although it does not always have a high degree of accuracy.

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