The Truth about Fitness Trackers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- These days, it seems like pretty much everyone has a smart, fitness tracking watch... But there’s a side to things that we don’t talk about enough: these trackers may actually get in the way of your health goals instead of helping you achieve them.
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For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:
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Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Kim Su
Lead Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Sher DiMarco
Want to work with Future Proof? Reach out to FutureProof@thecreatoratelier.com
Suggestions? Hate mail? Get in touch with the project manager, Lu: contact@befutureproof.ca
This trackers were the key element for me to loose 100lb in 10 months, and stop being obese, but all my friends that decided to imitate me didn’t achieve it, because the other key element, diet and exercise, was not present.
Thats great. Keep it up!
Yeah the fitness tracker doesn't do the work for you that's for sure! Congrats!
This will always be the case . Weight loss and becoming. Healthier isn’t easy you were an outlier yes but this was the case even before smart watches .
The video is informative but I feel the miss the point . The watch is a tool for a person to fine tune their training . I use mine for the heart rate monitor to train in specific cardio zones and a rough calories burned calculation. The watch like in your case could possibly give the person enough motivation to start training for long term for it to become a permanent habit .
I'm on that journey right now! Unfortunately, for the second time. But doing to with consistency and forever in mind this time. Congrats Jorge!
I mean, my old Samsung S10e was able to count steps on it’s own. Got an Apple Watch for Father’s Day a few years ago.
Seemed really cool, but then my doctor totally downplayed the Apple Watch’s heart monitoring functions. Watch: 1 sensor. Real EKG at least half a dozen that get placed all over your body, not just one wrist.
Liked, subscribed, and hit the notification bell! Cool vid Future Proof Health team, can't wait for the content that is to come! Sher, you killed it!
Thanks so much for being here! 🥰
Great content , subscribed!
I've used my smartwatch for close to 3 years and while the numbers of steps I do daily is a metric I keep track of because some days I really feel bad for doing less than 5k (and going on a short walk helps), what I enjoy the most is keeping an eye on my heart rate when working out, to see if I'm working hard enough or not.
I've gained, lost and gained weight with it but one thing that has made me overall, is more active as a person. Even with COVID and peak lockdown I made an effort to workout at least 3 times a week, which is way more than I did the ages of 18-25.
damn these videos are so high quality
🥹 thank you!
Not trying to be a hater, but don't believe any of this info is scientific in any way. It's purely anecdotal, and I disagree with most statements, other than "If you have no prior motivation to exercise, a watch won't give that to you." I mean, yeah I agree, but isn't that kind of obvious?
What a great host Sher is! Subscribed!
Isn't she the coolest 🤩🤩 Happy to have you here!
Thanks for all the love!! It means a lot as I get into this new world. Feeling lucky to work with the cool kids at Future Proof 🙌🏽
♥️ Sher
Also something of note, there's a major difference between smart watches with fitness features vs fitness watches with some smart ones. I've had both and find my Garmin way more useful at just helping me keep track of my workouts.
That’s a very good point! Different focus means different uses (probably).
This! My friend recently switched from Apple watch to the same Garmin watch I have and she's loving it. The Apple watch had too many smart features she didn't need or use, all it did was drain the battery. She much prefers having a fitness watch with smart features now
@@droid2D2C3P0 I love my garmin instinct. All I care about is HR and sleep with good battery. It does this perfectly.
@@droid2D2C3P0paying 3 times more for 2 times less features
I can attest to this! My dad uses a garmin, and it’s a lot harder to fool than my Fitbit
I really enjoyed the new host! Love to see the brand expand. I think this is a solid first video but I wish it went into more about the accuracy of the watches. There are so many features that are overall questionable like the heart rate monitoring accuracy. I'm curious how inaccurate data like that can influence people in their health decisions. I've used a watch for a couple years now and the biggest thing for me is to see how often I am moving and how often I'm standing since I WFM. I'm really excited to see future videos and what health topics you guys cover! I think something really interesting that ya'll could talk about is the trend toward meat substitutes. I feel like people are discovering that they're not all that healthy - but when has a burger (meat or non-meat) supposed to be healthy?
Hey that's a great idea and one we have on the list actually! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!
A couple thoughts, 1. There is virtually no way the heart rate monitor is even remotely accurate in my experience and the calorie tracker is God awful. I've had days where I go to the gym and then go to work or where I'm rock climbing all day and it'll tell me I burned 8500-10,000 calories that day, and I just don't think that's true at all.
2. I think people wanna talk about meat substitutes a lot but the one that often gets thrown out of the conversation is seitan which is thousands of years old and fucking delicious. It also is significantly "healthier" than most meat alternatives (granted it is obviously not gluten free).
This is a great video! I appreciate the time and information provided. I want to offer some feedback. I get what you're saying when you point out the devices are "spying" on you. However to call it spying makes it sound they're conducting illegal activities. Spying has a nefarious connotation. These devices that people purchase monitor specific behavior. The behavior is monitored and collected legally and with permission given that the consumer bought it. Now if a hacker infiltrated the software to collect information without the company or the user being aware, that, by definition, is spying and illegal. It's not fair to connote the two behaviors because they're not equivalent. (Yes, few to no one reads the T&S so users may be agreeing to more than they realize but even that is still not technically spying and it's legal.)
Love the mention of mental health problems related to tracker use. As for the privacy issues, I think most people have been conditioned to not care. Also outro music is 🔥. Congratulations on the new channel!
I found the reminders very annoying. I can sweet like a pig and the watch says I'm not exercising enough. It's best to wear another watch when you're not exercising. Also the watch telling you that you've had poor sleep, when you had a good night sleep. I think I know if I'm tired or slept well etc. Great vid. Subscribed.
@@BritishRacingGreen this just shows that they are crappy gizmos that show unreliable and inaccurate readings. If you need something dependable you need a +500$ device like a garmin, suunto or polar.
2 Future Proof videos in the same day?! what have I done to deserve all of this?
Amazing video, Sher, keep it up, please!
More to come! Thanks for being here 🙏🏻🥰
Ideas for future videos
The truth about COVID vaccine
The truth about puberty blockers
I just got a Fitbit for Christmas and I love it. While I am looking to lose a bit a weight and like the fact that it keeps track of my steps and all that, I’m mostly into it because of its heart rate monitor. For me, understanding how stressed out my heart is during various activities is the major health statistic I use to gauge how my body is acting and improving.
That's great how well its been working for you! Thanks for taking the time to join us and share here, Melanie 💓
That’s exactly right, it’s to see how hard your heart works and recovers. Good job.
All of these reasons in the video are why I refuse to buy a smart watch. Especially the data harvesting.
Love the content!
I use my Apple Watch for my anxiety, actually. The heart rate monitor helps me with visualizing myself calming down from panic attacks, plus knowing the time helps my ADHD-ass not lose track of time in my time blindness.
Should probally stop smoking then...
@@The_real_onefs What?
@rivenharlow and change your diet
@rivenharlow drink water
@@The_real_onefs ??? I don't know why you're telling me this shit. lmao
Would love a deeper a dive on some of the tracking done by these fitness trackers. How accurate is the sleep tracking really? How useful are ECG or pulse ox measurements? What are some of the next health related things that might be tracked?
There is a very good video out there where a guy with a data science background tests the Apple Watch. I recommend it. th-cam.com/video/LPqtfC70QTU/w-d-xo.html
comment for the algorithm
Great host!
Suggestions: Fitness supplements (protein powders, creatine, etc.); Trendy diets
We have some in the works yeah!
I comment to please the TH-cam algorithm, so you can get more views. Excellent video 👍
I am subbed, I am all about this type of content.
Suggestions: soaps (pure Olive oils vs coco oil...), Micro plastics, mental health benefits in the vain of fitness and struggle.
Hey, thanks for the suggestions! These are great and we'll add them to our list of video ideas ✨
@@FutureProofHealththank you!
The olive oil topic actually has a few good things to cover: soaps, sources (most olive oils are cut with bad oils), and the controversial blue health zone magic ingredient (The reasoning behind it is controversial currently).
I was an early adopter of the Fitbit after watching a tech review back in 2010/11. Original I liked concept but started to get a little creeped out when the technology started to expand beyond counting steps, a watch and a heart rate monitor. I’ve since returned to my good old Casio watch.
Oh oh oh, video idea, sugar is in EVERYTHING in places like North America. There are also seems to be a confusion that people think that there are sugars that are healthier (honey, maple syrup, organic sugar, etc) when the health benefits are very minimal in comparison to white sugar. Actual healthy alternatives would be like sweet fruit with fiber and other things our body needs, ie mango, ripe bananas, unprocessed sugar cane, beets, etc.
Great stuff! Although I'm happy to stay im using the same running watch from January 2019. Pretty sure Garmin are exploiting me though!
Let's comment for the algorithm!!!
Future proof video on fitness trackers the same day as Matt Diavella’s 10,000 steps a day video. Coincidence? 🤔
You can lose weight with a good diet without a fitness tracker, however, you can gain weight despite using a fitness tracker if not eating healthy.
My Garmin doesn’t motivate me i just really enjoy looking at all my data and achievements. The only progress I’m interested in is my vo2 max
Can we talk about all the craze of Magnesium Glycinate in Tiktok? Love the new content concept btw, keep it up!
I used my fitness tracker only for 6 months. After that, it's just a watch to tell time.
Absolutely fantastic work from Sher. fastest i’ve ever taped subscribe
that one last bit about privacy settings with toggles tho had my eyes wide, am I the only one who hasn't seen privacy statements settings on phone with toggles (non-iphone user)
Happy start! Great job! I study dietology and we are advised to do nothing about it
I only use mine to help find my phone 😂
Tinfoil hats, tinfoil hats, everyone. Buy one, get one free 😅
In my experience Fitbit is way too inaccurate. It used to overestimate my calories spent by like 500 and wouldn't lose fat due to that. And the heart rate had about a 2 min delay. Garmin is better with this, but could use a better interface.
Unrelated, but I need a hair tutorial! Maybe an ep on hair products
It's pronounced "fishing" for phishing. Great video!
I am keen to get a google smart watch, but the cost is still quite high :(
Wow great first video! Super interesting and Sher is a fantastic host. Love some nuanced nerdiness
Awwweee 🥹 So glad you enjoyed it!
Was so confused when I got two notifications on my watch (yes fitbit) for two future proof videos, but then I remembered the second channel lol
Ok that would be so disorienting 😅 We'll be uploading Thursdays from here on out to stagger that and hopefully give people a bit of a break between notifications!
@@FutureProofHealth ya'll are so hardworking over there at future proof. Keep up the great vidyas! Happy to be apart of your community lol
Great video! Here are video ideas:
- the dark side of depression medication < why psychedelics are better
- how big pharma makes money off of your pain
- 4-day workweek leads to overall better health
- yoga as fitness vs yoga as life/philosophy
Hey Matt! Psychedelics are definitely on our radar so you can look forward to something on that soon 😊 Thanks for tuning in and sharing your ideas! ♥️ Sher
It's also not really that accurate for calorie counting. My fitbit keeps claiming that I spend around 5k a day... I'd have been reduced to dust by now, if that was true.
Can dust post TH-cam comments tho 👀🧐
yay to first video!! def gonna watch this later! ((bookmarked!))
I have def ended workouts earlier than I could’ve because I had reached my goals
This video was really cool ,A video on unhealthy and healthy carbs fat and neutral good and bad sugar formed in the body or
consumed through food 😁✌️
I use my watch to track how many km I cover during my games of field hockey, to time my 5k runs and most importantly on the golf course to record my score and tell me how close I am to the pin.
I absolutely love my garmin and I reccomend it to literally everyone. I'm prone to getting stressed so I love the stress tracker and relax feature. I'm also an amateur fighter so I have been able to track sleep, weight routines, runs, rides, calories burnt, my times vs previous weeks and certain performance metrics. That being said my day to day activities regardless of it its just great at enhancing my goal tracking. It's also handy through notifications, a 10 day battery life, and most orgasmically a way to track where I left my car at the shops 😂
My first step counter was a japanese made tracker that was probably more accurate than the newer high tech devices. I put it in my pants pocket, so it actually records steps and doesn't include hand movements. That sucker must have had like 3 lives. I thought I lost it twice and even survived the washer. It's probably 10 yrs later and it still works.
From my experience with a Garmin, then an Apple Watch, I found out that neither one would allow you to setup your own activity clock. What I mean is, I work 12 hour nights. So, when the watch day ends at 12 midnight, when I'm my most active, everything would either reset to the next day, or make it difficult to determine true numbers for the hours I was active. Most of the time my Apple Watch thought I was lazyAF and or constantly sleeping. 😂
Thank you so much for this video. I am a yoga teacher, who always encourages her students to listen into their bodies. Sometimes I think these trackers encourage disconnection from feeling and I really appreciate you addressing that and the privacy issues here very well done thank you.
Nice job on the first episode:)
Wonderful video! You're off to a great start! Very well researched, beautiful and disarmingly charming hostess, I can't wait for the next one. I'm something of a health nut myself, so I simply couldn't help but subscribing.
Thanks so much Laura! Hope to see you around in the future 🥰🙏🏻
Subbed before this came out. Nice to see your first ever video here. ♥️
Thank you for joining us!! We're so excited to get this off the ground 🥰
Okay LOVE Sher. Looking forward to more!
Excited to see the future of this channel as well! It’s nice to see the health version of Future Proof!
Sooo exciting! Thanks for being a part of the team, Manny
Lots of criticisms, few solutions. Lots of generalities, few specifics. In the end, it was not very helpful. And who are you that I should listen to you or your "team"?. For all I know you are all a bunch of high-school drop-outs. What are your credentials or at least your experience/education?
If privacy is ur concern…then…you can’t use anything…fitness trackers,phones,TH-cam….anything…I wouldn’t even find your video if TH-cam wasn’t tracking what I am interested to see…
Awesome video, Sher! I remained fully engaged the whole time. 💕
I started with a Polar watch in 2010, but it only worked during workouts with a chest strap. The point was to challenge and track my heart rate during interval training (to challenge and strengthen heart). I’m not entirely convinced by the accuracy of wrist sensors. Today my VO2 max is better than when I was a teenager.
Most wrist sensors are bad when it comes to tracking heart rate during high intensity training. There's too much movement which creates too much noise to accurately capture a high frequency signal. So the watches use alot of filtering and other approximations, which leads to errors, sometimes very significant ones, that can result in consequences like underestimating training load, which could lead to overtraining over time.
Watching this while wearing my brand new fitness tracker 😬😄
Nice one. Just subscribed
Sher is doing well😍😍
I'd love it if you discussed 'disability tech'. I have a smartwatch, but only use three tools: a timer, an alarm, and the most important one: Fall Detection.
(The timer and alarm are also for medical purposes.)
It'd be very interesting to learn what's out there. Though I don't know if that's the sort of thing you use in your channel.
Thanks for this video and the reminder about privacy settings! Personally for me the biggest benefit of a fitness watch has been sleep tracking - I haven’t had a consistent sleep schedule since I was in high school, and having a Fitbit has really helped me be aware of periods of time when my nightly sleep isn’t meeting my goal, and gives me a useful push to prioritize sleep in those times. The step counter is nice too, though if it wasn’t for sleep tracking I’d probably be fine using my phone. I’ve barely taken my Fitbit off (except to charge) since I first got it for Christmas in 2018.
Great hosting, thank you, Sher! And thank you for the body diversity in this video 😍
You are so welcome! 🥰
Sher is great! A topic I'd love to be covered is sleep tracking apps which was briefly mentioned! I've heard mixed things about them and due to a big company releasing their own (chough Pokémon sleep), there's been an increased interest and enthusiasm. So I'd love for y'all to potentially cover it!
Thanks for watching! I tried a sleep tracking app years ago and actually really enjoyed it - could be interesting one to look at. Thanks for sharing! ♥️ Sher
I love the idea of health future proof. Hope you stay on the track of peer reviewed studies rather than the "natural is better" leaning basis.
Hey Marta! I can definitely appreciate the confidence that peer reviewed, data based, scholarly articles can give us and we’re always aiming to be as unbiased as possible. Noted 👌🏽 and thanks for watching! ♥️ Sher
So, I've never had a Fitbit or any of these things before and from watching your video I was thinking of getting myself a Fitbit Luxe just to monitor my heart rate and steps, and mostly since it tells the time use it as a watch while walking and out and about. What is your opinion on something like that? I read that the Fitbit Luxe doesn't have any GPS so I should be fine no? Also, do I really need to download the apps to use a Fitbit Luxe or not? P.S. been walking without a fitness tracker or watch for a long time and that's because I reminded myself not some tech reminding me to walk or get my steps.
Personally I bought an Apple Watch as a smart watch first and a fitness tracker was a bonus but wasn’t the intent of getting the watch. That is likely why I have enjoyed the Apple Watch over the years where I couldn’t enjoy a traditional watch or a Fitbit. I’m now on the Apple Watch ultra making it my 4th Apple Watch and I really enjoy it for some of the things it can do like HomeKit support and Apple Pay and iMessage. I don’t care too much for the fitness tracking although it I do attempt to complete my rings each day.
Now, don't 100% rely on this, I could be wrong, but I have like 5 smart watches, from Samsung, Garmin, and Pebble. I just like watches, and I like the look, switching faces, the pedometer, HR, etc. I can use mine and get that data WITHOUT attaching it to an app. By doing so I don't get the long term data, ie., charts, but if you're working out and want to know your HR, or steps, see how you slept the night before I can see it on the watch. And it's not connected to the phone. This means I don't get notifications and won't get that long-term data collection if I want to digitally track progress, but I can see daily stuff. I'm pretty sure, on the one model, I can, using my computer with it plugged in, add music files, and then use it as an mp3 player via Bluetooth headphones. Again, you don't get all the features it's capable of, but you get steps, sleep, HR, regular watch stuff, etc.
I tried a smart watch for a few weeks. The inaccuracies in the step counting were comical. One day it said a climbed over 70 flights of stairs but only walked down 30. I climb ladders and scaffold most days as part of my work so it didn't knoiw what it was counting. If I rode my bike 10 miles it didn't register any exercise because my arms weren't swinging like when I'm walking. If I play guitar for two hours it said I walked the entire Appalachian Trail in that time. One more reason against using a smart watch. Who wants another device that needs charging every day?
I like my Apple Watch. When I forget it at home and use the treadmill for an hour, it says “hey lazy-ass, you haven’t done anything today “.
Lol but I use my watch for messages, music control, and Apple Pay. The fitness part is extra but my main tracker is my phone’s camera on the treadmill’s workout stats at the end.
Topic I'd love to have explored: Bariatric Surgery / Weight-Loss Surgery. Every doctor pushes it on obese patients (I'm one). But it has drastic lifestyle changes after the surgery (diet, medication, exercise). If I had the resolve to maintain a steady diet and do exercise, would I even be here? Will I be able to go through with it post-surgery? Are there research that shows the comparison of the surgery and lifestyle compared to the lifestyle alone? I haven't found any...
Bipolar disorder and divergent behaviour. I was diagnosed at 19; I’m now 37 and every day I have to wear my “normal person” custom. On the tracker topic, I am a teacher and I switched from my Fitbit to an classical watch 5 years ago. Peace of mind and simplicity. Happiness
Really enjoyed this. The host is very good. I’d like to see a video about all of the weight loss programs, ie: NOOM , WW, KETO, Nutrition system, Do Fasting. Would like to see some reviews on exercise equipment ie Pelaton..
I bought a mi smartband 7, specially because I wanted to track my heart BPM during exercise. I am a little bit disappointed with the precision! Sometimes it seems to work, and sometimes it gives completely wrong readings like saying I have 100 BPM when I cleary have more than 150.
I literally started wearing my Fitbit again this week omg
I am one of the users who did not buy a fitness tracker because I wanted to get fitter, but rather to see time and notifications on my wrist. But functions such as sleep monitoring could be useful and sometimes, I take a look at how did I sleep last night.
You can quit in peace Levi! 😅 Great presentation!
Hahaha well let him know to send in his resignation. 😅
It's not the fitness tracker, it's the user.
Yes, data/privacy can potentially be an issue, just like how a A380 can land on top of your house right now.
Yes, it can stop you from getting the health insurance that you're attempting to obtain via deception, let's blame the fitness tracker.
This presentation was awesome and a great first video however the content seemed extremely opinionated. To me many of the cons don't give the actual detail. For example, the article about breach of privacy it is important to note that in that those people downloaded a third party app and agreed to certain selling of information and that when using the native applications don't encounter this making the con more of using third party apps rather than not using a fitness tracker overall. I speak from a view of actually professionally working with the OS of one of those most popular trackers.
Good job on the new channel and video.
For me, my smart watch is almost as important as my phone. I am a healthy athletic person + a tech lover, the data is just useful for me. And I use it to compare myself to myself YoY, MoM.
Good job sher!!
For me my Garm8n is just a tool and usually only wear when I go for walks and or runs. I would never wear it all day. I think that, for example, measuring my sleep would only cause me more stress. While I like to measure my mileage and other data related to my running, I don't want it to rule my life.
The 10,000 steps thing was just add that they used to sell the first speedometer in Japan realistically you probably need to get like 40,000 steps a day just to lose significant weight
Such a great first video!
A fitness tracker is just that, to track activity, not motivate you to do anything 💀, if the reason you exercise is because you get a higher number on your watch then you need some other reasons to be exercising otherwise you won't last long
Good luck!
Could you do a video about whey protein, because it's really suspicious how a waste product of the cheese production became according to some people the best protein source. Don't get me wrong. I use whey protein and cannot say they are bad for your health, but it is still an interesting topic.
i think them as trackers, theyre pretty precise, specialy apple wiht their new apple watch, their a big cash but theyre pretty good with all they try eveen with sleep and REM, light, deep phases of sleep, i think it more as a tracker than a motvation
Hey in the other channel u said u were nervous, i feel like this video was amazing and im looking forward for mroe video!
It’s honestly awesome if you dont check stats again and again. Like oh, I burned 2200 calories today. Nice
Sure privacy is important but is it really the fault of trackers? By this logic you shouldn't go to doctors since their database can be leaked and there you have even more information to be worried about.
Seriously? At least half of this video isn't helpful. The only part I liked was the bit about spyware inherent to social networks and fitbits.
Great video
I’ve been using an Apple Watch for a year literally today. I quite like it.
I get geeked on stats so seeing my sleep and exercise.
So for me the only time it is off my wrist is when I’m showering or it’s charging.
great video!! I'm absolutely addicted to my apple watch.
Glad you enjoy it!
Finally
Happy to have ya here!!