The New York Times:
I once received a lot of blowback for an Upshot article in which I showed (with evidence) that exercise is not the key to weight loss. Diet is. Many, many readers cannot wrap their head around the notion that adding physical activity, and therefore burning more calories, doesn’t necessarily translate into results on the scale.
Well, here we go again because some of those folks also believe that fitness devices — Fitbit, Vivosmart, Apple Watch — must be helpful in losing weight. Unfortunately, evidence doesn’t support this belief either.
Interesting article and, while the conclusions may be slightly controversial, it does make sense as described. I think fitness devices don’t “make” you more fit but they can help you track your fitness goals.
If your only measure of health is weight then diet probably has a more significant impact. However if you care about other measurable aspects of health like blood pressure, heart and respiratory performance, muscle tone, flexibility, skeletal strength, and cognitive reasoning then exercise is necessary. If a tool helps you measure and achieve those goals then that’s good.
no device can “make” anyone achieve their goals, but providing data can help you remember to or motivate you.
there are only two actions for reducing fat — eating less, and doing more. they are two sides of the same coin. tho as noted by john, weight is not always the appropriate metric of healthy living. for instance many lifters are interested in gaining muscle mass, and increased weight is a useful metric for them.
To lose weight it’s diet. To maintain weight loss, it’s exercise (and diet). And fitness is absolutely not the same thing as weight loss. There’s a lot of soft-headed conflating in that article that purports to be teaching something.
You’re absolutely right that research has shown that long term weight management and health is best though a combination of the two. It’s about balance and common sense. This article also conveniently avoids all the psychological aspects of weight loss which probably has the most significant impact on successful outcomes.
If you start exercising then you will increase muscle mass, and therefore, put on weight. For short term weight loss the most effective thing that you can do is stop eating and doing anything. Your body will have to get the calories from somewhere so it will consume fat and muscle. But healthy? Nope.
What this article really highlights is the general lack of scientific reasoning. And weight loss is a “religion” for so many people.
“This article also conveniently avoids all the psychological aspects of weight loss which probably has the most significant impact on successful outcomes.”
I very much believe in this as well. A year and a half ago my girlfriend and I attempted a lifestyle change. First it was solely diet (which needed to improve), and the change was not specifically DESIGNED to lose weight, though that was a likely outcome. We only lost weight over a long period of time.
However, the change in diet had an immediate and positive effect on my blood sugar control, which is something I track every day. It provided that psychological boost that made this benefit very clear and quantified. Eventually, as I did lose weight, that was a psychological boost too.
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I agree. Data can motivate in many ways. In my experience, it can also go the other way on occasion.
Wearable devices are also worn for aspirational purposes. Like many other product categories, fitness devices can be worn by people who want to signal to others a certain lifestyle, whether or not they participate in this lifestyle authentically.