The Apple Watch has caused many a user to get off the couch to do something active. It is a popular, yet expensive, fitness tracker that has become increasingly capable over time. But whether it will help you lose weight – despite all the motivation – is another matter. And that doesn’t seem to be the case right now.
John Jakicic studies obesity and weight regulation at the University of Kansas. He tells the Washington Post in an interview that the Watch leans on a faulty foundation. “If you give people information, they will use that to change their behavior,” he says is the false assumption the Apple Watch has been working with for years.
Apple Watch doesn’t help with weight loss
This is especially apparent if you look over a long period of time. In the short term, such a device (an Apple Watch or Fitbit) can help. You then use it for a few months and then it disappears into a drawer. Moreover, another striking observation emerges from one of his studies.
Adults who diet and wear an Apple Watch or Fitbit lose less weight than those without such a tracker. They also exercise a lot less. This is over an 18-month period. And this is not the only study showing that smartwatches can achieve the opposite.
Sports feel like a chore
Measuring your body with the Apple Watch can take away intrinsic motivation for sports activities because they feel like work. As a result, you feel less motivated. This is not true for every person on earth. After all, some people do benefit from this and enjoy competing with their friends, for example.
But in any case, the various studies show that gadgets like an Apple Watch alone, do not provide the motivation to lose weight properly. Apple responds to this story that it tracks “nothing related to weight loss” because that is not the focus of the smartwatch.