{"id":411021,"date":"2026-01-16T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/411021\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:24:08","slug":"could-your-always-on-fitness-tracker-be-doing-more-harm-than-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/411021\/","title":{"rendered":"Could your always-on fitness tracker be doing more harm than good?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keeping tabs on daily calories, nutrients, and activity is a way of life for many who swear it is an invaluable crutch for helping them shape up.<\/p>\n

Statistics from Sport Ireland suggest that, even in 2021, more than half the population uses wearable technology to track their physical activities, although with the boom in tracking \u2014 global downloads of diet and fitness apps grew to 3.6bn worldwide last year \u2014 it is likely there has been another sizeable leap in their use since then. Apps and trackers are intended to guide us along the path to wellness, but research suggests that the outcomes of relying too heavily on advice from a diet or fitness app can be life-changing for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n

Paulina Bondaronek, a research fellow in behavioural science at University College London, has been investigating health apps for most of the past decade. Her latest study looked at 58,881 posts on social media relating to five of the popular health and fitness apps.<\/p>\n

Many users expressed disappointment and anxiety at their slow progress towards algorithm-generated targets, felt \u201cpestered\u201d by app notifications, and said that the difficulty of sticking to rigid goals quickly led to loss of motivation. For some, this led to them quitting, defeating their intended purpose. Others developed feelings of failure and self-loathing that might exacerbate low body image.<\/p>\n

It follows a review of 38 studies earlier last year in which researchers at Flinders University in Australia raised concern about growing numbers of diet app users becoming obsessed with targets to the point of developing disordered eating habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus on dietary restriction and weight loss in these apps may feed into restrictive or excessive behaviours, raising concerns for those people who have pre-existing concerns about their weight or body image,\u201d says Isabella Anderberg, a researcher in the College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, who led the study.<\/p>\n

Finding the fitness data overload stressful? Here\u2019s how to use it to maximise your progress:<\/p>\n

Take the data with a pinch of salt<\/p>\n

\"\u201cMany\u201cMany health apps are still based on very crude metrics, which is concerning,\u201d says Bondaronek. Picture: iStock<\/p>\n

\u201cMany health apps are still based on very crude metrics, which is concerning,\u201d says Bondaronek.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all of them start by asking your height, weight, and how much weight you want to lose with no health professionals involved in determining whether this is an appropriate goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Algorithms have become more sophisticated in recent years, especially with the use of AI interpretation of data, but, they still lack \u201cthe personalisation and tailoring needed to be fully accurate\u201d.<\/p>\n

Most diet-tracking apps aren\u2019t 100% precise and come with a significant margin of error.<\/p>\n

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in Advances in Nutrition found that mobile dietary record apps often under- or over-estimate energy, macronutrient and micronutrient intake.<\/p>\n

That team of researchers from the Netherlands reported \u201clarge variability among apps\u201d in real-life settings, so use them as rough guides, not gospel.<\/p>\n

Use apps that encourage group work<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere is strong evidence that working out with others for moral support is the best way to stick with your fitness goals.<\/p>\n

Sports psychologist Dearbhla McCullough says there is strong evidence that working out with others for moral support is the best way to stick with your fitness goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial connectedness and even feeding back to others are so important in creating fitness habits that stick,\u201d McCullough says.<\/p>\n

Likewise, fitness apps that encourage interaction are often more effective than those that require users to complete tasks, such as daily steps, on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-monitoring and action planning are powerful behaviour change techniques,\u201d says Bondaronek.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we can over-use data tracking apps [that encourage solo workouts] to the point where they become detrimental.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t become obsessed with macronutrient tracking<\/p>\n

\"There\u2019sThere\u2019s no evidence that macronutrient tracking offers greater long-term weight-loss benefits than calorie counting or other diet approaches. Picture: iStock<\/p>\n

Some apps push tracking macronutrients \u2014 fat, carbs, and protein \u2014 rather than calories as a healthier route to weight loss with recommendations to increase the proportion of satiating protein to carbs. But Bondaronek found that this also led to unhealthy obsessions for many.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people started thinking just in terms of the fat and protein in their food, it became all-consuming,\u201d she says. \u201cThe difficulty of sticking to rigid goals led to loss of motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no evidence that macronutrient tracking offers greater long-term weight-loss benefits than calorie counting or other diet approaches.<\/p>\n

A review of 14 popular diets in the British Medical Journal found that \u201cmost macronutrient diets, over six months, resulted in modest weight loss\u201d but that the effects on weight loss \u201clargely disappeared\u201d after a year.<\/p>\n

Fertility and ovulation tracking apps are prone to inaccuracy<\/p>\n

\"TheThe scientific validity of some fertility apps has been called into question. Picture: iStock<\/p>\n

Bondaronek\u2019s next study focuses on the vast market for menstrual-tracking apps used by millions of women to log energy levels, symptoms such as cramps and cravings, and to track ovulation and fertility.<\/p>\n

Most tracking apps work by women entering the date of their period, and a calendar-based algorithm predicts the start date of their next period, initially based on a 28-day cycle but using patterns and trends to learn about the user as they enter more information.<\/p>\n

Some apps offer the option to add biometric data, such as daily body temperature, cervical mucus consistency, or hormone levels in urine.<\/p>\n

However, Kirsty Elliot-Sale, a professor of female endocrinology and exercise physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, says they are pointless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you use a urine test to predict ovulation, then you know when you are ovulating and don\u2019t need to pay for an app on top,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe app is just a way to house the data you get from these tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scientific validity of some fertility apps has been called into question. Researchers have shown that apps promising to predict a user\u2019s ovulation date, usually 14 days after their period starts, \u201chave been proven to be ineffective, with a 21% maximum probability of it being correct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sleep trackers might not help you sleep<\/p>\n

\"ForFor some, obsessing over the data leads to an unhealthy preoccupation with hitting sleep targets<\/p>\n

Sleep trackers mostly use sound, heart rate, and movement to estimate sleep phases and to provide a score.<\/p>\n

For some, obsessing over the data leads to an unhealthy preoccupation with hitting sleep targets that has been dubbed orthosomnia. Ironically, it can lead to anxiety that makes sleep patterns worse, not better. Most sleep trackers provide feedback on how well \u2014 or not \u2014 you have slept, which is often evident anyway by how tired you are feeling when you wake up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is sometimes a good idea to self-evaluate your sleep without relying on a tracker, even if it is just for a few days each month,\u201d says McCullough.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally get to know your own sleep patterns and what works \u2014 or doesn\u2019t \u2014 for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keeping tabs on daily calories, nutrients, and activity is a way of life for many who swear it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[197238,337,97],"class_list":{"0":"post-411021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-feelgood-season","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}