Many people, when envisioning their weight loss program, envision horrors of going to the gym and eating only salad. The thing is many people hate the gym. Many people also love to eat food other than greens. I did the vegan thing for 2 years and not once felt satiated… but I digress.
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You can simply make a concerted effort to walk more steps per day. For the average height, 10, steps are nearly 5 miles. Walk faster, sit less ][6]. Of course, to make a concerted effort to walk steps per minute for minutes per week, you must be sufficiently motivated, which takes us back to find out what motivates you and implementing systems such as wellness coaching or a competition to consistently be more intensely active.
For example, one day I may take 1, steps at a slightly higher heart rate. The next day I may take 1, steps averaging a different heart rate and so on. What would be helpful, and this is where I think wearable technology can be very helpful in getting healthier and losing weight, is offering its own algorithm formula that applies all the data into a single metric I can pursue. That to me is a cool idea. Simply trying to walk more and take more steps at a higher intensity seems like a never-ending treadmill. However, pursuing a single empirically proven metric or score that takes into account duration of activity, frequency and intensity into a score based on personal health data is very, very interesting.
This is where computers come in and can be super helpful.
Yes it does, and this is, in my opinion, where wearable technology for health and fitness is headed and should have been headed for years. Is this what every person needs? The researchers hypothesized that the duration and intensity of exercise needed for each person varied, depending on their heart rate over time. The researchers used data from the massive and famous HUNT Study that included 39, Norwegian men and women over The scoring, based on the HUNT study is simple.
Again, this is a personalized score based on personal heart rate levels. Accordingly, some people may need to be more active, while other people less active.
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Having a meaningful, personalized, simple health score to target is helpful because it reduces guesswork. I much prefer the specific over the general direction. The potential of the PAI concept is amazing, in my view. Algorithms could be created for all kinds of goal pursuits that are individual. If I want to add 5 pounds of muscle, the algorithm can prescribe for me a workout and even a diet. Same thing with losing weight in a healthy manner. I know as soon as I stumbled on the PAI concept that I immediately started searching for such a device.
Fortunately, I found a company that does make and sell such devices. Mio Global develops and sells activity trackers with an accompanying app that will track your heart rate and then report your PAI score. Moreover, these trackers are based on the theory that not all steps are the same, which I totally agree with.
If, after all, higher intensity steps are better than slow walking steps, clearly not all steps are equal. However, most trackers count all steps equal. The score incorporates all activity, not just steps. Therefore, if you lift weights or cycle or do yoga, these healthy activities are included in your overall, daily PAI score. Mio Global simply created a fitness tracker that calculates your PAI score. PAI is a health metric based on heart rate developed as a result of the HUNT study, one of the biggest health studies every conducted.
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Mio Global simply recognized that a wearable technology device could be developed to use the PAI score as personalized measurement. Since Pai is based on heart rate monitoring, the sensor needs to be highly accurate and unfortunately for the Mio Global smartwatch heart rate sense is not accurate at all. Studies are a numbers game. Confidence helps motivation. So too, does knowledge when it comes to patients having better health outcomes and incurring fewer health care costs [ Source: UO study highlights important role that patients play in determining outcomes ][8].
It increases our knowledge of how various activities impact our health via the personalized score. However, the PAI will track heart rate during these activities and incorporate it into the daily score which then gives these activities more tangible meaning. However, the group with the wearable technology lost percent less weight over the course of the study.
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One possible explanation for this difference is that those wearing trackers chose to reward themselves for meeting exercise goals with dietary indulgence. In other words, if the tracker said they burned calories or completed a certain amount of exercise, they might choose to eat dessert. This could lead to slower weight loss or even weight gain. From this study, it appears that activity trackers aren't a guarantee of weight-loss success. So should you give up on your tracker? A tracker can be a useful tool for getting you to move more.
Here are some tips on how to make an activity tracker work for — and not against — your weight-loss goals:. Katherine Zeratsky, R. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only.
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