Fitness trackers are ideally designed to track activities and inform the user how well they are moving towards their goal to lead a fit and healthy life. The best part of the new and advanced fitness trackers is that they are available in a compact size all thanks to the advent of technology that today you have the option to get all your activities tracked with a small yet attractive watch. Some years back, maybe a decade, people have to wear chest straps and somewhat similar devices to keep a tab on heart rate only, but today, with a fitness tracker, you can not only track your heart rate but also measure other activities that too without any discomfort of wearing heavy devices. Fitness trackers measure calories, unlike old chest straps. But, how do fitness trackers measure calories?
People, who have never tried fitness trackers, have a misconception about it. Most of the people think that fitness trackers are only for measuring heart rate, which is definitely not true as there are a lot of benefits of wearing a fitness tracker apart from tracking heart rate. To get a better idea about the benefits of using fitness trackers, you should check the pros of fitness trackers given below
Pros of Fitness Trackers
Before moving towards ‘how do fitness trackers measure calories’, it is indispensable to know what pros it has to offer
Heart rate tracking – as we have already discussed fitness trackers measure continuous heart rate with the help of PurePulse technology. Almost all the fitness trackers have this technology that keeps a tab on your pulse rate to display accurate heart rate. Heart rate tracking of most of the fitness trackers is accurate. These watches also understand the resting heart rate. What is the benefit of tracking heart rate? The heart is the vital organ, and it is always important to know how well your heart is functioning or pumping. Whenever you do a workout, your heartbeat fasten, you start breathing heavily – right? The heart rate tracking feature informs you about your heart rate so that you know where to stop and what intensity you need.
All-day activity tracking – another benefit of using a fitness tracker is to keep a tab on all your activities – activities you have performed or taken part in. Be it steps you have taken, distance, active minutes, or calories burned, fitness trackers record everything. Some fitness trackers have an altimeter, which is known to measure floors climbed. It is really important for all the users to have a fitness tracker that can also note down the number of floors you have climbed as some extra force is applied whenever you climb a floor.
Sleep tracking – it is definitely counted as one of the pros of using fitness trackers. Almost all the fitness trackers have the ability to keep a tab on your sleep stages and record it while you are asleep. Fitness trackers understand how much time the user spent in REM, light, or deep sleep. When you slept enough that is required for a healthy life, the watches have a silent alarm to wake you up. To measure sleep, your watch uses two readings – your heart rate and movement.
Auto exercise recognition – all fitness trackers have this mode, which is beneficial as you don’t need to log in all the activities you perform. The device detects it and keeps a tab on it.
Water-resistant – it is obvious that one can’t stop the daily walking or jogging routine just because it’s raining out there. For such weathers, fitness trackers are designed to be water-resistant. Some fitness trackers are also swim-proof, but not all of them have this facility.
Attractive design – fitness trackers and wristbands are lightweight, compact, and attractive enough to grab the attention of the masses. These watches are available in different colors, designs, and sizes. So, you have the liberty to select the color and design according to your choice and in your size.
Price – fitness trackers are not too expensive, however, the price of these watches depend on the number of features they offer. But still, you can easily manage to find a fitness tracker in a budget, without needing to break the bank.
How Do Fitness Trackers Measure Calories?
Now that you know what pros fitness tracker can offer, it’s time to get the answer to your question on how do fitness trackers measure calories. It is true that fitness trackers do measure calories. A sensor, known as an accelerometer, provides information about the movement. There is an algorithm that gives a total of the calorie burned in a day so far, also known as energy expenditure.
How many calories you have burned is based on your BMR, activity recorded by the fitness tracker, and activities logged manually. BMR is the rate at which the calories burned to keep your body performing normal functions. The BMR is half of the calories you have burned in a day. It is based on information like weight, height, age, and sex.
Most of the fitness trackers estimate the calories burned in a similar manner. The calorie count in your fitness tracker resets each night at midnight and start counting thereafter. When you wake up, you can see you have already burned calories even when you have not gotten out of bed. It happens because of the BMR (basal metabolic rate).
Conclusion
In this article, we shed light on ‘how do fitness trackers measure calories’ and what pros it offers. Fitness trackers are designed for the fitness fanatics who want to keep a tab on all their activities. The activity tracking of most of the fitness trackers is accurate. There are a lot of pros of using fitness trackers mentioned above. It has a lightweight and compact design that can look attractive on your wrist.
Fitness trackers successfully measure calories using BMR, manually logged in activities, and activities tracked by fitness trackers. Most of the trackers use this algorithm to estimate calories.
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