Activity Tracker Precautions You Need to Know About

How do you know if your activity tracker is working properly?

Activity Tracker Precautions You Need to Know About

This post is based on my Series 8 activity tracker, which is admittedly a budget-priced tracker with few features - but it's good to remember to test the effectiveness of your fitness watch from time to time no matter what kind of tracker you have.

Activity Tracker Precautions

What makes it record your activity? 

Using the Series 8 as an example, some trackers are basically a pedometer that calculate distance and calories in addition to your steps. But - it's not actually your steps it's tracking, it's the motion of the arm you have it strapped on, so if you don't swing your arms as you walk - guess what - no steps get recorded.

How do you check a fitness band to see if it is recording?

This is actually unbelievably easy, once you know you need to do it - you just look at it while you're walking. If you realize you don't swing your arms enough while walking to make it register, either focus on swinging them more - it burns more calories anyway, try attaching the tracker to your ankle because it swings with each step, consider a tracker that combines GPS with the step counter, or download a fitness app to your phone to get activity data from your phone.

How long did you walk?

If your step counter is not recording properly, you can also make a note of how much time you spent walking, and make a note of that in your fitness journal or add it to a fitness app in your phone.

Thanks for reading, and I hope if you're relying on an activity tracker for your fitness data, that you're having better luck with it than I am. Laure J