5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Obsess Over Your Fitness Tracker
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Let's have some real talk...If you didn't burn over 500 calories in your workout, did you even workout? And if someone burned more calories than you in their workout, then they're fitter than you, right?
Alright sister, that's talk about why this couldn't be further from the truth! And I have five reasons to share with you to help you understand why.
In this episode of Embrace Your Real, I dive into why fitness trackers are not something you should obsess about and share healthier, more accurate ways to track your workouts.
If you love this episode, you will also love...
How Much Weight Should I be Lifting?
7 Ways to Take Your Fitness to the Next Level and See Better Results
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there beautiful human, you're listening to Embrace Your Real, with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get and let's go. Hello. Welcome back to the Embrace Your Real Podcast. Today we're getting hot. Today we're getting steamy.
We're talking about fitness trackers. This is a hot topic. Ooh girl. I can already see it getting a little bit like tensions are high. You're like, "What are you going to talk about my fitness tracker? Are you going to make me not wear it?" All these things. I'm going to give you a flat-out perspective on what I feel about fitness trackers and why you need to stop obsessing about them.
Now, inside my private community group, the Julie Ladies, which you get access to if you're an active subscriber in the app, a few times I've had this conversation with just girls who are concerned about the number of calories that they were burning or weren't burning. I'm guessing you might have had the same concerns as well, sometime in your life. You could be right now in this season of life. You could have had it in the past. You might have it in the future. Like if you didn't burn over 500 calories, or whatever the number may be for you, that you didn't get a good workout in.
You see other people burning more calories than you in the same workout and not only do you feel bad about your workout now, but you also feel bad about yourself and you think you're not doing it right. It's just like, "Oh my gosh." It can be such a comparison trap. It can get ugly super fast and it can lead you down this path of negativity and not feeling proud of yourself. It's ultimately crazy but I also feel it on a very real level because I used to be there. I used to be there and it's something that I actively have to constantly work against to make sure that I'm protecting myself against that.
The moment I feel like it is becoming a trigger, I have ways to combat it. Let's have some real talk on these fitness trackers, whether you should or shouldn't be so concerned by the numbers of calories that they're actually saying you burned, yada, yada. All right? Before I do that, I need to share this review because it totally made my day. Said the virtual BFF and sister I never had, "Julie truly makes me feel things about myself I haven't in a long time, or maybe never have before.
This podcast is not only about rediscovering and redefining your life, who you are, but it's also embracing the unknown and learning to take control. From Julie's peaceful voice to her encouraging and uplifting real advice, she makes me feel like I have a virtual BFF and sister I've never had to help support and guide me through life, especially when I'm feeling not so great. Thank you for offering this to the world. You are truly a great representative of Christ." Thank you so much. I love this review.
It literally brought tears to my eyes when I read it and I'm so grateful for all of your reviews. If you haven't already rated and reviewed on Apple Podcasts, if you listen, all you got to do is scroll all the way down. Click pause first. Scroll all the way down, and then you'll see the rate and review. It takes less than 60 seconds and it really does help us out. Okay. Let me explain five reasons why I need you to focus less on your fitness tracker and the calories burned.
Number one, if you're doing the workouts inside my app, resistance training doesn't burn as many calories during the workout as cardio does, but it burns more calories overall. After a long cardio session, yes, you might burn 700 calories and after a resistance training session, you might have only burned half of that. Looking at it this way, it may seem like a no-brainer that you would want to do more cardio to burn more calories, right? Well, here's the kicker. Cardio does burn more calories during the workout, but it doesn't have you burn more calories after your workout, but resistance training does.
You might be like, "Okay. That's awesome, but why?" Simply put, resistance training builds muscle and the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn around the clock. If you burn 700 calories during a 45-minute cardio workout, so what? What are you doing the other 23 hours and 15 minutes of your day? I would rather do resistance training and burn less calories during my actual workout, but burn more calories throughout my entire day. Now, that's where your calorie burn is most important. If you are just starting out with resistance training and you're thrown off by how much lower your calorie burn is on your fitness tracker, it's okay.
That's a great, just explanation of why you feel like you look at these runners or these people that are doing crazy cardio workouts and they're burning all these calories. You have to remember that resistance training over time allows you to burn calories around the clock. Number two, fitness trackers have been shown to be highly inaccurate. Now, first of all, each fitness tracker will tell you something completely different. There are so many fitness trackers out on the market.
You could literally wear 10 different types of fitness trackers on your arm while doing a workout and you'll get 10 different numbers for the number of calories you've burned. This is not only the reason as to why you shouldn't obsess over your calorie burn, but why you shouldn't obsess over comparing your calorie burn to somebody else's. Second of all, all the fitness tracker can do is give you an estimate of your calorie burn. It doesn't know how much muscle you have. It doesn't know how fast or slow your metabolism is.
It really doesn't know anything else that it can accurately track. Even if it has your height, weight, and heart rate, it's still not enough information to give you a real number. That's definitely something you should keep in mind when you're tracking your overall calorie burn for the day and not just your workout. You also have to remember that everybody's BMR or basal metabolic rate is going to be different. This is essentially how many calories your body would burn if you laid on a couch all day, not moving a single muscle.
The average number of calories for a woman is around 1400. That's for someone who lives a very, I mean, very, very sedentary lifestyle. For people who are active and have lots of muscle, this can be much, much higher, but your fitness tracker doesn't know what that number is for you. At the end of the day, if you burned 1600 calories, total, it's likely that the number is much, much higher. That's why it's not good to base how much you eat off of what your fitness tracker tells you, because then you'll be drastically under eating.
That's what I get, so many girls coming into the Macro Counting Made Simple Academy. They're like, "Well, based on my fitness tracker, I'm burning." This I'm like, "Throw the fitness tracker out the window when it comes to that, because it really does not have an accurate representation of your entire place of where you're at." Number three, fitness trackers have a tendency to pull us into or back into an unhealthy mindset. Now, when we compare our calorie burn to others, we make ourselves feel like we didn't work hard enough.
We think we shouldn't eat as much because we didn't burn as much or on the flip side, we're like, "Oh, we can eat more because we burn more." It's just not healthy to base that off of what you're seeing on your fitness tracker. When we start to move our body out of obligation to burn a certain amount of calories, we're no longer honoring it. The notion of honor your body with movement, if you're simply doing it to just burn a certain number of calories, that is not a pure mindset.
We turn everything into an opportunity to burn some extra calories or don't do something because we won't burn extra calories. This mentality long-term can really take the enjoyment out of living a healthy lifestyle to live a healthy lifestyle. If we truly want to develop a long-term healthy relationships with ourselves, our body and our fitness, we need to make sure that what we're doing is enjoyable. Obsessing about an inaccurate number your fitness tracker is giving you is not enjoyable.
Number four, there are other ways to track your workouts that are healthier for our mindset. Inside the Movement with Julie app, I personally like to look at how many pounds I've lifted. That's one way of doing it, which again, just like tracking anything, anything, it could be your weight, your body measurement, anything, can be unhealthy. You have to make sure that you give yourself boundary. Even with the amount of pounds that I lifted, I'm coming off of a few weeks of very limiting my actual resistance training, just to give my body a break and make myself feel better.
In the last few workouts, I have lifted a lot less than I typically do. If I was just looking at the number of pounds that I've lifted, that could be a trigger as well. You have to pick and choose what's going to really create an unhealthy mindset. Sometimes I like to track how many pounds I've lifted in the app. Other times, I like to not look at that and just focus on how I'm feeling. There are so many other ways to track your progress. That's one way.
It helps me feel like I'm focusing on the strength I'm gaining instead of the weight I'm losing, if that makes sense, because ultimately the strength you gain will redefine your body composition. I honestly mostly use my fitness tracker, my Apple Watch, to track my movement. It holds me accountable for honoring my body with enough movement daily. One thing that I've learned over the last 365 days of closing my rings is there are certain times where I would be at the end of my day and I'd be like, "Oh my gosh, I have to do this."
I told myself, the moment that I started to think like that, no, I have to stop. I have to redefine and I have to tell myself, "I get to do this and I'm going to walk for 15 minutes. I'm not going to try and get the extra 150-calorie burn. I don't need that. I need to, and I get to move my body for 15 minutes because I haven't honored my body with 30 minutes of movement today." I've told you this before, and I'll say it again, 30 minutes of movement every single day, will change your life. Now, 30 minutes of workouts. No, that's not what I'm saying.
30 minutes of walking. No, that's not what I'm saying. 30 minutes of movement. Some days that's cleaning, some days that's walking. Some days that's jogging. Some days that's working out. Other days, it's playing at the park. Other days it's golfing. I mean, there are so many forms of movement and this has really opened my eyes to that. Just focusing on moving. Simply put, moving. Dedicating to honor my body with movement 30 minutes every single day. Now, another way to track your workouts is by tracking how you feel. I love.
This is probably my favorite form of tracking my workouts is based on how I feel, because it might seem silly to you right now, but honestly you are the best judgment as to whether or not your workouts are hard enough or making you feel good. This is another thing too, is you have to remember that just like last year 2019 is so different than 2020, our seasons of life as a human are going to change as well. Our best in this season of life might be better than other seasons of our life, or it might be worse, but there's no need to compare that.
All you need to do is ask yourself, "In this season of my life, how do I feel like I'm doing in my workouts? Do I feel like I'm truly giving my best? Do I feel like I am really in it? Do I feel like I am really giving it my best, or is there some work to do?" Constructive criticism is a great thing to do for ourselves to take ourselves to the next level, right? No number on your fitness tracker is going to tell you whether or not you feel stronger or healthier or happier or more energized or more empowered or more confident.
Really write it down. At the end of the week, reflect back on the week and ask yourself like, "Is there anything that ... What am I proud of during my workouts? What is one thing that I can improve next week?" That's a great way to measure and monitor your progress. Basically, I would rather measure the success of my workouts by how I feel and celebrate my workouts because I moved and not because I burned a certain amount of calories. That's why I prefer using other things and other methods of tracking, instead of just looking at the fitness tracker.
Number five, the fitness trackers make fitness more complicated than it needs to be. I believe that one of the main reasons why people don't stick to working out consistently is because they make it more complicated than it needs to be. Fitness trackers are one of those things that do make it more complicated. Seriously, all you need to do is find movement that you enjoy and honor your body by doing it consistently. Besides, nutrition contributes more to building the body that you want, then your workouts do anyways.
You could be super concerned about your calorie burn and killing yourself with workouts, but if you aren't fueling your body with what it needs and enough of what it needs with the right amount of carbs, with the right amount of protein, the right amount of fat for your body, it won't really matter anyways. If you feel super concerned about your calorie burn and what your fitness tracker is telling you, you're making fitness too complicated. Just move your body consistently. That is all. The end. If you're not tracking your calorie burn, how do you know if you're doing effective workouts?
Some other ways to just ask yourself and to monitor this is, did you break a sweat? Now, this is another controversial thing. I have sweaty genes. I come from a very sweaty family. I've always sweat a lot and it's something that I don't really have to honestly try that hard to sweat hard. That can be really deceiving for some people. Other people who are listening to this are like, "Girl, I'm right with you." Sweat, it can be controversial. Did you feel the burn? Did you feel the muscles activated? Do you feel that mind muscle connection during your workouts?
Did you push yourself to do the extra rep or when you felt like you couldn't do one more, did you complete what was said on the plan? Those are all things to ask yourself. If you are truly following through and doing effective workouts, there's tons of other things. Those are just some things that come to mind. I think when we really give our best daily, like, did we do the best that we have with what we had that day? Let that be enough. You don't need a fitness tracker to justify it for you. If you finished your workout and felt fatigued, then you did an effective workout.
It's that simple. If you're really wanting to jump into an effective workout plan, if you're wanting something to follow, but you're not wanting to focus on the calorie burn, check out my Movement with Julie app. I have a strategic program in there. Each week I give you new workouts, brand new workouts. They each hit different muscle groups. We have lower body, upper body, cardio and core, total body and booty blaster. You're going to have the perfect balance of resistance training and cardio training, bodyweight training, all of those things.
Right now I am giving you your first month for only $10. I will put that link in the show notes if you wanted to check it out. One last thought, I just want to remind you that you shouldn't let this silly number dictate you. Just how I talk about the silly number on the scale and how this should not make you feel bad about your body, stop letting a fitness tracker tell you that you feel bad about your workout. We already compare ourselves so much in every other aspect of our life. Let's not compare ourselves to other people with our workouts.
Let's not focus on even the amount lifted. You have to remember there are so many variables when looking at one person's fitness journey to yours. You have no idea. You could be walking in on somebody's chapter 13 and it might appear as their chapter one. You're like, "Man, they're so much further. I can't believe that they're already there." You have no idea their past. You have no idea their strengths, their weaknesses, all of those things. We've got to just focus on ourselves. We have to remember that we are doing this for us. We're not doing this for anybody else.
I'm not saying this to, by the end of this episode, be like, "You need to ditch your fitness tracker completely." I mean, I can tell you being over 365 days, I have never felt more active in my life, but not out of obligation. It's because I've had that little accountability. Yes, sometimes it can be a trigger and so you have to be keen to that. You have to train your eye, train your heart, train your mind to when you feel like, "Is this an obsession?" That's when you need to take control over it. I'm not saying that you need to ditch it completely.
I am saying just don't take the fitness tracker so seriously. What you should take seriously is honoring your body with movement and nourishing your body with what it needs. That is all. If you want to learn more about how to take your workouts to the next level, I dive deeper into this topic on episode 38, Seven Ways to Take Your Fitness to The Next Level. Then if you want to learn more about how much weight to move up, if you are really wanting to become more effective and efficient in your workouts, and you're really wanting to build that muscle and strengthen your muscles, if you're really wanting to build that muscle, then be sure to tune in to episode 13, How Much Weight Should I Be Lifting?
I really break that down for you. I hope that you found this episode helpful. I hope that it gave you some good aha moments. Maybe this is stuff that you already knew, or maybe this is a conversation that you never knew that you needed. Either way, I would love to hear your aha moments. Be sure to screenshot this, post it up on your story. Tag me @juliealedbetter. I love seeing what came from it. If you have somebody in your family, your friends, your coworkers, that would benefit from this podcast or this specific episode, be sure to share this out in a text message, share it out on your socials.
I always love hearing stories of how women came to tune into this podcast. It really does mean the world. I will talk to you guys in the next episode. All right sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to you do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter. Yes. It's with an A in the name and middle, for that daily, post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check.
The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. Go out there and embrace your real, because you're worth it.