How Wearable Fitness Trackers Help Kids Stay Active and Lose Weight

Obesity and heart diseases are becoming a common problem among children everywhere. No matter how much we want to deny, the truth remains that this is linked to the lack of physical activity among children, ever since the invention of smartphones and tablets.

Good old times when we used to spend all day playing in the backyard, this has become a rare occurrence now. Scientists have been evaluating wearables lately and found them a great invention, working in a completely different direction, allowing your kids to stay active and healthy by being tech savvy at the same time. This is how:

1. Foodlogging

Probably one of the biggest factors that needs your attention for weight loss is controlling your child’s diet. Fitness trackers allow you to make food plans. This involves setting a limit to their calorie intake. Many advanced fitness trackers allow you to scan the calories of your food items through barcode scanning feature.

Moreover, fitness trackers update you about the calories consumed and calories burned. This way you can log food and track your kid’s progress on the weight loss journey and help them eat healthier.

2. Motivating Kids to Take Steps

Though fitness trackers vary in kind and functions, their basic purpose is to encourage movement, in the form of steps, exercise or any physical movement for that matter. Activity trackers display motivational messages on the screen to update children of their daily performance (in terms of movement).

Some trackers have implemented the concept of gamification as well where when kids perform exceptionally (by climbing floors or taking more steps than usual), they get bonus points as rewards. This makes physical movement similar to video games, urging them to achieve more, except they’re not turning into couch potatoes anymore.

3. Letting them Set Goals

How do fitness trackers motivate your kid? This is done through a set of goals (or one daily goal) that is set through the App. The goals can vary from the number of steps taken to floors climbed, miles walked, weight you plan on losing, water intake etc). Depending on the exercise your child is currently doing, you can set a goal and monitor their progress on a daily basis.

Fitness trackers update you of the achieved percentage throughout the day (e.g. 20% done, 80% left etc). You can change the default goals according to your kids’ physical strength and monitor progress through the app.

4. Tracking Everything

What use is exercise if not tracked? Especially when we’re talking about kids, its hard for them to recall and tell you their exact physical activity for the day. This is where fitness trackers come into play. By simply wearing one on your wrist, all of your child’s activity during the day is recorded and can be viewed on the tracker’s app.

Whether its the calorie intake or number of steps taken, their water intake, or the number of hours they’ve actually slept during the night, fitness trackers record everything, which plays a vital role in weight loss and keeping your child active.

5. Letting them Compete with their Friends

One major reason of taking those smartphones from your children is to bring about an improvement in their sociability. Wouldn’t it be a win-win if your kids could stay in touch with friends while they exercise?

This is made possible through the friend’s tracking feature some fitness trackers have to offer. By adding friends on the app, your children can challenge their friends to various physical activities, monitor their progress and get rewarded when they win. This, in itself is motivation for children who find exercise boring.