Even the most stubborn of us can’t deny: physical activity is the best natural medicine humankind fails to reap the full benefits.

Wearable devices are tools to motivate and help get lazy bums off the couch and hit the gym.

But the questions is: “How effective are they?”

According to a team of researcher from the University of Pittsburg, fitness trackers are not
effective in achieving weight loss goals as we are led to believe.

Over 450 participants were recruited for their study. After following a low-calorie diet and receiving group counseling and study materials for 6 months, participants were divided into two groups. One group received the standard intervention (self-monitoring diet and physical activity through a website) while the other group was given a wearable device called BodyMedia along with the access to the respective website. At the end of the 24-month trial, the authors found that the “addition of a wearable technology device to a standard behavioral intervention resulted in less weight loss.” The mean difference in weight was 2.4 kg (5.3 lbs).

While wearable devices can provide a mean to track the level of physical activity, it should not be used to replace behavioral counseling and “may not offer an advantage over standard behavioral weight loss approaches.”

John Jakicic, the lead author of the study, shared that the gap in weight loss could be explained by the food compensation behavior. Did you train like a beast today? Well, surely, you are entitled to gulp down a few chocolate chip cookies, right?

If you are planning to become more active, don’t feel the pressure to get yourself a fancy fitness tracker. You can achieve your weight loss goals without it, and—possibly—more efficiently.

This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.