Wearable technologies, including the Apple watch and the Fitbit are among the most famous technologies that might sabotage your diet. Over many tests and experiments, a new discovery has raised an insurmountable amount of questions of the accuracy and affects that these wearable technologies can have on you.

In an interview with Cnn, John Jakicic, author of the Journal of the American Medical Association stated “We went in with the hypothesis that adding the technology would be more effective than not having the technology, and we found just the opposite”. “One of the things we didn’t study here was, maybe these things are really effective for people gaining weight, but maybe that’s different from helping people lose weight,” said Jakicic.

For the new study, researchers from Cnn asked 470 adults between the ages of 18 and 35. Each participant’s body-mass index fell within the range of 25 to 39; however, 25 to 29 is considered “overweight,” and 30 to 39 is considered “obese.” The scientists put the contestants through numerous tests both with wearable technology and no technology present.throughout the testing process, the absence of wearable technology allowed for more work to be put into the workout. This data goes to show the theory that users think they are working off a certain amount of calories. However after their workout they will eat a certain food and the equivalent of that food will equal the amount of calories they worked out. Therefore contradicting the amount of work you put in.

Dr. Barbara Berkeley, a physician in both internal and obesity medicine and the author of “Refuse to Regain: 12 Tough Rules to Maintain the Body You’ve Earned,” noted that “weight loss is much more dependent on scrupulously following a weight-reducing diet than on exercise.” Most of all, dieting can be more important than exercise during the active weight loss phase, however the exercise becomes much more important during weight maintenance. Consumers of the wearable technologies rely on the technology aspect of the watch to track all their activity. However, Berkeley is saying that dieting plays a much more important role when it comes to weight loss. This idea contradicts the wearable technologies purpose in all aspects. Cole Smith (10) stated how “Fitbits can affect your diet because it helps you achieve your athletic goal.”

“It’s entirely possible that those who were paying more attention to the exercise part of their regimen, because of the wearable device, were less focused about their intake,” Berkeley said in an interview with Cnn. She also added that exercising can often cause dieters to “feel that they’ve ‘earned’ the chance to eat more, when in actuality they have not.”