Fitness trackers may not help you lose weight

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Look around as we did in Central Park and wearable technology seems more popular than ever, especially during a workout. The increased use of wearable technology piqued the interest of researchers eager to find solutions to obesity. They wanted to know if these devices that count everything from steps to calories, heart rate and more actually work long-term when it comes to losing weight.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published the surprising findings. It turns out that long-term results were better without the technology.

"After 24 months the people who we gave the activity tracker to actually lost less weight than the people who did not receive that activity tracker, which was a big surprise to us," researcher John Jakicic said.

Despite those findings, the researchers feel that people should keep the wearable technology if it works for them but keep in mind that just strapping one on your wrist alone won't work to keep weight off long term.

"It may give people a false sense of security that 'hey I'm active so I don't' have to pay attention to my eating behaviors' or 'I am active so I can eat a little bit more,'" Jakicic said.

We checked the research findings with the fitness manager at New York Sports Club Crown Plaza Times Square. Nenad Filipovic is not surprised at the study findings. He also thinks wearable technology can be an unwanted distraction during a workout. His advice? Well, you've heard it before.

"We can do a lot of crazy stuff in a workout we can hang from the ceiling jump around," Filipovic said. "But if you go home and get a slice of pizza and top it with a pint of ice cream it's not going to work."

Bummer. Oh well. Give yourself and your wearable technology credit for trying or at the very least being the subject of a study.