Research

Energy balance

Triaxial accelerometers (Tritrac), uniaxial accelerometers (CSA), and pedometers (Yamax) significantly underestimate physical activity-related energy expenditure (PAEE) in free-living women compared to the doubly labeled water (DLW) method.

Do not rely on consumer accelerometers or pedometers to determine your exact caloric expenditure for diet planning. While they are useful for tracking relative activity trends (e.g., walking more than yesterday), they systematically underestimate energy expenditure in free-living conditions, particularly for activities involving static loads or non-ambulatory movements. Use them for consistency, not absolute accuracy.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
PAEE determined by Tritrac, CSA, and Yamax significantly underestimate free-living PAEE in women.
N. Leenders et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2001

Why this rating

High-quality experimental design using DLW as the gold standard criterion method, though limited by a small sample size (n=13).

Source

Evaluation of methods to assess physical activity in free-living conditions

N. Leenders et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2001

DOI 10.1097/00005768-200107000-00024

cross_sectional · n=13Cited 253×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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