Health Tracking 101

Health tracking?? Crap! Like how unsexy is that!

Well, fortunately, “Sexy” is not one of the “S”es at Triple S dot com.

Health tracking does fall into the categories Savvy and Successful, however.

Let me start at the beginning.

For the last few years I’ve been moving at the speed of my special needs clients and a toddler grandson. Add to that, I have online businesses and sit at a computer for numerous hours each day.

Ergo, I have gained weight. Call it inevitable, call it vanity, call it what you will…bottom line, I’m not comfortable, I’m not happy with it, and as my grandson speeds up, I can’t keep up.

Several months ago, I had the good fortune to sell my house and redesign my life my way, no responsibilities except my dog… who has never complained if I moved more, farther or faster.

Add to that, I joined a business coaching group that promoted “gamification” to engage clients. That’s like accountability with prizes. I’ve had an accountability partner for years now and she is still one of the most valuable assets in my life, business, and now personal.

To get my head around the use of gamification, I joined Habitica. It’s an online community that has built a ton of gamification around accountability. You set up your own goals, business, personal, whatever – both positive “I will do this” and negative “I won’t do that” – and when you report in each day you’re rewarded or demoted for completing or not completing your tasks.

I mentioned Habitica is a community, and I haven’t gotten into that part, so I have no idea what all my trophies and awards mean within the land of Fantasy all this is centered in, but that’s ok… I don’t get Pokemon either.

This past month, now that the dust has settled, I realized I was a little intrigued by the ability of Habitica to get me to check in each day and admit whether I had accomplished or neglected. Deciding that with the proverbial dust settled (the real dust is a whole other matter!) it was time to tackle the issue of my health, and my desire to bring it back up to a standard I was happy with.

Serendipitously, my gas company sent me a note about a walking app they were associated with that could earn me extra points. I downloaded it.

It’s called Carrot and for the first two weeks they monitored my daily steps and then established a daily number that I was committed to walking. Except for the fact my iPhone is now my constant companion, I love watching the numbers add up.

Now then… when I need a break from creating in my business, I move to my couch and play scrabble on my phone. A great diversion except for the ads. A regular ad was for an app called “MyPlate” (available both at Apple and Google Play). I am well aware of the link between what I put in my mouth and what attaches to my waistline… and I do love my food! Again, interested in the accountability aspect, I downloaded it. Yikes! That was effective! and I loved the challenge of maintaining food volume while keeping caloric intake under control. Then I realized that I could link Carrot to MyPlate. Suddenly, I was allowed another few hundred calories per day. Bonus!

(An aside here about MyPlate – you will be on LiveStrong’s email list if you download, but you can unsubscribe if you wish.)

In my opinion, using these apps that monitor even part of my health regimen is accountability at its finest.

Yes, you can lie to the app, but why? You’re only lying to yourself, really.

At any rate, the competitor in me is loving the apps. I compete only with myself so ego and friendships are safe.

Oh, and bottom line: I’m down about 4lbs. in the last 3 weeks. Woulda done better if not for that little weekend wine habit…