How I use my Apple watch and My Fitness Pal app as an extension of myself.
Having a wearable and food tracker is the best combination. Know what the hell your body is up to.
The extension of your brain & stomach.
We use forks instead of fingers and spoons instead of cupping our hands. Inventions and objects are usually made to do something easier, faster, and more efficient. When we’re gaining weight and can’t figure out what the hell to do to lose it. It’s sort of like using our hands to eat soup. Why is this so damn hard and messy? Do I look like an idiot?
You don’t have a spoon and no one has taught you how to use it.
Your apple watch will extend insightful knowledge about your activity and My Fitness Pal will say “Hey stomach, you don’t need more than what I gave you”.
What that looks like with an Apple watch…
Why am I gaining weight?
Oh… It looks like I burn only 2,000 calories on weekdays, maybe because I sit all day. You are probably eating way more than your body needs and in turn storing fat. Hence, weight gain.
OR
Why am struggling to put on weight?
I ate this huge dinner! I eat so much all the time! I had a bacon burger, french fries, coke, and I even had an appetizer! I eat a lot!… But your day is spent on your feet (being busy) and that’s the only meal you ate… You might be burning 3,000 calories in a day and your “I eat a lot” may be the ONLY thing you eat all day (1,700 calories). You may not be eating as much as you think you are.
On a days I workout.
On days I workout, I can see that I burn up to 2,500–2,700 calories. On the left screen you can see the activity of when I was working out and when I sat (desk job) the rest of the day. On the right screen, you can see the total calories burned 2,670.
On days I do NOT workout.
On days I do not workout, I can see that I burn up to 2,079 calories. On the right screen you can see the activity of me sitting all day. On the left screen, you can see the total calories burned 2,079.
So this informs me in a few ways. Not that you need to obsess over these numbers. However, by taking a look at my body’s pattern over time, I have become hyper-aware of how my body uses energy. When it uses the most energy and when it uses the least. There are calculators out there, but reality is, every day is different. Using the watch I can observe my patterns. Now, instead of eating with pure intuition, I can eat with informed-intuition. I can be discerning about consuming food. Instead of sticking to the same amount of food everyday or a “diet”, I have a good idea of days I can eat extra food and days to eat with awareness. It’s more about being in-tune, getting to a point where you are hyper-aware of how your body responds to your lifestyle.
The extension of your stomach.
I use My fitness Pal App to give it what the body needs. Food. It allows me to decide an eating goal and easily input what I eat by scanning a bar code or searching for a food. I can then guarantee to eat the right amount of food, whether my goal is to lose weight, maintain weight, or gain weight. People refer to this as eating at a deficit, maintenance, or surplus. Read up on it.
Brian, this sounds way to overwhelming. Also, are you obsessed?
Maybe I’m obsessed. But…
At first, this all seemed like a hard task. What am I burning, what am I eating blah blah.. but I will say, tracking food will open your eyes.
When I eat cheese, it’s generally 100 calories.
When I have a slice of bread, it’s generally 80-110 calories.
When I eat 2 eggs, it’s generally 140 calories.
When I eat lean meat or red meat, its generally 150–400 calories.
When I eat avocado.. dayum thats a lot of calories! They are healthy, but still gotta watch what you eat son.
When I eat rice, it’s generally 200 calories.
When I eat greek yogurt, holy cow that’s a lot of yogurt, only 120 calories? I can eat a lot of that stuff. Oh, I can use this to hit my protein for the day.
When I eat pizza. It’s generally 250–300 calories, a slice.
When I drink a beer it’s generally 100–160 calories.
You would be surprised how easily I can go through an entire day deciding what to eat on the fly. After seeing these items so frequently, I can add up the contents of a meal in my head and get a general idea of what I consumed for that meal. Imagine you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight? Well, when you know the value of the foods you eat, you know when you should and shouldn’t consume more food.
My wife asks me all the time, “I don’t know if I ate enough today, what do you think? I had….e, f, g,… x... y… z…”
Me:
Me: You only ate 1,200 calories, you should probably eat some more.
Bottom Line.
The take away for me with the Apple watch and My Fitness Pal all comes down to being informed. I do track to the tee when I’m trying to hit a specific goal, but when life gets busy, these extensions have informed me enough to wing it when it comes time to.
I’ll be writing more on how I consume big meals in the form of intermittent fasting. If you sign up to the newsletter below, I’ll make sure to get that to you when it’s up!
