Track it

I have for quiet some time been tracking exercise, weight, food intake and other health related data. I’m also putting data into a journal, typical me some would say. Putting as much as possible into spreadsheets but that’s just what I like to do ;-) So let me sum up what tools I have been using for tracking data.

Tracking of nutrition

I have been tracking all meals (unless I went total high carb or out for dinner) for around 100 days now using MyFitnessPal.com. I have been doing this on iOS where I found that the app is pretty easy to use, the barcode scanner makes it easier of course but you always have to keep an eye on what it finds, sometimes it is a completely other project or the data is falls. I seen one case where a product had 115 grams of fat for each 100 grams, not cool :-)

I’m only using these features of the app so far, so probably something for me to check soon.

Tracking of sleep, steps & other activities

For tracking of sleep, steps and other activities (blood pressure when I remember it) I use Fitbit.com together with my Fitbit One, I have been doing this for more than a year now, only skipping few days and nights. I’m seriously considering getting one of the new Fitbit Charge HR or the Surge but I’m going to wait with deciding to they are all launched and also to compare with the Apple Watch, just to be able to include even more real time data, would specially like to see heart rate.

When I’m out running or do long walks then I use Endomondo, just for fun and to see the route. One thing that did surprise me is that the distance I walk when I go out for  a walk is far less than I expected. Today I was out for a walk, asked my son how far he thought it was (After describing the route), he guessed 5 km, I would have guessed the same, but it was only 2.9 km, kind of an eye-opener but can also be depressing :-)

Weight tracking

Weight is of course also included with Fitbit, but I do also enter it in another small iOS app, TargetWeight, just as a motivation factor, as it predicts (no real magic here) when I will reach my next goal. I have so far not invested in a scale that can feed data directly into Fitbit but that might come one day.

Two screenshots from TargetWeight

I’m always on the outlook for other apps or gadgets for tracking, I’m specially interesting in blood-pressure measuring without having to use armband with air pressure. Also blood glucose measuring would be really interesting, specially a tool to measure without having to draw blood (Non-Invasive, such as GlucoWise). There are several such tools been developed but as far as I know none are on the market yet.

So if anyone got suggestions for tools, apps, gadgets and so forth then let me know (Use comments below).