calorie counting and fitness trackers

[colin]

I used to tell my buddy at work that I was gonna open a business, based in Buddhism, that would help people learn to listen to their bodies. There would be no big money in it, because once someone was able to get all the direction they needed on how to take care of their bodies from their bodies, they wouldn't need someone else to tell them how to do it. Seems like all these guys on TV selling workout stuff suggest to the viewers that the basic problem is that they don't know how to take care of themselves, so they need someone else to tell them how to do it. But, I think we are all sitting on a gold mine of information about our health. All we have to do is be quiet, listen, work for it, and be open-minded.
I think I'm at a place now where I can get pretty clear direction from my body on what it wants to eat, when it wants to eat, what type of exercise it wants to do, and when it wants to do it.
I lift weights way less than I used to, but I look more buff and proportional. Sometimes my body wants to take in cereal with protein on it a 9 o'clock at night, which I think is counter-intuitive to most diets I hear about, but I have less body fat than five years ago.  I just try to follow the guidance and have faith that I am getting the information I need.
Probably the biggest change I made was going through a period of several months of eating nothing or just a couple tablespoons of coconut oil for breakfast. All my life I've heard about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and a person needs to eat breakfast in order to spark the metabolism, and blah, blah, blah (wasn't it the cereal lobby that started that rumor, anyway?). Fuck that; I woke up one morning, noticed my body didn't want to take in any food, and I went to work without eating. The result: I had more positivity, energy, and clear thoughts. It was so nice. Now, I listen to my body and I don't think I need any data.

[Sleazy]

i know there have been a lot of fitness threads over the years here so just wanted to share my progress with this approach. after 5 weeks i'm down 7 lbs and my goal was 1-2lbs a week so that not too bad.

i haven't had to really change too much, i still eat and drink the same kinds of things i'm just more accountable. so if i want to go out and eat then i'll stack 1000 calories through exercise that day so that i'm still on target for my goal. having a fitness tracker with HR makes it easier because it opens up to tons of exercise options. i can skate, bike, lift weights, walk, whatever. i'm actually thinking about getting a water proof HR tracker so that i can count swiming calories too. today for example i have a meeting with a new client downtown and i know that i need to build up some calorie deficiets for this weekend because i eat more on weekend so i packed my gear for a run around the lake after. i know i could just go run without the metrics but having the metrics allowed me to focus in on exactly how much effort i need to put in to hit my goal of 1-2lbs a week and made me aware that i need to run today if i want to keep progressing instead of just trying to exercise all the time and eat less without really knowing if i'm doing enough.

if don't have a hard time loosing weight then don't waste your time with this stuff but if your like me and have a hard time getting it off after it's on, i like it better than exterme style dieting or just working out a shitload.



i think fitbit blows for the most part and it seems like its more for fat house wives who want to feel better about themeslves. i would recomend the garmin vivofit or polar or something similar over fitbit. i looked at the apple watch the other day and i might pick one of those up as they have hr and you can sync with external hr for serious exercise.