Why does health and fitness tracking lead to success for some and failure for others?
WAREABLE, DECEMBER 2015
I recently spent two weeks tracking my calorie intake, calorie burn, exercise and pretty much every aspect of my lifestyle for a fortnight. What was more surprising than my own personal experience was seeing how others reacted.
From just a few social media shares alone, people contacted me on Facebook, singing the praises of tracking everything they do, saying it was the only way they had achieved fitness goals and weight loss success.
Others said the exact opposite, that just the thought of tracking calories made them feel anxious. And some even got in touch with me privately and said that tracking calories had been to blame for long bouts of obsession with food and even eating disorders.
The big question is why, when many of us are armed with the same knowledge, access to the same research and the same pieces of tech do we have such different attitudes to tracking and such different stories to tell about our experiences?