Fitness Metrics Overload

Why it’s not always a great idea to track everything

Watches, smart rings, smart bath mats, mattress inserts, breathalysers, and smartphone apps can now track almost everything we do and present this back to us as ‘metrics.’ We’re told that knowing these metrics will help us lose weight, build muscle, and ultimately save time by achieving our goals quicker. But do they help or hinder?

While some gadgets are indeed helpful it’s easy to get caught up in the web of metric tracking and lose sight of the bigger picture. When it comes to achieving any fitness or health goal the most important thing for you to be doing is DOING. All the planning and tracking in the world won’t do a thing if you’re not actually doing anything (e.g. training, talking with your coach, meal prepping etc.).

Fitness devices and apps are tricky because just by using them many people feel like they’ve done something to get closer to their goals (are you guilty of that?). For some, even just the act of buying a FitBit gives that little pang of satisfaction of making that first step towards a fitter, healthier life (even if they haven’t physically taken any steps).

Now, I’m not saying that these devices are bad or useless. They’re not (well, not ALL of them). But rather than being the first thing you buy or use in your fitness journey they should be your last. Perhaps with the one exception being apps (particularly free ones) that you find motivating. For example of Pokémon Go gets you taking more nature walks, well that’s not harming anyone.

The devices to be especially careful of are those that promise to give you detailed and obscure metrics about your health or body. A prime example is the metabolite breathalyzers hitting the market right now. These promise to analyze your breath and tell you how you’re doing diet-wise (e.g. are you burning more carbs or fat for energy etc.). That might sound useful at first, but it’s over complicating by a mile. Rather than constantly analyzing your breath to determine what to eat next it’s easier, simpler, and likely healthier to just follow your diet or even just your intuition for what your next food choice.

It’s that kind of over-complication that leads to the number one reason that I don’t recommend using too many fitness tracking devices: paralysis by analysis.

Have you ever been presented with so many options that you couldn’t really decide on a single one and just ended up doing nothing? That’s paralysis by analysis. It can also occur by you making a plan and then continuing to rework that plan again and again without ever executing it. The more info you have at your fingertips the more opportunity there is for you to get stuck with paralysis by analysis, especially if you don’t know what to do with all that info.

Another classic example in the fitness world is when people get stuck between trying to decide to ‘cut’ or ‘bulk.’ What often happens is people switch between the two too frequently to make any meaningful progress with either goal (leanness or muscle growth). This is exacerbated with the power of apps and smart scales.

When you’re given detailed metrics about your body, you can be lulled into believing that you can use this information to chisel away at your goals. But bodies don’t really work like that. Fitness goals are achieved with weeks and months of consistent hard work towards one main goal (e.g. weight loss) and maybe a secondary goal (e.g. mobility) if you’re ambitious. For the most part, smart devices are not great at helping you with the long term effort that is required for meaningful change. They’re usually designed to give you little updates and moment-to-moment pings to keep you engaged and looking at them. If your smartwatch could only give you a monthly update on how you’re doing you might think it was a useless piece of garbage, but that’s the kind of information that’s actually helpful rather than a play-by-play of whatever you just did or ate.

Fitness technology is especially tricky when it comes to motivation. It is risky to entrust your motivation with something as external as a wearable or app. The first badges or “good jobs” you earn from your smart device can be motivating. They provide that little hit of dopamine that we’ve come to expect from our gadgets, but over time you get used to those and it’s not long before you don’t care how many random badges you’ve earned. The dopamine hits stop coming and you stop tracking calories/working out/drinking from your smart water bottle. Motivation that comes from within and that is not reliant on a hit of dopamine from a watch or app is far more enduring even if it doesn’t feel as glamorous.

Of course, not all devices and apps are bad. I rely on an app to track my workouts and help me calculate what I need to be doing to continue to make progress (e.g. amount of weight to lift or pace for cardio). Keeping in mind the common ways that fitness devices and apps can trap you and thwart your efforts will allow you to make smarter decisions about what you do and don’t need. If in doubt, go without. And after you’ve been working at something for a while and moved out of the beginner stages you’ll have a much better idea for how an app or device might be actually helpful and therefore be able to make a more informed buying decision.