I got a spiffy new watch as a farewell gift from the SmallCorp Board last month, but I continue to mostly wear my Apple Watch. It does such a great job measuring movement & fitness activity – I would miss wearing it.
I am very diligent in closing out my fitness rings every day. I might missed a few days, but generally I get them closed.
Here’s my last 4 months:
You can see I only missed closing my rings 9 days out of the last ~120 days. Pretty good.
The Apple Watch is super accurate in tracking my heart rate. Since my heart attack in 2019, I watch it pretty seriously. If I look at the different activities I’ve done over the last few weeks, it’s a perfect progression of fitness difficulty:
My son is going to the Apple Store to pick up the newest version of the Apple Watch today. I use mine so much, I’m thinking about getting a new one myself, too.
Are you a ‘fitness watch’ user? What do you like about it?
Image: Fotor AI
MrFireStation 
The newer iWatch appears to do some really interesting added measurements including blood oxygen saturation, tracking your sleep cycle while monitoring for sleep apnea and ECGs, with 36 hours battery life. I hate wall hugging to charge devices. I am an Android user. Do you have to have an iPhone and a dedicated cellular number to use an iWatch?
I currently track my fitness program using three tools primarily on Wednesdays and Sundays. My cell phone has an Android App called Fit that tracks my daily walking in steps. It also works if you are using an elliptical. The App pushes its users to achieve 150 heart points weekly to meet the American Heart Association goals for maintaining cardio vascular fitness. A heart point correlates roughly with walking a minute at a fast pace. If my two four legged personal trainers get me out for hike once per day, I easily surpass the daily and weekly goals. If they get me out twice, I more than double it. If I do other activities such as mowing or shopping where I always park in the back of the parking lot and walk extra steps, it is also a double. It also tracks steps and miles.
I also have a blood pressure cuff and typically measure 115 to 120 over 60 to 70 with high 50s to mid 60s BPM first thing in the morning. Today’s numbers were 120/68 at 65 BPM. These are key numbers that I track because I have used diet, exercise and supplements to restore my Nitric Oxide level. This pathway to cardio vascular health was not understood until 1998 and was awarded a Nobel Prize. Nitric Oxide Restoration restores your vascular system’s ability to expand and contract to meet your blood flow requirements. The peak for Nitric Oxide levels is typical in your 20s and is only downward from there until in your 60s it is 90% gone.
The final piece of gear is a VeSync scale that one of my sons bought. It has a mobile app where you provide your birthday and height. It provides and tracks your Weight, BMI, Body Fat Percentage %, Subcutaneous Fat %, Visceral Fat%, Muscle Mass and more. The app really pushes one to get rid of those few extra pounds of Body Fat that aren’t doing your health any favors. I am trying to get into the 15 to 20% Body Fat range to maximize my T level. I didn’t know I needed this scale, but really like it!
For goal oriented individuals these tools hold you accountable and give you feedback that nudges one towards making better choices to improve their health. RFK Jr. said something during the Trump Rally in Glendale, AZ which hopefully is a wake up call to the country. The US has 4% of the world’s population and had 16% of the world’s death from Covid-19 due to comorbidities. I don’t agree with RFK Jr. on everything, but am hopeful that this moment becomes the US’ moon shot to improve public health.
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My Apple Watch just uses a WiFi connection to the phone. I have to be in proximity of the phone. Anywhere in the house is fine.
Your Fit app sounds similar to the Apple Fitness Rings. I used to just track steps, now I do ‘move’ calories, ‘exercise’ minutes (above 100 HR), and ‘stand’ (12x/day). It does heart rate, but not pressure. My blood pressure has always been good. After my heart attack, I thought about getting a cuff, but not so far.
I’ve never heard anything about Nitric Oxide levels. I’ll have to Google that. I haven’t done my body fat % in a long while.
Unfortunately, after my heart attack and now taking three pills each day, it’s been hard to keep pounds off. I track every calorie of everything I eat in an app called MyNetDiary, but I need to cut 10-15 pounds. It’s frustrating – especially for someone who worked in the food industry and understands the science well.
Regarding a cultural change in public health, I hold out little hope. George Will attended one of our MegaCorp Officers meeting a long time ago and had this observation: If people just did 5 things well, most of the preventable health issues in this country would disappear. Eat less, eat well, move, don’t smoke, wear a seat belt. All are FREE and voluntary. Require now government programs. Every kindergartner knows they are important. Yet, few do all 5. I try!
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Very interesting about standing. Sitting is the new smoking. Just standing improves your health and will help you sleep better.
Here are some articles about Nitric Oxide. This information has only been around since the 90s.
https://www.health.com/nitric-oxide-7557367
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.98.22.2365
To get the last ten pounds off I started intermittent fasting (only black coffee for breakfast), got my personal trainers to increase my mileage, lowered my simple carbs and stopped drinking beer and alcohol every night. I think the beer and alcohol made the biggest difference and seems to have helped my sleep as well.
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Get rid of simple carbs?! That’s how I made my career at Big Food MegaCorp!! Who’s going to pay my pension? 🙂
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There is an emerging market for low carb food and those who will buy it are not as price conscious. When you are over in Europe, check out the grocery stores and see what they are stocked with.
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Why can’t Mega Good Corp leverage their expertise in marketing, distribution and manufacturing to become a leader in an emerging market?
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Honestly, it’s a small market. All the big food companies have invested in organic, healthy, and sustainable brands that just don’t sell. We had a whole division of them. As I’ve commented many times: “if you are looking for low-fat, low-sugar, high fiber, nutritious, convenient, and colorful foods … just buy carrots. They are usually right in the front of the store.” No really wants carrots though. They want fat, sugar & salt. Even in Europe – they want Magnum Bars.
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In fact, the biggest innovation in carrots has been … MINI carrots! So you don’t have to eat as much now!! 😆
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