I was extremely obese, but several helpful weight loss tech gadgets and apps have helped me lose 70 pounds since the start of this year. I still have a long way to go before I lose 200kg, but these accessories and tools give me hope that I can reach my goal. Here’s how I did it.
Before I go any further, allow me to give a little full explanation. I started this journey with a whopping 428 pounds. It’s morbidly obese, and my doctor has pushed me for years to do something about it. I never could until a new weight loss pill prescribed by my doctor made the feeling of hunger go away.
Despite my thinness, I have lost weight and the following things continue to help me lose weight while keeping track of my health. I hope this helps you out whether you’re in a serious situation like me or just want to lose a dozen pounds before vacationing at the beach.
Weight Loss Technology: Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S8+
Read more: 11 Best Weight Loss Apps for 2017
My smartphone acts as a hub for many of these weight loss tech items. Many connect to my phone via bluetooth or other means.
I started using an Apple iPhone 7 Plus, but bought a Samsung Galaxy S8+ when it came out earlier this year. Both devices offer some nice health tools like follow-up steps and apps to lose weight or stay healthy. I prefer the Samsung Galaxy S8+ of the two, so I currently use it as my daily driver (although I still own the iPhone 7 Plus).
apple health it will connect to other apps and monitor your data. Good to see them all in one place. The app also suggests possible apps you might want to look at in the App Store. It was Apple Health that led me to my calorie-counting app below. Apple Health does a lot more than I use, but it’s a useful tool if you’re an iPhone user.
Apple Health on the left and Samsung Health on the right.
After switching to the Samsung Galaxy S8+ for about a month in my weight loss process, Samsung Health It has become my preferred phone app to keep track of my health. Like Apple Health, it connects to other apps, services, and devices to track everything from one location. The app also includes a Discover tab that shows you news and advice to help you with our health issues. I don’t look at it much, but I’ll open it once in a while to check out the submitted posts.
Both Health apps let you set goals for exercise, weight loss, and other health-related categories. If you’re trying to be or stay healthy, check these out.
Withings Smart Scale
When I started my weight loss journey, I couldn’t find a scale to record my weight. For the first 6 weeks I had to rely solely on the doctor’s office scale. Then I reached the six mark of 400 and the Withings Smart Weighing would eventually register my weight.
Read more: 12 Best Weight Loss Tools for 2017
Withings no longer sells the model I have, but the latest scales do what mine does. I pair with my phone via Bluetooth and then use the Withings app to set up my profile. This includes things like your birthday, your height, and then your weight. The app adds your Wi-Fi network to scale, so it sends the information to the company’s servers over your wireless network and Internet connection. This way you can sync with your app no matter what phone you are using.
The scale uses your weight and entered height to monitor your BMI (body mass index).
The Withings Body smart scale tracks your weight, fat mass, muscle mass and water. The app shows a graph for most of these numbers, like the weight loss graph shown above.
Receive Withings Body smart scale for $99.95.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBacjVz4Ulc
They also sell one called Withings Body Cardio. The cheaper Body works like a smart scale, but adds heart health tracking. It tracks something called Pulse Wave Velocity, which monitors the rate at which heartbeat waves move blood through your veins. The scale can detect this by measuring your heartbeat when the feet touch the scale. HE IS It costs $179.95.
Apple Watch and Samsung Gear S3 Smartwatches
As I said above, I started using an iPhone and thus got the first generation Apple Watch. When I switched to the Samsung Galaxy S8+, I bought the Samsung Gear S3 instead of the Apple Watch.
Both watches assist the user by tracking their fitness data more accurately. Each one tracks steps, calories burned, heart rate and offers users a quick way to view health data and enter information into apps that support watches.
They encourage activity as well as track your activity. Apple Watch nags for action at 50 minutes every hour. The Samsung Gear S3 does a slightly better job detecting when you last moved, and then doesn’t bother you until you reach an hour of inactivity. Neither watch does a good job of recognizing when you’re driving to pause notifications of inactivity.
When you wear a smartwatch, you send data to apps on the phone, such as Apple Health or Samsung Health. Other apps will also pull data from the watch to help you keep track of your health.
My Fitness Pal App
I have already mentioned the Apple Health app and the Samsung Health App. The biggest help in losing weight comes from Under Armor. My Fitness Pal app for both iOS and Android It tracks my calorie intake, water intake, and other fitness and health categories.
I record what I eat every day. The app connects to food databases and automatically enters calories and other nutritional information such as sodium levels, fat content, and more. After each meal time I get a reminder to enter my meal. I can also set the app to remind me to drink more water, which has become necessary with my weight loss medication. Without plenty of water, this drug has a nasty side effect.
The calorie and nutritional information in the database provides mostly accurate information. Sometimes I search for a menu item while dining at a restaurant and the number of calories on the menu does not match the database. In this case you can certainly enter the calorie figures or send them a corrected figure. About 90 percent of the time the numbers are correct.
The app comes for free, but the premium subscription version adds a few features for $10 per month or $50 per year. You can set calorie goals per meal instead of just daily. Premium will also monitor carbohydrate and protein nutrition data. The free version lets you add calorie amounts without entering the whole food item, but not other nutritional information. Premium version does. It also strips ads and gives users “priority customer support”.
If you’re serious about nutrition tracking, get the subscription. Worth it.
Google Fit and Android Wear
I reviewed the Huawei Watch 2 last month. It uses Google Fit data and the company adds a custom Huawei Health app. Google Fit works like Samsung Health and Apple Health. The Huawei Watch 2 also does a great job of tracking things like steps, calorie burn, and heart rate.
For other reasons not related to fitness tracking, I prefer my Samsung Gear S3. But if you don’t have a Galaxy phone, the Huawei Watch 2 will serve well as your fitness tracker.
Standing Desk
I don’t use a standing desk due to back issues as I’ve been carrying over 200 pounds too much for years. That said, some do recommend them, like our own Josh Smith, a reviewer a while ago. Here is his video review.
A standing desk helps you stay active while doing something normally sedentary like typing. This Ergotron Workpiece D It adjusts up and down so he can stand up or sit down, reviewed in Josh’s video above. approximate cost $700 on Amazon.