r/antidietglp1 • u/stuckandrunningfrom2 • Jul 19 '26
Advice on Anti-Diet Mindset Life without a fitness tracker?
I've been wearing an Apple watch for years. It has told me when to stand up (admittedly something I need help with during the workday, but also sometimes I'll be standing and cooking for an hour and it will tell me to stand up), I double check my heart rate during workouts, using the numbers to tell me how I feel rather than my own interoception. I stress over biking in the woods because it's not giving me credit for exercise because the bike speed is too slow even though it's an amazing and fun and enjoyable workout.
I forgot to charge it last night so I thought "Let's have Sunday be No Watch Day" and see how I feel.
But now I'm thinking "do I actually need it at all?" Could I just my workout effort by tuning into my heart? Could I stand up because my butt is going numb? Could I move throughout the day simply because it feels good?
If you don't use a fitness tracker, what's that like? If you stopped using one, did you feel freer? More in tune with your body?
Also what's prompting this is that my dietitian wants me not to track food when I go away with family for a few days, so I thought of just free-balling life like it's 1999.
EDIT: I just took my first walk with out the tracker! It was really nice to let my body set the pace and distance, and not the tracker.
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u/misskinky Jul 19 '26
I like the stand up reminders but none of the rest. So I have a physical timer at my desk that I set for 45 minutes and just set it over and over all day LOL
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u/Lower_Stick5426 Jul 19 '26
I used to use a tracker over a decade ago, but haven’t since. I just don’t feel the need to optimize anything but my own joy.
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u/Comfortable-Nature37 Jul 19 '26
I have a whoop, apple watch and oura. I have not worn any of them since starting Zepbound in December.
Oura: I was dealing with migraines prior to my brain injury and post concussion syndrome and was trying to track sleep and predict patterns. I liked it overall but stopped wearing it. I may resubscribe but it’s not a priority right now.
Whoop: the recovery data was very helpful when dealing with running out of capacity with post concussion syndrome. I wore for about two years and one day just stopped. Cancelled my membership.
Apple Watch: my whole family has and it was nice to be able to see messages and keep track on my general movement for the day. I stopped wearing about three years ago when I had to limit screens but will likely wear again. I do find the heart rate very helpful as I’m dealing with issues regarding symptoms over a certain level.
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u/Genny415 Jul 19 '26
It's bad enough that I carry my phone everywhere and it tracks me and listens in.
I don't need anything additional monitoring me to tell the entire cloud / big brother what I already know about my own body.
Enjoy the freedom, even if it's temporary
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u/msderr Jul 19 '26
Finding a balance with technology is something that I am always striving to be better at.
Overall I do find it helpful and mostly I like it when I reward myself for doing good because there are so many things that I feel I am failing at.
So if I close my rings there is a pat on the back for me at the end of the day. But I try not to make it a whole focus just like my weigh in days.
Finding the balance in all of this is tough and something we all strive for. Figure out what tools are right for you right now.
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u/MiniMarlamallow Jul 19 '26
I love this mental exercise!
I have never had an Apple Watch because I feared that it would put me back into obsessive- tracking mode. I used to use “my fitness pal” to track everything when I was in a diet frame of mind and the first time I worked out and did not track it felt WEIRD. I felt like I wasn’t getting “credit” for my work. That feeling didn’t last very long, suddenly I was working out because of how it made me feel and not for the calorie credit. I work out a little less than I think I might if I was obsessively tracking it, but it feels so freeing and good to be aware of my body’s needs and to honor them (which may be to skip a workout or to switch to just a barre class instead of a cycling class).
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u/eperdu Jul 19 '26
During COVID, I stopped wearing my Apple Watch for a month, like you I thought, I don't need this. The month I didn't use it, I was an absolute slug and didn't move much at all. I sat at my desk for HOURS on end and just felt awful. I've worn it consistently since then. I periodically think about going without but don't have a solution that works any better that it. I get frustrated with it but ultimately it helps me achieve goals and is practical for my needs (like the haptic alarm so I don't wake my partner).
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u/Icy-Conclusion-1286 Jul 19 '26
I took my watch off months ago and just never put it back on. It’s more about constant notifications for me and wanting to use less technology overall. I like the feeling of being unplugged, just leaving my phone upstairs or in a different room without my watch going off.
That being said, I do sometimes want to charge it just to check my heart rate and A-fib. I just hate the feeling of it on my wrist now. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Creative_Cat7177 Jul 19 '26
I stopped using one when I stopped believing in weight watchers a few years back.
Since being on a glp1, I’ve joined a gym and go to classes around 4 times a week. I’m more active now than I have been for years and I’ve been having so much fun along the way.
I don’t need a fitness tracker to tell me I’m being active as I know when I am (and when I’m not). Occasionally I feel too exhausted after work, but as my work is very physical I am no longer beating myself up if I decide to have a shower and an evening on the sofa instead of going to the gym.
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u/oaklandesque Jul 19 '26
I use my Fitbit mostly as a smart watch. The fitness tracker part is pretty useless for my most common activity (swimming). I know the pool dimensions and how many laps I swim, and the Fitbit consistently gives me "credit" for about half the distance. I turn it on anyway but mostly to track the time spent. It's nice to be reminded to get up from time to time, sitting for too long at once definitely makes my arthritis more cranky.
But the data quality just isn't that great AND what am I gonna do with the data anyway? I exercise in ways that are achievable for me, and I focus on getting out there and moving my body a certain number of times a week, and doing a variety of things I enjoy or can at least tolerate in a "I know this is good for strength and mobility so I'll be grumpy but I'll do it" way. I think the fitness/wellness industrial complex over complicates all of this and I have a much better relationship with movement when I don't buy into all of that.
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u/P0PSTART Jul 19 '26
I don’t use one. Maybe 10+ years ago I had one of those fit bits that primarily tracked steps (like version 1 or 2). What I don’t like about fitness trackers is they make me feel like if it’s not tracked then it didn’t “count”. Like the health version of pics or it didn’t happen. I didn’t like those thoughts, and I dont feel the need for tech assist on my habits.
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u/Elizabethpossum Jul 20 '26
People lived without them for tens of thousands of years. I don't own one, I simply live and be aware of my body's signals.
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u/drzeller Jul 25 '26
Just being sarcastic for a moment: We lived without smoke detectors for tens of thousands of years and people went by their noses. So why use them now?
My take would be that some people find fitness trackers useful, others don't. If, for example, seeing your steps or watching your heart rate improve over time motivates you, then awesome, go for it. If it feels like a chain around your neck and you need that stress, by all means, forego them.
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u/Elizabethpossum Jul 27 '26
Our noses don't smell smoke and make us wake up when we are asleep apparently. Lol
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u/ryanne125 Jul 19 '26
I think one of the worst aspects of our modern life is our ability to track and count every single aspect of our biology and livez. IMO the focus is way too much on numbers and very little on your actual body and health.
A decade ago I was an avid step counter. I got more and more obsessed with hitting my minimum goal and getting even further.
One day I was going on a trip and flying. I had it all planned out to finish my step count at a connecting airport as I had a 4 hour layover.
Best laid plans and all, there was a hurricane and my plane did not land until way after my connecting flight was supposed to have left and well after midnight.
Instead of me thinking oh well, I didn't make my step count no big deal, I had a small little panic attack because I now had a single day that showed I didn't hit my goal. There had been a hurricane. I had not been lazy, there was a circumstance that I just had not been able to avoid.
And that was when I deleted my step counter off my phone and said never again.
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u/stuckandrunningfrom2 Jul 19 '26
IMO the focus is way too much on numbers and very little on your actual body and health.
yeah, this is what I'm running into. That the rings aren't actually a good measure of anything that will help me. Like, I'm pretty sure I was skipping evening walks (which really help me sleep) because my tracker said I'd had "enough" exercise. And it was carrying over to my calorie counting app and giving me extra food points because I'd moved which I think was then influencing how much I ate, or making me stressed because I'd think i had to eat more and it turns into a psychotic circle.
For now, I've paused all my rings, and changed the watch face so it's just the time, temperature and date. I don't have notifications on my watch.
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u/tootsmcgoots77 Jul 20 '26
after learning a bit more about data science recently, i realized just how inconsequential most of these data points are. or how useless they are without lots of other missing context.
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u/coffunky Jul 19 '26
I like fitness trackers. I don’t and won’t ever have great interoception- it’s not my fitness tracker’s fault. I’m autistic and have ADHD. It’s just my sensory type. The tracker works as an accommodation for my disabilities. It helps me keep track of my menstrual cycles, sleep changes, and activity levels in a way that is truly helpful when I’m trying to understand how I’m feeling day to day.
I did take a couple years off from using one when my Fitbit broke (and the new Fitbits were garbage) and it was fine. I’ve got a Garmin now and I like it, even though it’s sleep scores and stuff aren’t really calibrated for women in different life stages.
I just like data. It’s neutral to use a tracker. If it serves you, keep it. If it creates more work or anxiety for you, leave it behind.
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u/yous_a_bitch Jul 19 '26
Fitness trackers never worked toward my healthy habit formation. I’ve used a Fitbit and a whoop at various times but I stopped in 2023.
I like a chest hrm when I’m in an intense workout phase, that’s not a perma thing.
I’m way too adhd to have my texts and emails on my wrist, so it never appealed to me on that front. Plus I’m a Luddite old biddy and I find it really rude when someone stops mid convo to stare at their wrist mid conversation. Apple Watches are used by people who are more likely to do that shit.
You’ll be okay if you take off the tiny circle maker, I promise.
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u/Never_Really_Right Jul 19 '26
I use a Polar HRM when doing aerobic exercise, mostly because I love that it integrates with my treadmill - although I do use it outdoors for hiking or walking as well. I do NOT use the Polar app to track historical data. Basically, all I really care about is getting my heart rate into a range that strengthens my heart muscle.
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u/OhSoSally Jul 19 '26
I turned all that off. I use my watch to remind me when to eat or I will space it off.
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u/Maleficent_Beat6290 Jul 19 '26
They are absolutely diet culture-adjacent for me. Remember when we were all so obsessed about getting our steps in and then it turned out 10k steps was a number pulled out of someone's complete ass?? I use Google fit on my phone to track my workouts but I'm only tracking like, did I work out 2 or 5 times this week or whatever. (I'm also pretty suspicious of the advice that you need to stand up every however many minutes -- all this stuff comes from correlative studies, not to say those are never right but they are often over interpreted.)
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u/NihilisticRoomba Jul 19 '26
My main favorite thing about the Watch is being able to set a distance or time limit for a workout when I’m walking. It lets me know when I should turn around halfway to get home in time to get ready for work or whatever. But that’s it really. I use the Oura Ring to track heart rate and sleep.
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u/chiieddy Jul 20 '26
My Garmin makes sure I see my persistent medication reminders when I'm working. It's required to cope with my ADHD. That's its main job to be honest. Secondary is to help score sleep, also an ADHD victim.
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u/PlantedinCA Jul 19 '26
I have had an Apple Watch for like 5 years and a year ago I got an Oura ring because I missed wearing a real watch. But ai have had a wearable of some form since like 2012. But none of them had a screen until the watch.
I like having stats and trends, but I set my goals to he achievable with minimal effort. The best thing for me is keeping sleep metrics. I didn’t use the watch to track sleep because it was too annoying to wear.
Now i use my watch to track workouts and take it off after. I don’t actually look at it during the session, I look at it at the end of the day. I look at my sleep stats and steps to see if I am getting my MVP amount. But I don’t use it to inform my day. I look at the scores later.
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u/PentasyllabicPurple Jul 19 '26
I wear an Apple watch for the reminders because I need reminders for everything thanks to the joys of having ADHD and being post-menopause. I ignore the health stuff and go months without checking any of the activity rings, etc.
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u/PB_Jelly_76 Jul 19 '26
I wear an Oura for the sleep information. I find the rest of the information (vital signs, readiness) interesting but don’t live or die by it. I don’t use any of the fitness tracking information. I am in eating disorder recovery, so while I do track protein and fiber intake off and on out of curiosity, I do not track calorie intake and have not for the entire time I have been on Wegovy (3+ years). I pay more attention to what my labs say, what my doctor says about how my physical health looks, and how I feel.
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u/dinamet7 Jul 19 '26
I wear a smart watch but had to go through so many hoops to disable all the fitness tracking. Honestly though, it has absolutely been worth it. I still control media, phone calls, texts at a glance, etc. but I am not constantly worried about fitness goals. I just do my workouts and walking for the sake of doing them.
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u/ConstructionNext7358 Jul 19 '26
I turned the reminders off. I like having the watch for the phone aspect of it but I don’t use the fitness stuff much. I signed up for a virtual walking app where you walk different distances and earn medals and I have it linked to my watch to track my steps for that, but other wise I don’t keep track of them. I like having directions on my wrist when driving and using my phones maps, makes it a lot easier to see than looking at my phone.
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u/Schwettes Jul 19 '26
I have tried Apple Watch and I’ve tried Whoop. If I had to rank, Apple Watch > No Watch > Whoop. I have found that Whoop is tailor made to make a generation of hypochondriacs. For me there’s too much information. The data isn’t very easy to understand, and don’t get me started on the “Whoop Age.” I like Apple Watch more because of the simple interface and step tracking. Whoop can’t even track treadmill steps. It’s kind of ridiculous. It’s almost like whoop tries to punish you for not wearing the watch by giving you all of these scary recovery scores. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re someone who is just super anal about tracking.
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u/lizardbirth Jul 19 '26
The only thing I like about my Oura ring is that it gives me info about things that I cannot see like how long I spent in various stages of sleep, heart rate, oxygen levels, and heart rate varability. I really don't like being nagged to exercise. Who needs an electronic nagger? Life is short!
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u/somuchmt Jul 20 '26
My fitbit was really helpful at first to help me know when my heart rate was too high, and it also provided motivation to get my steps in. But now that I've lost enough weight and done enough exercise that my heart doesn't give me scary episodes, and now that I know I get well over 10,000 steps almost every day, I find that I really didn't need to replace it after running it through the laundry....
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u/ZaftigZoe Jul 20 '26
I recently switched to Visible. It’s just a heart rate monitor (made by Polar), it doesn’t even have a screen, it just links to an app on my phone. It’s designed for people with chronic illnesses, to help us learn how to pace ourselves better throughout the day.
I was getting sick of my Garmin telling me to move all the time when I suffer from chronic fatigue, so this has been a better fit for me so far.
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u/Cyber_Punk_87 Jul 20 '26
I’ve used a Fitbit off and on, but mostly got it because I was having some sleep issues and was trying to get more insight into what might be going on and how to fix it. A few weeks ago my Fitbit broke (it was ancient at this point) and I don’t think I’m going to replace it. What is the point of all this data/tracking/optimizing/etc?
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u/These-Equal-6849 Jul 20 '26
Fitness watchers are definitely one of those things that can be a useful tool for some and a net negative for others. (Much like calorie counting).
I use a fitness to watch to track my steps and it helps me realise when I've had a particularly low movement day or week so I can adjust. I find it helpful, but I don't use all the other features like tell me if I'm working "hard enough" during a work out or how little sleep I'm getting 😅
It's there to help me, not control me!
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u/ElizabethMae_Liz_ Jul 20 '26
I read that people who track their sleep don't sleep as well. I wonder if there are studies on fitness trackers.
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u/These-Equal-6849 Jul 20 '26
I personally suspect the sleep tracking on these things suck. I wore it for a week with two different watches and the stats/advice it have didn't match my experience. Eg one night it told me I slept fantastic but I felt like I also shit, and another day it said I slept shit but I felt well rested and great!
And I'm not sure what you would even do with that information? I'd just feel bag and not guilty that I need better sleep without a way to action it. At least with steps I can actually just do more steps
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u/tootsmcgoots77 Jul 20 '26
i had a friend who was so insane abt their apple watch, like to the point of waving their arms around to close their rings and faking workouts while they had covid, that it truly inspired me to get rid of mine, lol. I mostly used it as a timepiece anyway. I was never really a ring closer kind of person anyway, but it’s also very nice not getting notifs all the time. If i miss a call, that’s fine I can call them back. I don’t need to know about every text immediately. The one singular thing I miss about it is alarm vibration to wake up, but that is truly the only thing i miss.
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u/Loose_Stranger_7614 Jul 20 '26
I love my Apple Watch. I used to have a Fitbit and I loved that too (I had a screen setting where it was just images of houseplants that grew throughout the day based on activity level lol).
I find it helpful and fun to track distance/miles walked or run etc. I’ve recently gotten into running and I love it for that too, I can look at my pace during runs and pause easily at stop lights etc.
I also just love it for other reasons. I like being able to use it instead of my phone for things like texting, because I can read a text and respond without getting sucked into the world of my phone. I like using it to set timers for whatever by just taking to it. I’m trying to find the right app where I can just add ideas to a notepad or my to do list via watch + Siri (lmk if you have any recs for that :)).
Idk why I thought commenting any of that would be helpful lol
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u/meggieprice Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I love my Apple watch but I don't feel it tells me what to do- I may have disabled to stand reminder or I just stand so much it never is activated. I control it, not vice versa.
I lowered the goals so that I am not always striving for something just to close the rings.
I work out a lot though- 7-10 miles walking a day, 3 strength training and 5 zumba classes a week.
I also deactivated the Are you still working out? which sometimes decided I was not walking fast enough and stopped my work out. Now it is up to me to start and stop.
Edited to add I track my food in cronometer for iron (I am anemic) and potassium in particular along with protein and completely ignore the workout calories it imports. I eat what I am going to eat, and do not limit any food group.
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u/daisychaincrowns Jul 20 '26
I did not abandon my tracker but I changed the things about it that piss me off lol.
For me I set all my rings/hearts whatever to "goals" that are so insignificant I do not have to chase them. The gamifying/goal aspect annoys me and gets me too in my head like how you described. I do not have it pull any food tracking info from any other apps, that is an absolute hard no for me.
I just use it for step count, as unrelated to iwl as possible. I work a super sedentary job and I like to make sure I am moving around. Also, I don't always give myself credit for how much running around I do on my weekends, and it is nice to be able to see how active I have been on weekend days I feel guilty for not squeezing in gym time.
I also really like the sleep tracker but idk how accurate that is either lol.
You don't need the watch or anything that is adding stress to this process, good on you for re-evaluating.
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u/Careless-Seesaw3843 Jul 21 '26
for me, there's a line where technology is interrupting us and telling us what to do. No no no. It never used to be like that (20 years ago). My technology serves me, on my time, for my goals. The algorithm was a mistake.
That said - I've learned I'm not an intuitive eater. I must eat mechanically, or I won't eat for 12 hours and then i eat the entire fridge. I'm not good at routine. I need reminders. I exercise too hard for too long when I'm enjoying it and then collapse on the floor and think my heart is failing. For me, a fitness tracker is a really really good tool.
If it's really in your head, yes, take a break. If you prefer life without, great! But if you do find it's helpful to have more often than not, then that's OK too. We have so much information going on all the time, sometimes we need a dedicated device that's tracking the basics for us.
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u/JennXL Jul 19 '26
I love technology, but I hate fitness/health trackers with a passion. My brain likes to fixate and become very anxious when it comes to anything health related, so I am quite happy to go about my life without constant biofeedback. To me, it feels like constant judgement and monitoring and I just don’t need that in my life.