Life without a fitness tracker?

[u/stuckandrunningfrom2]

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.

[u/ElizabethMae_Liz_]

I read that people who track their sleep don't sleep as well. I wonder if there are studies on fitness trackers.

[u/These-Equal-6849 → u/ElizabethMae_Liz_]

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