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Just For You

Track It If You Want to Improve It

Tracking our progress helps us to achieve our goals. This is particularly so when it comes to our health and fitness.

Take our food consumption, for example. A 2008 study from Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research found that tracking the food we eat can double our weight loss.1,2

Tracking does the same for our exercise goals. Pedometers, smart-phone apps and wearables may be new technology, but already millions of us are using them to get real fitness results. These devices make a difference - a recent review of some 26 published studies showed that "the use of a pedometer is associated with significant increases in physical activity and significant decreases in body mass index and blood pressure." 3

Health tracking works. And for these reasons it makes sense that it should...

  • It sets goals for us. Tracking produces personal bests and other milestones that we then try to maintain or better.

  • It gives us a dose of reality. Sometimes we delude ourselves into believing things about our lifestyle, our circumstances and our achievements that just aren't true.

  • We get self knowledge. We discover and understand the circumstances and events that trigger pain, affect our mood, or give us the great sleep and energy we need to go harder.

So, if you haven't done so already, register here as a Health Tracker. That way you can save, track and achieve your health goals faster.

References

  1. Hollis JF et al. Weight Loss During the Intensive Intervention Phase of the Weight-Loss Maintenance Trial Am J Preventative Medicine (August 2008 (volume 35 issue 2 Pages 118-126) www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(08)00374-7
  2. Keeping A Food Diary Doubles Diet Weight Loss, Study Suggests Science Daily
  3. Bravata DM, Smith-Spangler C, Sundaram V, et al. Using Pedometers to Increase Physical Activity and Improve Health: A Systematic Review. JAMA. 2007;298(19):2296-2304 jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=209526