Just about a month ago, I kicked off ‘Motivating Marty‘. All in all, it’s a bit of a mad notion where I share as much information publically about my efforts as possible. With one month complete, I wanted to give a quick update on my progress and offer some tips on how to lose weight using tech.
How has the first month of Motivating Marty been?
I picked a really interesting month to kick off a fitness kick. There was a lot going on, not to mention two Bank Holiday weekends. Still, I can’t argue with the results I’ve seen so far. Over the past week or so, my drive has waned a little. That’s left me fairly worried about the next weigh in – but that’s future-Martin’s problem.
Standing on the scales for day one, I was 107kg. Over the past few years, I’ve been in or around this weight. In the month since starting Motivating Marty, I’ve lost 5.9kg.
Typically, this is where I should say what else weighs that much. Well, it’s nearly 6 bags of sugar.
What tech will help you lose weight?
Just a month in, I’ve far from exhausted every piece of helpful tech. This first check in will just look at some of the tech and services I’ve been using.
Withings Smart Scales
Withings was recently acquired by Nokia and will be churning out great fitness gear in the coming months. It’s strange having such a cool gadget that you use so rarely. That’s just the nature of weighing scales. The Withings Smart Scales I’m using is a full Smart Body Analyser packed full of features. It obviously tells you your weight, but then it goes even further. The scales also measures body mass index, heart rate and air quality. Every time you step onto the scales, your data syncs up to the Withings app. You can then access this through an app or through their website.
This will surely sound fairly gimmicky to most people, but there are genuine benefits to having a scales like this. Take my fears about the next weigh in. If things don’t go well, I’ll see the weeks of progress that I did have. The trend map is also a constant reminder of where I started from. There’s also the ability to then connect your scales to other services. This is one of the most interesting aspects of Motivating Marty.
Using IFTTT
I’ve been rattling on about IFTTT for ages now, a service that connects loads of smart tech. IFTTT lets me connect my Withings Smart Scales to other services. Now many will use this to upload weights to Google Sheets or something, but not me. I decided to connect the bloody thing to Twitter. Yup, every time I weight myself, that weight get’s tweeted out from a dedicated account I’ve set up. I’m not joking, look:
Right now, I'm weighing in at 101.05 Kg. #MotivatingMarty
— Motivating Marty (@MotivatingMarty) April 26, 2017
Now I’ve wondered for years, asking myself “how to lose weight in a way I’ll enjoy”. I’ve failed a rake of times. This time, I figured the public humiliation of failing might drive me on. The funny thing is that there’s also the public support of my efforts driving me on. There have been comments, both public and private, supporting my efforts. Sure enough, most also say they couldn’t imagine something worse than tweeting out your weight. Which leads me to social media.
Social media
I’ve been fairly critical of those lads in the gym that Instagram themselves working out, but I totally get it now. I’m motivated to hit the gym because the world is watching (to a certain extent). While I feel silly posting some of the stuff and still totally think some people are over the top, I get it now. Even still, with some people over doing it, what’s the harm really? Don’t follow them or don’t tap those hashtags. It’s that simple. If something as simple as a gym post gets me off my arse, then I’ll be posting it, trust me.
How to lose weight with tech: Top tips
Over the month, I’ve learned these few bits and piece.
- You will forget to use MyFitnessPal more than you remember
- Instagram is addictive
- Smart scales are not a gimmick
- IFTTT is one of the most flexible things on the internet
That’s it for the first update. There will definitely be more of these as there’s are so many other tips I can now give on how to lose weight with tech. I haven’t even touched upon some of the best apps I’ve used in the first month, so be sure to follow Motivating Marty. You can keep up on Twitter and Instagram.