There are many reasons to want to lose weight (mass to be precise), whether for health reasons or to feel better, but it is not always an easy task. Fortunately, technology is here to help us, whether it’s to track your progress, measure your vital signs or simply to generate a source of motivation.
Before explaining to you how I lost 10 kg, I think it is important to tell you about myself, because we are all different and what applies to me will not necessarily apply to you.
Being “overweight” without realizing it
In June, I weighed around 81 kg for 1.75 m and 20.5% body fat (because it is rather this indicator that you want to see drop, muscle weighing more than fat). I’ll spare you the calculation, this represents a BMI (Body Mass Index) greater than 26. Nothing alarming, far from it, but the WHO still qualifies this as “overweight”. I also noted the presence under my navel of what could be described as a “small beer belly”, the result of several years of good living habits and, above all, a lack of sport. This cessation of my physical activity is mainly linked to an old injury which had completely demotivated me to put on my running sneakers or my climbing shoes again.
Without being a great athlete, I have always liked to exercise, so I have what some might describe as a fast metabolism. So I never worried too much about getting body shamer by my scale every morning, even though I was far from the 68 kg of my 30s.
However, in July, I decided to change my life. Suddenly having a lot more free time, I chose to slowly get back into sport to test the limits of my body. I accompanied this with two changes in my diet: first, I gave up alcohol completely (which was definitely one of the best decisions of my life), and I replaced my junk food. bread and cheese crusts with fruit when I was hungry outside of meals. These details are not really trivial since they alone reduced my stomach size as well as the figure on the scale by 3 kg.
July is also the release date of the Pixel Watch 3, which hasn’t left my wrist since. This is definitely what played the biggest role in this weight loss that I didn’t expect.
Google Pixel Watch 3 (Wifi) at the best price
Base price: €399
See more offers
Set a goal
Having already owned the previous model for several months, I was accustomed to the data recorded by the Fitbit application, but what made the difference was a new indicator specific to this version: cardiac load. And for good reason: I didn’t particularly want to lose weight and therefore never set myself a goal in that direction. Here, Fitbit offered me two: “Maintain cardio level” or “Improve cardio level (without overtraining)”. I opted for the second, out of curiosity.
What is cardiac load?
Based on the TRIMP (TRaining IMPulse) model, my watch calculates a daily score for me based on my resting heart rate, my activity and a number of factors already known by the application. To increase my score, there is only one solution: do exercises that challenge my heart. The longer and more intense the activity, the faster the points accumulate.
Here I take the example of the connected watch that I own, but you will also find this metric on other brands, such as on Garmin watches or the Apple Watch for example.
What I like about this indicator is that it adapts well to my mood and my physical state. Although I receive a notification every morning on my wrist to tell me my target load for the day, I regularly check it after midnight to know what the next day’s effort will be. It happened to me to see a score to reach close to 120 by placing my head on the pillow and to notice it reduced to 1 a few hours later after insomnia having prevented me from closing my eye. night.
Obviously, I also occasionally allow myself not to listen to my watch, for example if I know that I will be exerting an intensive effort the next day or if I am not feeling well. Sport is a pleasure for me and it could end up disgusting me if it becomes a constraint.
Avoid overtraining
Since July, I have been listening to what my watch asks me every day. I have created sports routines for myself that will more or less work my cardio: cycling, skipping rope, exercises at home… it’s up to you to decide according to your desires and your body, the main thing being to exert oneself. In my case, I started with non-impact exercises to preserve my joints (at almost 40 years old, this is an important element), before adding more gradually to accompany the gradual increase in my load target.
To satisfy this new divinity which punctuates my days, I began to favor cycling for all my trips and no longer just for pleasure. I found myself going out jumping rope in the rain to earn a lot of points in a short time. From a simple pleasant pastime, the experience has become a rhythm of life, without me even realizing it. I have even started climbing and running again, because I have new confidence in my joints which I have strengthened in recent months.
Today, sport represents 5 to 6 hours of my weekly time and I hope it lasts for a long time. To ensure this, I make sure not only to achieve my daily goal, but also not to exceed it (too much). For fear of (re)injuring myself… I didn’t play sport for three years, I definitely wouldn’t want to fall into that again.
A personal experience
After five months at this rate, my scale now shows me 70 kg for 13.5% body fat. My body looks like it did when I was younger and I feel much better every day. I changed my objective to “Maintain the level” (at least for the winter) and I manage to keep a pace that suits me.
As I said in the preamble, this is my personal experience and not medical advice. If it works for me by continuing to eat raclettes and burgers, you may need to consult your GP or a dietitian to achieve the same result. The important thing here is not mass loss, which wasn’t even a goal for me originally, but just a bonus. On the other hand, finding a source of motivation that pushes you to move more if your lifestyle is sedentary and gradually developing a taste for sport can only do you good.
In my case, the motivation came from a new indicator on my smartwatch that worked by gamification. Filling up my cardio points is a habit that has become part of my daily life, like my coffee when I wake up or opening boosters on Pokémon Pocket. Maybe this can work for you too!
