Why should you invest in a fitness band when you are trying to lose weight?
When I started my weight loss journey almost 10 months ago I invested in a fitness band. Primarily because I needed a watch and did not have the funds to buy anything fancy. A fitness band at 1500 would look cool on my hand. Also, a fitness band would flash the caller ID and while I was cycling which was a great help to decide if I needed to stop to pick up the call.
Over the next couple of months as I lost kilos of weight and fat off me, I realized a great trend. Thought I could write and share why one should invest in a fitness band when they are trying to lose weight.
Motivation- A fitness band gives you just that
Weight loss does not happen over a day or a week. For some the journey might be over a period of 2-3 months, for some, it might be six or for some a year. It is very easy to lose motivation and give up. Work commitments, peer pressure, lack of self-confidence, results not showing up. The reasons could be many. I have gone through this myself over many years. It is very easy to fail.
A fitness band usually has an option to set a step goal for each day. It creates a small sense of competition. One would simply get up and walk to cover those number of steps so that the streak is not broken.
Walking is not going to help you lose weight, but the whole idea of staying mobile is a great start. I would take the stairs instead of the lift, walk to the office and many more. My longest streak was 123 days. The idea of competing with myself kept me going.
Pro Tip: Do not set the step goal for a day to be too high, keep something that is achievable like 5000 steps. Probably you could adjust later to suit your activity. If you keep something too high, you are bound to fail and then give up. Keeping something lower will help you achieve your goal and give you the sense of winning which will keep you going on.
Track your sleep
A very important parameter to weight loss and general health and wellbeing is good sleep. Our current stress levels and work ensures that we sleep less or do not get good sleep during our sleeping hours. Sleep tracking is an important feature in all fitness bands.
I noticed that I was sleeping very less leading to a lot of unhealthy things in my life. High blood pressure, weight gain etc.
Once I got the fitness band I started noticing and tracking my sleep. I started ensuring that I sleep at least 6.5 to 7 hours a night. Also started noticing that I was sluggish and sleepy throughout the day if my deep sleep was less. Started trying different mattress, pillows, and settings to improve my deep sleep. Noticed that if I managed to take less stress throughout the day, my sleep was better. This improvement helped me a lot. Because my rest and recovery were taken care of.
Do I need an Expensive Fitness band?
If you are a runner or a serious cyclist and intend to train, then you definitely need an expensive fitness band, probably one that comes with a separate heart rate monitor.
If you are an average guy, looking to just lose weight, then get a basic fitness band. You could get one with a heart rate monitor, but the ones at the low budget range have a highly inaccurate one and are close to useless.
