A quick update on health tracking hardware and software for 2024.
Health/Diet Support
After two years of using Noom, I started to question whether I was getting value out of the the quarterly $150 subscription. I felt the most impactful part of Noom in the long term was the calorie tracking aspect. I switched over to Lose It which integrates well with all of the other apps I am currently using at a much lower cost point.
GPS Watches (Running, Cycling and Hiking)
Activity Monitors
- (2021-) Apple Watch SE
- (2015-) Garmin Fenix 3 and Mio Link Optical Heart Rate Monitor
No changes here, but I am looking at moving to an Apple Watch Ultra 2 at some point.
Smart Scale
- (2023-) Withings Wi-Fi Body+ Scale
- (2010-2023) Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale
I got almost thirteen years out of my original Withings Body Scale but in November 2023, the fat measurement stopped working. I replaced it with a Withings Body+ Scale which gives a number of additional measurements (% water, bone mass, etc).
Treadmill
- (2022-) NordicTrack C1750 Treadmill
We are still loving the NordicTrack treadmill and it gets used several times a week, especially in the winter time.
Software
- (2015-) SportTracks.Mobi
I continue to use SportTracks as my main fitness data repository.
- (2021-) Withings iOS App
I use Withings’ app to move the data from my scale into other apps.
- (2015-) TrendWeight
TrendWeight is a great web app for taking weight scale data and computing/displaying it using the methodology described by John Walker in his online book, The Hacker’s Diet.
- (2021-) Apple Activity Watch App/Health iOS App
The Activity Watch app basically replaces the functionality of my old Fitbit Charge. Since I have been using the Apple Watch SE for workouts as well, the Health iOS app is constantly up to date with my current calorie burn over and above my baseline. This feeds Lost It throughout the day, adjusting my calorie target over the day.
- (2023-) RunGap iOS App
- (2022-) ECHO iOS App
One aspect of the Apple Watch SE that was a bit painful was getting data to and from the watch, both in real-time and after workouts. The ECHO App allows me to link my Apple Watch SE to the NordicTrack treadmill for real-time heart rate monitoring on the machine.
I forget where I heard about RunGap but it is a great app for moving workout data amongst the various applications. Initially, RunGap could read iFit directly but back in August that changed. Now, I link iFit to Apple Health and then use RunGap to move things to SportTracks.
