Fitness Trackers: Helpful or Harmful?
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A fitness tracker is a wearable device designed to monitor and track various aspects of your physical activity and health, such as steps taken, calories burned, heart rate, and sleep patterns. It serves as a valuable tool to stay motivated, set fitness goals, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. However, there has been debate regarding their actual benefits or drawbacks.
In this thought-provoking episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast, I will delve into the fascinating world of fitness trackers. I will explore the subject comprehensively, offering insights for those who find themselves on the fence about acquiring one, individuals who may not realize the extent to which their fitness tracker influences their life, and those who believe fitness trackers hold the key to their challenges. If you fall into any of these categories, this episode is tailored for you.
What I discuss:
Pros:
Fitness trackers can be used as an amazing accountability buddy when used correctly.
Fitness trackers have helped people focus more on how they FEEL.
Cons:
Fitness trackers can trigger obsessive behavior…
Depending on a fitness tracker to measure your progress can make you overly reliant on external validation.
Being obsessed with a fitness tracker can lead to an imbalanced lifestyle….
While fitness trackers have improved in terms of their accuracy over the years, they can still provide inaccurate or inconsistent readings.
Focusing excessively on calorie burn and prioritizing cardio over weight training is another potential dark side of being obsessed with a fitness tracker…
Links mentioned in the episode:
Macro Counting Made Simple Academy - https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go. [00:00:21]
[00:00:28] Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace, your podcast. I'm so grateful that you are here spending some time with me today. Today we're talking about a pretty controversial topic in the fitness world. And you likely know what I'm going to talk about because it's in today's title, but we're talking all about something that is a staple in many of our lives. For those of us who have the tracker, the fitness tracker, a lot of people have mixed feelings on it. And then there's some people that are so against them, and I respect both sides. Honestly, I can see many positives to it, but I can also see how just like anything in life, if it's not taken in doses and taken with consideration and care, it can easily become an obsession. And and so we're going to be talking about the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it on today's episode. And hopefully this will just kind of shed a light on this topic. I get this question a lot in my community and movement, actually, like people asking what my thoughts are on fitness trackers. I've talked to them about them a couple of times on the podcast, but not recently. So I thought I would do an updated podcast episode on the fitness trackers and really just kind of talk about the positives as well as some things to look out for and kind of the negative aspect of fitness trackers so that I can give you just a broad kind of picture of what I have found to be very helpful. But what also some areas that I found to be kind of not so healthy and can lead down an unhealthy relationship when it comes to your fitness tracker. So that's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode. So grateful that you're here. Before we dive in, though, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Marine 1375. She gave a five star review and said, Love this podcast. I'm so grateful that I found Julie on Instagram discovering her app and then this podcast. Julie's voice is so calming and each episode makes me feel better and better. I struggled with disordered eating my whole life and I'm finally at a comfortable weight and listening to this podcast and Julie's past struggles is helping me learn to keep it off in a healthy and mindful way. I especially love the combo of faith and education. Thank you, Julie. Maureen I love this for so many different reasons. So first of all, I'm so grateful that you found me on Instagram. Social media is just kind of like a fitness tracker. There's so many benefits to social media, but there's also some things that we could always talk about when it comes to the negative aspect of it. But in this case, I'm grateful that you found me on Instagram and so thankful that the Moment with Julie app is helping you. And thank you so much for tuning into this podcast. This is my hope and my prayer is that I can leave you with some sort of encouragement, some sort of way to educate you or empower you. And so the fact that you brought up, like the combination of faith and education, that is always my goal. Like faith is number one most important thing in my life. But close second is, is that I can really use my gifts and talents to share just the message of being able to live a life that is filling, but also that you're able to honor your body with movement and nourish your body with what it needs. And so by educating you, I feel like we lead a more empowered life. So grateful that this podcast helped you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send this review in. If you could scooch over to Apple Podcasts and leave a reading and review, it genuinely does help us out so much. When people stumble upon the podcast, whether they're just kind of browsing through the charts or they find it through a friend, a lot of times people, the deciding factor of them tuning into the podcast is reading their view. So thank you in advance. I appreciate you. Let's dive into the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it about fitness trackers. I think that for some people the fitness tracker can be super helpful, but for other people it's just not for them. And it's honestly more has more cons than it does pros. And so if you decide to not wear one or if you decide to wear one, I just want you to know I'm on your team and I just kind of want to explore this topic with you so that you can kind of make up your own decision or, you know, if you've had some thoughts, maybe this will solidify that if you know, on the good or bad or whatever. So we're going to be talking about the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. First, let's talk about the positive side. So, number one, fitness trackers can really be used as an amazing accountability body when used correctly. Like first of all, these devices, a lot of them, they do remind you to get up and move. Right. And I am a huge supporter of all movement. I think all movement is great movement. We don't need to be stuck in this mindset of movement is only a workout at the gym or when I'm following a workout routine movement is movement. I will never discriminate on that. And these fitness trackers really do an amazing job of reminding you if you haven't moved in a while. That's one thing that I really love about the Apple Watch is the rings, right? There's the one for move, there's one for exercise and one for stand. So in my opinion, Apple really does celebrate like any type of movement and not just exercise, which I think is an awesome feature. So I want to share a story that you would I kind of want to give you some back a back story. So I'm leading up to end of 2018. I was. Feeling really burnt out. I previously. My whole health and fitness journey was built upon gym workouts. I started gym workouts at the end of 2012 when I first started dating my then boyfriend, now husband, Joshua, and I remember feeling so overwhelmed. This is a different topic for a different day, but just briefly, like feeling super overwhelmed, not knowing what to do in the gym, feeling like lifting weights and lifting would make me bulky. And he really helped teach me that that's not the case and really give me like a solid foundation. So anyways, I worked out in the gym from 2013 till the end of 2018, and I remember at the end of 2018 just feeling like this stirring in my heart, like me and I. Any time that I would skip the gym for anything, like if it was a hike, if a friend wanted to go hiking or if I just didn't have time to get to the gym or make an excuse and didn't get to the gym and did something at home, like a walk or a core workout or something at home. Like I did not count that as a workout in my mind. For whatever reason, I only equated like workouts being and movement. Like I didn't even have a concept of movement. It was more like, Oh, did I get my workout in or not? And if I didn't like, I would feel guilty and I would feel like I was failing. And so I just started to recognize this pattern and I realized that I didn't have a healthy relationship with movement in general. And so I really wanted to kind of redefine like what movement look like for me. And at the beginning of 2019, I kind of toyed around with the idea of like just quitting the gym. And I remember having this conversation with Josh and he was like, What are you going to do? And I'm like, Well, I think I might do workouts at home. And he's like, Okay, with what? And it was around that same time that my dad was moving from Colorado to California, and they had dumbbells from 5 to 14. And he randomly texted me like, Hey, we have these dumbbells. I don't know. I know you guys work out at the gym and you have a lifetime fitness membership. But would you guys want them? If not, we'll either donate them or give them to your sister. And I remember being like, Oh my gosh, this could be like my way out. And I was but I was so scared because I had never honestly done any sort of like consistent movement at home. I always felt like that was like petty stuff. I know it sounds so silly, but I just I equated like home workouts to like, Oh, that's so easy. There's no way that you're going to be able to, like, sustain or get results from workouts at home. And I only ever really equated home workouts to body weight for some reason. So anyways, I decided to take the leap and I remember quitting the gym. We got the dumbbells, and then for about four months those dumbbells sat in our garage. And one day Josh was like, Hey, like, are you going to be using these? They're collecting dust. We don't have a lot of room already as it is in our garage. Like, what do you want to do with these? And I remember being like, No, let's move them downstairs in our basement. Our basement at the time was like, completely cluttered with so many things. It was like a typical unfinished basement. And so I put him down there with like literally in the middle of all these boxes. And I just remember, like, I was like, Well, here's the time. Like, now's the time I'm going to start doing, like dumbbell workouts. And I felt like super. It was felt so different for me, and so did that for a few months, sporadically, not like consistently. And I still, though, like, had this yearning to, like, redefine what movement look like in my life and in my health and fitness journey in particular. And so I remember coming up to September of 2019, I remember at the end of August being like, You know what? I'm just going to do it. I'm going to do like, I had gotten an Apple Watch for Christmas in 2018 and I hadn't used it much like I use it sometimes, but not a lot. They weren't as popular back then, which is just, you know, it's like five years ago. And it's still crazy to me that the technology changes so fast. But I was like, I'm going to kind of explore this Apple Watch thing. Like, I don't really know what it is, but it's kind of cool that it has all these three rings. And so I just kind of researched it and I was like, I'm going to set like my calorie goal, like my move goal at like a pretty realistic thing. And I'm going to challenge myself to move for 30 minutes every single day, not do a workout every day, but just move my body. And so I posted it up on Instagram and I was like, Hey guys, I was like August 29th of 2019. I was like, Hey, guys, I'm going to be doing like this 30 day challenge completely free, but I'm just gonna be posting it on my Instagram and I want to encourage you as I'm going to encouraging myself to honor my body with movement for 30 minutes a day and just encouraging people like, remember, this is not a workout every day. This is just being intentional with the movement and really setting yourself up for success and to honor your body. And so I did. And I remember it changed so much. Like it just helped me redefine movement. And it was all because of the accountability of the rings. And I set them in a way where I knew I wasn't going to be actually doing like a workout every single day. I was at that time doing consistent workouts like three or four days a week. And so I set my calorie goal. I want to say it like. 420 or something. I set my my exercise goal at 30 minutes and then I set my eye just the standard like 12 hours for stand and it challenge me for 30 days. It got me outside my comfort zone. And you know, after 30 days I was like, I'm going to go for 60, I'm going to go for 90. And I ended up going for a whole year. I went 300. I remember 365 days of closing my rings and I remember like celebrating it. And that year just really like, changed everything for me and especially, you know, that was like September of 2019 and then COVID happened in March of 2020. And so it just really like helped me just redefine movement, especially because all the gyms at that time were shut down and it was just such a it was a blessing in disguise. I had like started demo workouts prior to all things COVID. But anyways, having a fitness tracker really did. It helped me stay consistent and it helped me just by that simple reminder, that simple nudge to get up and move like it just helped me in so many ways. And also the fitness tracker is really great at like gamifying movement and they have like all the different challenges, whether it's like Environmental Day or Memorial Day or whatever. It is like encouraging you to move. And I think that when any sort of thing that encourages you to move, like I said, I will never say that that's a bad thing. But like I said earlier, when used correctly, it can be really helpful. And you guys know, I'm a huge proponent of movement is like 30 minutes, just 30 minutes a day will allow you to have so much energy throughout the day just from being intentional with movement. And so having that nudge can be a great reminder to get up and move throughout the day as you start to kind of learn or relearn, in my case, like just redefining what movement look like. Number two, fitness trackers really have helped people focus more on how they feel. How so? So HIV is becoming a hot topic and I think for good reason. Like it's helping people shift away from how many calories they burn that day, which we'll talk about in a bit and how inaccurate that information can be when tracking it and really helped people shift to their wellbeing. So for those of you who might not know fully understand like what HIV is, when we're tracking HIV, we're really looking at the variation in time between our heartbeats. So it's not just the number of beats per minute, it's about the tiny differences in the timing of each beat. And guess what? Those differences can give us some pretty cool information about our bodies, stress levels and overall health. Like just in general. The biohacking really does involve like data. And the cool thing about these fitness trackers is a lot of them have so much data for you. So here's the deal. When we're in a relaxed state, our heart rate variability tends to be higher, right? It means that our heart rate can adapt and adjust to different situations, which is a good thing. It's like it's the sign that our body stress response is in check and we're kind of more in a balanced state. But on the flip side, when we're stressed or we're dealing with health issues, our HIV tends to decrease and it's not what we want. So you might be wondering like, okay, how the heck does this relate to like overall well-being? Well, when our HIV is higher, it's often an indicator that our body is better equipped to handle stressors and maintain kind of that strike, that healthy balance. It's like this like wellness signal telling us that we're doing something right and our bodies in a happy place. On the other hand, when our HIV is low, it might be a sign that our bodies under more stress or struggling with certain health issues. So it's kind of just a gentle reminder to take a step back, assess what might be causing the imbalance, and then make some adjustments to prioritize, you know, rest, relaxation, some other habit shifts that will help to rebalance us. So many people, when they start tracking their HIV, they tend to start to notice a trend. So when their HIV is high, they feel more vibrant, they feel more energetic, more present in their lives. But when their HIV is low, they're they're dull, they're lacking energy, they're unmotivated. And that motivates people to keep their HIV high. So they start to notice trends. Like when I only get 5 hours of sleep, my HIV is low, so I need to prioritize more sleep. Or when I have, you know, four drinks out with my friends, My HIV is low, but when I only have one drink, I feel better and my job is higher. So becomes kind of more motivating for them to make better choices based on the number that reflect like the number that reflects how they feel. This can also encourage you to have more rest days, so someone who works out every single day get and gives himself little to no rest. They're going to subsequently have a really low HIV and they might think that they're being healthy because they're doing so much energy. But when they look at their HIV, they'll see otherwise. And when they give themselves rest, they realize that their HIV goes up and that's when their body, you know, that's what their bodies actually needing. They needs more rest, not more exercise. And so for someone who's struggling to listen to their body, kind of following the data and biohacking in a sense can be super helpful. And super beneficial. And these are all things, you know, that just even a decade ago, like these were not available for us to be able to track. And so you get to a point where we're like, we would be at our breaking point and then we'd go to the doctor. But like, what's wrong with us? And we wouldn't realize that, you know, for the last four or five months this was what was going on because we didn't have that data available. But now we do, which is pretty cool. So that is definitely something that I think can be positive. And at least for me, like personally, I got a or ring. I don't know if you ever heard of them. This is not sponsored by any means, but I got an oil ring because I heard that it was more accurate when it comes to tracking sleep data versus and I don't personally like wearing my Apple Watch to bed. I don't like the notification feature of it when it comes to like being in bed. You guys know if you've tuned in to any length of time. I don't sleep with my phone in my room. I don't like having it by me. And I feel like the Apple Watch is an extension of your phone. And so for me, I just I don't like having anything on me when it comes to like sleeping. And so the offering did appeal to me because I was like, okay, so many people are talking about how cool it is that it can track your sleep. And I will just say, like speaking from now, having it for about three months, I've been able to track my sleep data. It is on a whole nother level than I ever knew. Like I remember, you know, I thought I slept pretty good, but I didn't ever have, like, the data to back it up. And now it's crazy, just like I was mentioning earlier, like how little tiny things can trigger things. So, like, if I have two glasses of wine or if I have two margaritas, my sleep is immensely affected versus when I am just staying consistent and drinking my water, fueling my body properly. And it's just crazy. You know, the more data, I can just really help you to biohacking and be able to make informed decisions about your health and fitness and and correlating like the correlation between how I'm feeling and then looking at my actual sleep data. Like, man, was my breathing good? Was my deep sleep good? Was my what was my latency? Right. Like latency is the amount of time that it takes for you to fall asleep. And sometimes if your latency is too short, that just means that you're over exhausted like your latency should. At least from my understanding, looking at the ordering, it should be 5 minutes or more like it should take you at least 5 minutes to fall asleep once you're in bed. But a lot of times like I find myself, my latency is like 2 minutes, which means that I'm overtired. Like I should be going to sleep earlier and it's just assigned to me. Like there's just so many points of data that I'm like, Oh, this is awesome. Like, I can optimize my life, I can optimize my health. So that is something really cool about fitness trackers. But like I said, there are definitely some downsides. There are some negatives to fitness trackers, and I want to kind of explore those. So, number one, fitness trackers can trigger an obsessive behavior, constantly monitoring and analyzing every aspect of your fitness data Can it really can lead to an obsessive behavior and this can lead to a toxic relationship with food and fitness. And it can also be like an obsession that leads to consuming your thoughts and making it challenging for you to focus on other aspects of your life. And it can create an unhealthy mindset where you're constantly feeling the need to, like, achieve these unrealistic goals and essentially like your life revolving around your fitness tracker and having your fitness tracker be like the point or the thing that you base your decisions off of. A perfect example of this, when I hit that 365 day mark, I felt so proud. But I also felt myself creeping into this like territory of feeling a little bit obsessive. And it really was triggered when I was on vacation and I forgot my Apple Watch charger. And I remember being like, Oh my gosh, I have to go to the store and get a charger. And it was in that moment that I was like, Wait, I am now telling myself, like I had worked so hard to redefine movement in my mind and say, like, movement is not just a workout in the four walls of a gym. And now I'm getting to the point where I'm saying, Oh, if I don't even have my Apple Watch, like, is it even a workout or is it even movement? And that's when I felt like, okay, I need to take a step back. And I it was the biggest blessing that I forgot my Apple Watch charger on my vacation because I was like, now I can like really just focus on how I'm feeling and I don't have to have all these metrics all the time. And so that really did challenge me. So if you find yourself coming, getting into this point where you feel this unhealthy relationship or this obsession creeping in, I just want encourage you to like completely cut it cold like cold turkey and see how it feels. Kind of feel weird for the first couple of days. But after like after I think it was my sixth day on vacation, I was like, this is awesome. Like, and now, you know, I use my Apple Watch, like on a daily basis, but I'm not obsessed. About it. Like if I forget to click, you know, work out when I'm working out and it doesn't track my work, I'm not like, oh my gosh, Like, it's not all consuming. And so just really keeping yourself in check there. Their number two, depending on your fitness tracker to measure your progress, can make you overly reliant on external validation. So constantly seeking the validation through achieving like your step goal or your calorie burn target or hitting specific fitness milestones can really it really does like affect your self-esteem, it can affect your self-worth, it can make you feel inadequate or disappointed if you don't meet those expectations. Like you may work out with someone, they burn more calories than you or they got more steps than you or whatever it is. It makes you feel like you're not doing enough, you're not good enough. And both of those things can trigger a negative relationship with food and fitness. So if you start to validate yourself and your workouts based on some numbers, it means that your fitness tracker is working against you. Remember that the purpose of your fitness tracker should be to motivate you, not to validate you. I really want to hone in on that, so I'm going to say that again. The purpose of your fitness tracker should be to motivate you, not to validate you. Number three, being obsessed with a fitness tracker may lead to disregarding your body's natural cues and relying solely on the trackers feedback. So if you're someone who is only looking at steps and calories burned and not paying attention to things like your RV, this can result in overtraining and pushing yourself beyond healthy limits. Ignoring the signs of fatigue or injury like you may start to feel like you need to get X amount of movement in each day, or you need to burn X amount of calories each day. So you push your body to keep going, even when your body is clearly telling you like, Hey, I need to take a break. If to remember that our bodies are not machines like they aren't, they need brakes. Sometimes they need this rest, they need this recovery. And you have to listen to that. And sometimes the only way to listen to that is by being intuitive and really listening and tuning in to your body's cues, not just being fixated on certain numbers or targets that your fitness tracker is telling you. So if you're finding yourself feeling rundown, but you feel like you have to have these targets that you need to meet daily, and if you don't meet them, you're beating yourself up, then your fitness tracker is not helping you. Being obsessed with a fitness tracker can lead to an imbalance lifestyle. You might prioritize exercise and physical activity over essential aspects of your life, such as relationships, hobby, work, rest this imbalance. It can negatively affect your overall wellbeing and it can lead to burnout or strained relationships. Plus, instead of enjoying activities and connecting with others, you might become so preoccupied with achieving your fitness goals that it's leading you to miss opportunities for social engagement or just overall life enjoyment. This constant pressure to meet this fitness tracker or achieve new records can contribute to increased stress and anxiety. So if you feel yourself feeling guilty or anxious when you don't meet these goals or you're experiencing negative emotions when you're comparing yourself to others, this can have a detrimental effect on your mental well-being. And this is again, why for me, I it was like a rude awakening when I forgot my charger on vacation. It was like I immediately felt like, Oh, this had a hold on me that I didn't even realize it did. And when I was able to say, Absolutely not, this will not control me. I am in control of how I feel, not what this external fitness gadget is telling me. That's when I felt like I was able to regain just this overall autonomy over like my body and over being able to just listen and tune in. And it was so such a beautiful thing. Such a beautiful thing. Number four, while fitness trackers have improved in terms of their accuracy over the years, they can still provide inaccurate and inconsistent readings. So this means that relying heavily on the trackers data might lead to a false sense of accomplishment or frustration if the readings aren't accurate. Right? Inaccurate readings can include overestimating or underestimating metrics such as your step count or your calorie burn or your distance or your heart rate. This can affect your perception of progress and potentially lead to making incorrect decisions regarding your exercise or nutrition. And plus, the act like the inaccuracy of trackers can also be influenced by various factors such as your device placement, your movement patterns, individual differences, device limitations, all those things. So blindly relying on the trackers data without considering its limitations can lead to very misguided results and potentially unhealthy behaviors. And that's why, when using fitness trackers, it is essential to remember that they should be seen as a tool that provides insight and guide. But they should not be the sole determinant of your fitness progress. Go back and replay that because I need you to remember this. And lastly, number five, focusing excessively on caloric burn and prioritizing cardio over weight training is another potential dark side of being obsessed with a fitness tracker. So overemphasizing cardio for the sake of burning calories can lead to neglecting the benefits of strength training. I've seen this a ton. Sometimes in most cases you have to remember that your strength training session in the moment might not show you that you're burning, you know, X amount of calories versus the same time that you are if you're on the treadmill, if you're on the cycle or whatever you're doing. We have to remember that the benefits of weight training long term over a 24 hour period are so much greater than just what your cardio data is showing you for in that moment. So I've talked about that on tons of other episodes. I'm not going to go into like the science behind that, but you have to remember that weight training helps build muscle increases strengths, improves bone density and enhances overall body composition. But if you're solely focusing on burning calories through cardio, you're going to miss out on those important benefits, and that will hinder your long term progress and your health. Remember that cardio might help you burn calories, but cardio doesn't change your body composition. Cardio will not give you that lean, toned body that you want the way that strength training does. I'm not saying that cardio is bad. I'm just saying that if you are looking to build your overall physique, if you're wanting to get stronger, you're wanting to get leaner, all of those things, first, you've got to build some muscle so that when you lose the body fat, you see the muscle, right? I think that's what so many people don't understand, is that they're like, Oh, I if I just do cardio, then I will be able to achieve this look. And then they realize, you know, when they're doing all this cardio, not only are their hormones out of whack, they're overtraining, but then they're realizing I'm actually getting like the body that I wanted. Like, I'm just like, I'm getting skinnier and skinnier, but I'm not building any muscle. Weight training is a huge part of this, and that's why I talk so much about weight training, But different topic for a different day. All that to say. Just remember that excessively focusing on this caloric burn and really prioritizing that caloric burn and almost idolizing that number that's going to lead you down a path that is likely going to trigger obsessive behavior and it's not going to give you the results that you're looking for. So how can we strike the balance? How can we ensure that our fitness trackers are truly helping us without crossing into this harmful territory? I want to kind of give you a few tips to keep in mind. So, number one, it's really crucial to listen to your body. Remember that fitness trackers can provide useful information, but they should never dictate your self-worth or define your progress. Learn to trust your instincts and focus on how exercise and movement make you feel rather than solely relying on the external data. Number two, you've got to set realistic goals that align with your overall well-being. Remember that health is not just about physical health, it's about your mental health. It's about your emotional well-being. So I need you to prioritize self-care, rest, recovery alongside of those fitness goals. Number three, I need you to take breaks from your fitness tracker, whether it's intentional or unintentional. Like my first break from my fitness tracker was It's okay to unplug, give yourself permission to enjoy movement without constantly monitoring it. Engage in activities you simply love for the joy of it rather than the burn that you see in terms of number or trying to hit a certain target from your fitness tracker. And lastly, number four rely on a proper workout plan to ensure results rather than your fitness tracker. Again, hitting your numbers on your fitness tracker each day will never be more beneficial than following a purpose built, work efficient and effective plan based on your goals. Right? Burning X amount of calories daily isn't the same as a structured week of workouts or burning X amount of calories. Yeah, it might help you lose weight, but will it actually help you build the body that you want? Build the body composition that you're looking for? So if you feel like your fitness tracker is hurting you, you could just benefit from taking it off. Like, I know it's scary. I remember being very crabby like the first few days of my vacation and I remember Josh being like, You know what? You need to calm down. Like, you encourage women so often of striking this balance and here you are like huffing and puffing because your you didn't bring your charger for your fitness tracker, like get over it. And I remember being mad in the moment. And then, you know, my third or fourth day, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. I'm starting to like, listen to my body more. And it just made me appreciate. The data so much more when I had a healthier relationship with it. So I hope that this gave you some insight. I hope that this gave you maybe some encouragement or maybe the nudge to be like, Yeah, you know what? I need to take a week break or I need to take a few week break from my fitness tracker this summer and really just focus on how I'm feeling instead of being so obsessed about it. If you are looking for a structured workout plan, I do have a demo workout only plan. So ever since I quit the gym and I started the dumbbell workouts in my unfinished basement. If you follow me on social, you now know that we've basically converted our entire basement to a gym so we no longer have boxes everywhere. Thank goodness there's just a lot more room and it's a lot more organized. But I do have a demo only workout program. I give you five branded workouts every single week, and they're carefully programed to just optimize your results. So if you follow the workouts inside the app, even if you're doing three days a week, you're going to see results without the need of a fitness tracker. Because if you are doing and putting in the work and you're listening to your body, that is the ultimate best thing you can do. I will always say being intentional and intuitive with your body is the number one thing that you should learn in terms of wanting to create a sustainable and healthy and thriving relationship with not only your body but fitness in general. So if you're looking for a plan, you need a plan. This summer, all you need is a few pair of dumbbells, a small space, and your phone you can head over to sale. That's Sally dot Julie dot com. I would be honored to do this alongside of you. It is so fun. We have thousands of women from all over the world that are doing these workouts and I will link that in the show notes below. All in all, I just want you to remember that fitness trackers, just like social media, can be super helpful, but there are definitely boundaries that you need to create. And sometimes we take it too far and we don't realize in the moment that we're taking it too far. So maybe this was just kind of a wake up call for you and just reminding yourself that fitness trackers should be seen as something that provide insight and guidance, but they should not be the sole determinant of your fitness progress. So that is all that I have to say on this topic. I know it's going to be very controversial, but I hope that I gave you some insight and I would love to hear from you. I would love to hear your aha moments. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on fitness trackers. So be sure to tag me posted up on your Instagram story or Demi. I always love connect with you guys. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. I mean it. I'll take the next one. [00:33:13]
[00:33:13]All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes. It's with an A in the middle for that daily post workout real talk. Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it. [00:17:17]