2495: Three Simple Rules For Tracking Your Progress by Marc Bilodeau of Fit Trend on Successful Goal Monitoring

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily Episode 2495, three simple rules for tracking your progress

[00:01:07] by Mark Billado of FitTrend.com and I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator. Happy Sunday

[00:01:14] and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily or OHD where I read you from some of the most

[00:01:19] popular health and fitness blogs online. And I'm going to jump right into today's post

[00:01:24] so let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:01:29] Three simple rules for tracking your progress by Mark Billado of FitTrend.com.

[00:01:39] Tracking your progress can give you a bird's eye view of all your efforts. Not only will

[00:01:43] you see your progress but you may also see early indicators of trouble which will let

[00:01:47] you adjust yourself sooner rather than later. As a result, you keep moving in the right

[00:01:53] direction. As a result, you may reach your goals faster. You may even learn what works

[00:01:59] and doesn't work. You may also create rules and guidelines to help you achieve future goals

[00:02:04] more quickly. Unfortunately, you can't remember everything related to your goals so you'll

[00:02:10] need to track yourself to know if you're making progress. However, tracking your progress

[00:02:16] can be overwhelming especially if you don't know how to start or how to do it. Thankfully,

[00:02:22] it can be easy and practical by following these three simple rules.

[00:02:28] Rule number one, track the basics. The technology of today can collect a plethora of data about

[00:02:34] you specifically for your health. A wealth of information is available such as sleep,

[00:02:41] heart rate reserve, oxygen saturation, VO2 max and lots more. However, you may not need

[00:02:48] that data to reach your fitness goals. For example, if you want to get more sleep,

[00:02:54] you may track how long you slept and when you went to bed. However, how long you were

[00:02:58] in each sleep stage or your respiratory rate may seem important although it may be interesting

[00:03:04] to see those things over time, they may not be necessary to achieve your goal. Everything

[00:03:10] beyond the basics is interesting but not required.

[00:03:14] Rule number two, focus on trends, not data points.

[00:03:19] One data point alone isn't helpful. In fact, those who don't track themselves could become

[00:03:24] frustrated just because of one result. For example, if you're trying to lose weight and

[00:03:29] you weigh yourself, you may become frustrated if your weight is the same or just a little

[00:03:34] bit different than the last time you weighed yourself. You probably can't remember what

[00:03:39] your weight was beyond that so you judge your progress based on what the scale says.

[00:03:44] If you were tracking your progress, you are more likely to look at how far you've come

[00:03:48] from the beginning to see how much progress you've made. As a result, you may help keep

[00:03:54] yourself motivated because you can see a trend in your progress.

[00:03:59] And rule number three, be consistent.

[00:04:02] For tracking to be effective, you must record your efforts whenever you do something related

[00:04:07] to your goals, such as weighing yourself or exercising. You won't have a complete picture

[00:04:12] unless you track your data consistently. Tracking your progress doesn't take much effort,

[00:04:18] but recording the data is an extra step. However, you can improve your consistency by using

[00:04:23] an app, a smart scale and fitness tracker to gather that data automatically whenever you

[00:04:29] exercise or weigh yourself. Although a smart scale and fitness tracker will collect

[00:04:34] a plethora of data, not everything is related to your goals. So remember rule number one

[00:04:40] and focus on what's essential for your success. Everything else is just interesting to look

[00:04:45] at.

[00:04:47] What should you track? There is such a thing as too much data. In fact, too much data

[00:04:52] can make it hard to make a well-informed decision because it can be interpreted in different

[00:04:57] ways. That's why tracking data related to your goal is essential. For example, you may

[00:05:03] want to improve your fitness and endurance by walking. Therefore, every time you exercise

[00:05:08] rule number three, you should track the date, time of day, and how long and how far you walk.

[00:05:15] Rule number one. When you have enough workouts, you should see from the trends rule number

[00:05:20] two, how much progress you're making. Another example of what to track relates to losing

[00:05:25] weight. Tracking the date and time you weigh yourself and how much you weigh is essential.

[00:05:31] Rule number three. However, you may want to know why your weight fluctuates. Rule number

[00:05:36] two. Therefore, you also track what you eat and how many calories you consume to give

[00:05:42] you a complete picture. Rule number one. Regardless of what you track and why you're tracking

[00:05:48] it, it would be best if you keep an open mind. As you progress towards your goal, changing

[00:05:53] what you're tracking is okay and maybe necessary. However, don't worry about the data you haven't

[00:05:58] collected. Focus on what you have. The takeaway. You can't remember everything related to your

[00:06:05] goals. So, tracking yourself is the best way to monitor your progress and give you a bird's

[00:06:11] eye view of all of your efforts. However, there are a lot of data you can collect. Therefore,

[00:06:17] you can follow three rules to track your effort effectively. If you track only the data you

[00:06:23] need, focus on the trends and consistently record your data. You will increase your chances

[00:06:29] of success and have all the information you need to make well-informed decisions related

[00:06:34] to your goals. You just listen to the post titled Three Simple Rules for Tracking Your Progress

[00:06:44] by Mark Billado, a fittrend.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:07:47] Dr. Neal here for my commentary. A few episodes ago, I talked about something called

[00:07:53] paralysis by analysis. That's where we may start to feel overwhelmed by too much information.

[00:07:59] These feelings of overwhelm can lead to taking no action at all or something else can happen,

[00:08:06] something that today's author Mark discussed in today's article. We may end up with a bunch

[00:08:11] of information and not sure how to make sense of it. We may end up putting too much focus on one

[00:08:16] data point and missing sight of other and possibly more important pieces of information.

[00:08:22] And when I say more important pieces of information, I mean the ones that you actually care about.

[00:08:28] So take a moment to think about what your goals are and what behaviors you need to track

[00:08:34] to help you decide whether you're getting closer to meeting those goals. Then,

[00:08:38] track those behaviors and ignore the rest for now.

[00:08:43] All right, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing

[00:08:47] this show and listening every day. I hope you have a great rest of your weekend

[00:08:51] and I'll see you back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.