I've long believed that progress starts with understanding where we are today. Measurement helps me reflect on what actually happened rather than relying entirely on what I remember.
But deciding what to measure can get complicated.
With wearables and apps, we can track almost everything these days. For this to work for me, however, simplicity matters more than having every detail. I'd rather consistently track a few things I can control than collect lots of data I rarely use. Your mileage may vary.
So I decided to focus on a handful of inputs and activities that influence my health.
What I consume:
Water intake
Meals, including home-cooked versus eating out
Alcoholic drinks
Sugar consumption
What I do:
Sleep
Meditation
Yoga
Weight training
Walking
I've used calorie-tracking apps before. They worked, but accurately logging everything took more time than I wanted to spend. This time, I decided to build something simpler.
Earlier this summer, I used the free version of Claude to create a small health tracker. It took about 15 minutes. My goal was straightforward: customized to my requirements and takes less than a minute a day, with daily history and weekly summaries to help me reflect on progress.
I've since made a few improvements to the app based on how I actually use it. Each improvement takes only a few minutes. One was adding a weekly weigh-in as a simple measure of results. I started at 175 pounds and set a goal of reaching 165 by my next annual physical in July 2027. Last month, I lost a little over two pound, despite festival and anniversary celebrations.
What I'm discovering is that a few occasions of less mindful eating or drinking can offset much of the progress made during an otherwise disciplined month. But celebrations matter too. I don't want healthy living to become a system that makes me feel guilty about enjoying food, family and friends. A few indulgent days shouldn't define the month, just as a few disciplined days don't make us healthy. That said, I do have to remind myself not to use healthy habits to justify or overlook poor ones.
I've also started experimenting with Meta's Muse personal assistant app to help me stay organized and, more specifically, visualize my health progress. I set my 10-pound weight-loss goal in Muse and share weekly screenshots from my Claude tracker. Muse helps organize and visualize the information without requiring me to reenter everything. I'm still figuring out how useful this will be and hope to have more to share in a few months. I'd also like to dig a little deeper into the quality of my sleep, but more on that later.
For now, my takeaway is simple. Measurement helps me stay aware. Awareness helps me make better choices. And better choices, repeated consistently, are what I hope will help me stay healthy over time. The goal isn't to track everything or achieve a perfect month. It's to understand my habits well enough to keep improving while enjoying life along the way.