Jim Dalrymple writing for The Loop:
I have been reporting on Apple for more than 20 years now, and in all that time no product has had such an impact on my life as this little piece of hardware and software. I dont say that for dramatic effect, it has had a profound effect on the way I live. As you will read later, this is the most personal review I have ever written…
This is where the review gets very personal for me. This is how I lost over 40 pounds using HealthKit and Apple Watch.
I am overweight. Not just a little, but a lot. I smoke, and have for most of my life, I drink, I eat every food that is bad for me, and I just didnt care. I think a better way to put it is that I didnt see a way out.
Apple does a very good job of promoting Apple Watch to marathon runners and other athletes that want to stay fit and maintain their perfectly sculptured bodies. I look at that and know I will never be them, so I move on. There are millions of people in my situation that have done the same thing.
About 10 months ago I went out for a walk. That started a transformation for me that I will never forget. A simple walk.
During one of these walks, I was thinking about life, listening to music and I just kept walking. I walked a long time, at least for me, and it felt good. It wasnt strenuous really, just a walkturns out it was a three mile walk and I started doing it every single day.
One day, I weighed myself and I had lost five pounds. I was shockedI ate the same, but yet Im losing weight.
Then I remembered this technology on my iPhone called HealthKit. It could track my steps, distance, weight and other information about my body. I started using HealthKit every day to see how different things would affect my weight loss and generally how I felt. Did I lose more weight walking in the morning or the afternoon? What foods made me gain weight? Should I skip meals and hope that helps with weight loss?
I hesitate to say I became obsessed, but I did become more aware of what I did and how it affected me, both physically and mentally.
I looked at every aspect of my life to see what a little change would do for me. I ate my very first yogurt in my life, and I like it. I challenged myself in ways that I never would have before with food and with exercise, sometimes hitting a limit and knowing that Id gone too far. I picked myself up and started again, eventually breaking through that limit and many others along the way.