Some people like to measure things: gas mileage, the weather, interest rates, or their bodies. I like to measure myself. It’s not for everyone, and if you want to see the far reaches of self-quantifying, check out our buddy Bryan Johnson who claims to spend $2 million a year on his body testing. Maybe a bit too far? Besides the feeling of agency measuring gives me, it brings me understanding. Sometimes we know that eating something doesn’t feel right; other times it is helpful to know exactly what that means. For the last 2 weeks, I wore a CGM, continuous glucose monitor, and if you have never tried one, ask your doctor to prescribe one; the cost was about $35. There are many well-meaning nutritionists, doctors, and dieticians who love the idea of us all eating oatmeal. For me, no matter what form I eat, no matter what order I eat it in, my glucose goes crazy. We are all different; some of these differences are obvious, and many are not.
One thing I don’t really measure is my weight. I could but, I find when I have, it varies by 5-8 lbs depending mostly on my water weight, which doesn’t seem super useful. Instead, I will get a twice-yearly DEXA scan. This is another test that I think everyone may want to do. Mine is from a place called DEXA Body. Note: the hospital-medical versions of the scan are often just fixated on bone density — important but not the whole picture. DEXA gives me a 5-page visual report of the composition of each part of my body, and then broken down into each limb. My left leg had lost almost 2 lbs of muscle after my injury and, once I saw that, by focusing on that leg, the muscle is now back to where it was. My visceral bad fat had gone up a pound, and now it is back where it was. I find these sorts of measurements fantastically useful. One can seem very lean — meaning, very little fat under the skin — but have loads of visceral fat encapsulating one’s organs. Bad. The only way to know is to get a scan. Knowledge is power.
These are some of the other measuring tools I use, and again, just because I am into this stuff doesn’t mean you should be. Whoop for sleep tracking, and only sleep tracking. My sleep is consistently 100%, meaning I get all the sleep my body needs, unless I am traveling. Note on eating and sleep: Our buddy Bryan stops eating at 11am. Some other people say stop 3 hours before bedtime. I need to have a small meal before bed or I don’t sleep well. All that seemingly prescriptive advice one reads in the world may be comforting, but there is a very good chance it may not work for you personally. I track my heart rate variability with a Morpheus to measure how much stress my body is under every morning. In the gym, I will either use my Apple Watch or a chest strap to monitor my heart rate. I get my blood work done 3-4 times a year through InsideTracker. I also more or less keep track of my strength training, and do a so-so job on monitoring my protein intake.
There are people I know who are happy and in good health who do none of this. They are probably more sensible than me, but then my mission in life is to become the best version of myself I can be — also not sure how sensible even that is. The point here is we all have different ambitions and different bodies. One can get into quantification like I do, and learn a lot, or not. Choices. One caveat here: you must see your doc once a year for a full physical. Non-negotiable.
Onward and upward,
David
