The Unseen Dangers of Fitness Tracking & Calorie Counting

The hidden dangers of fitness tracking

As time has passed, the fitness industry has only grown. People are starting to focus on improving their long term health by living a healthier lifestyle. We are watching the foods that we are eating, starting to exercising regularly, and we are even wearing fitness monitors to tell us how active we are. All of this can help to improve your health, but most are not aware that it can also hurt it. It might seem contradictory, but there are some hidden dangers of fitness tracking.

When does being healthy become unhealthy?

There is nothing wrong with making healthy choices, but there is something wrong with making only healthy choices. What I mean by this is that if you are preplanning your life around your diet and exercise, you are not living a healthy lifestyle. I know that people go on diets for short durations, which is ok, but I am talking about the people who let food and exercise control their every thought and decision.

I have been and still am in this spot. Going out to eat can sometimes be a struggle for me because I want to know every ingredient that is being put into my body. If I don’t have control, what do I have? This is not a healthy lifestyle to live because instead of listening to my bodies cry for fuel, I am listening to my brains demand to not eat. When you do not properly fuel your body, your mood, muscles, workouts, basically everything is going to suck! The same goes for cheat meals. If you dont give our body different foods in different quantities, our metabolism will actually slow down and our muscles won’t replenish.

Our diet is not the only healthy area of our life that can become unhealthy. Exercise is another part of our lives that can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. Just like food, our bodies need change. If we don’t exercise for months, we aren’t going to be in good shape. If we exercise too much, our muscles are going to fatigued and won’t be able to grow. Busting your butt everyday to increase muscle size will only hurt you because you are not giving your muscles adequate time to rebuild and strengthen.

With all areas of our life, we need to find a happy balance. Diet and exercise is not exception to this. They can also impact our social life and relationships. When we start to prioritize our health and diet, it can lead to isolation from others. Food and exercise are meant to make us feel alive, not control our every thought. When we start ditching friends and missing memories because we are concerned about our health, that is when being healthy becomes unhealthy.

I recommend finding a happy balance with life, exercise, and nutrition. If you miss a workout because of a change of plans, you aren’t going to die. If you have a piece of cake because it looked good, know you won’t become fat. That is the biggest thing that we ALL need to realize. Being healthy becomes unhealthy when it becomes a bad habit and affects our everyday life. Once you can moderate every aspect of your life without thinking, then you will be living a healthy lifestyle.

By now, you probably know my story. After letting food and exercise control my actions for years, I am finally working to get my life back. Please, take it from me. Live for the moments and for the memories, not for the number of calories you eat or the number on the scale. The only thing that we can regret in life is not doing more. Don’t let food and exercise get in the way from you doing more. Learn to live your only life, and live it to the fullest.

Michael Bonnell

5/18/2018

 

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