My Apple Watch!

A little over a month ago, I bit the bullet and purchased an Apple Watch (I have the series 8 with GPS). I was such a hold-out. As with most people, probably influencers especially as we rely so much on them for work, I have a love / hate relationship with my iPhone. I need it for work and to stay connected to my loved ones but I also try to distance myself from it.

Funny enough, it has become one of my most favorite possessions and even made me less connected to my phone… go figure! I forgot my charger during my trip to Belize and really missed using my watch. I now feel a little bit silly for resisting so long, as I love it so much.

 

MY APPLE WATCH

How I use my Apple Watch

I use this mostly for activity and movement tracking. My Peloton app syncs with my phone (which in turn syncs with the watch) for tracking my workouts. I also use it for tracking my steps and movements. Completing my rings has become a (healthy!) obsession. I will also add that the other function I probably use most (lol) is the find my iPhone button. This feature is amazing as I am always putting my phone down and not remembering where it is!

The bands I use

I did get the Hermes band for mine as I find I’m more likely to wear it if it looks good. It makes it feel more a part of my outfit and something stylish vs. something utilitarian. And I have this one too if I know I’m going to get wet and/or sweaty.

My “ring” goals.

Every day I try to hit 12 hours of standing up (this is just standing up for a few minutes every hour, NOT standing for a whole hour), an hour of exercise (if I don’t work out I will go for a long walk or watch a show + walk on the treadmill), and 600 movement calories. I had the goals lower when I first got the watch but I find that I move more if the goal is higher. Everyone’s motivation style differs: some of my friends set an easier goal because they like always hitting it. I like to have my goal be a little bit of a challenge so that I push myself.

There have been some surprises.

First of all, I move way more than I thought I did. I am always running around my house, straightening, doing chores, going up and down the stairs, etc. But I rarely have my phone on me when. Upon starting to wear my watch, my daily step count doubled. This was some nice, positive reinforcement. I’m not as lazy as I thought.

 

The other surprise of course is that I feel less attached to my phone when I have this. I will regularly leave my phone on the charger and go out for a run, or when I’m just in my house doing chores etc. I’ll listen to Audible using the watch. Lastly boyfriend strangely prefers the audio quality of my watch to to my phone — weird!

Apple Watch vs. Whoop

I have gotten asked to do a comparison of this vs the Whoop bracelet. In fact, I had planned to write a review of the Whoop but decided against it as I had very little nice things to say. I liked it at first but stopped using it after a few months. I had originally planned on doing a review of it here but decided against it. It’s ugly, I hated charging it (the charging system wasn’t convenient), it gave me a million push notifications if I accidentally left it home or traveled without it, and after a bit, the data just stopped being interesting after a couple months.

Also, you really had to wear it at all times so that it can calibrate and best understand your body. The only thing that was interesting was that it detected a change in my heart rate just before I got COVID (last May) and told me I might be sick. That was kinda cool!

The Whoop does not track your steps and I get that steps aren’t everything (they have whole blog posts written about why) but I don’t care… I really really like knowing my step count. I appreciate the Apple Watch’s more simple interface. The key things it measures are steps, exercise, and movement calories. I also like the added fun features like playing music, taking a call if I’m away from my phone, listening to audiobooks, and of course… that “find my phone” button!

I AM NOT HERE TO YUCK ANYONE’S YUM.

If you are a Whoop person and you love it, that’s fantastic! I think with these tracking devices, consistency is key and the most important thing is to find something that works for you. I know a lot of people love Whoop but it wasn’t for me. The Apple Watch seems to be a better fit for me.

As I am new to my watch, would love to hear any fun tricks/tips you have for the watch! Sound off in the comments!