This week’s Dumb Question comes from Rush, and it’s an audience participation question:
Hi Allison. It’s Rush and I’ve got a dumb question…
This question is a broad one, but intentionally so because I would like to hear your thoughts, as well as maybe those of Steve, or Bart, or any of the Nosilla Castaways on how do you set a good activity goal?
The thought came about when I was considering buying the Series 4 Apple Watch. One of my favorite apps on the iPhone is the Activity++ app which you’ve reviewed on your blog as well as on ScreenCasts Online (SCO). That app alone has helped me along with the Workouts++ app, so that I no longer need my fancy Garmin Forerunner watch which I’ve used in the past. Instead I’m able to use Activity++ and monitor the streaks of closing my rings. However, I’m currently at a 40 day streak and I’m asking myself if it were 1,000 days? Would it really be a good goal at that point? Does a goal and achieving it for so long really sort of indicate that maybe your goal is too easy? I know it’s a balance of time and other things and it can probably change over time also.
Thanks for considering my Dumb Question!
Rush
I’ve definitely got an opinion on this but Rush (and I) want to hear your thoughts first. Leave a comment here, or email me at [email protected], or better yet leave a comment in our Slack over at podfeet.com/slack.
Once per week, my S4 Watch prompts me with a new, usually higher, daily activity goal based on my past weeks performance (currently 560 for me) . I typically leave my goal the same as I don’t have the time required that it would take to achieve an increased activity goal. If I did have the time, I would probably go with the recommendation made on the Watch each week until the goal again became doable for me time wise. It might also be good idea to consult a doctor and get an experts opinion on the proper activity goal based on your particular situation.
Thanks, Rick. That’s pretty much how I approached it but the number kept going up and I DO have the time. It was killing me so I stopped responding to its requests to up my number and it eventually quit nagging me!
I wonder where it would have ended if you kept increasing? At your funeral maybe?
Another factor for me is I still use the Loseit app to track calories consumed. If I have a few bad eating days where I consume way more than my daily calorie average, I will increase my activity to offset those consumed calories. (knowledge is power) So I guess I’m saying for me its a moving target rather than a static number etched in stone week to week.
As an example, here are the last 15 days for me, versus my goal of 560 per day. 780, 991,873,681,576,601,903,860,576,571,924,365,751,508,697.
Rick