Why I Stopped Wearing A Smart Device With An Eating Disorder

It’s been a while since I blogged, but this feels important enough to share.

I’ve worn a lot of different smart devices. Whoop, Apple Watch, Oura Ring, Fitbit…. You name it.

The main reason I would purchase a new smart device was to track my calories. I would switch and get the newest and latest offering so that my calories were tracked correctly. I found myself googling “smart watch that tracks calories the best” and “which smart device is the most reliable”. I was craving complete accuracy.

It’s not possible. No smart watch, ring, or band is 100% correct with any of the data, yet here we are paying the prettiest penny so that we can stare at our wrist for information that we depend on.

How many times have you held back on eating more food because your smart watch said you only burned a certain amount of calories? GUILTY. How many times have you gone on a walk or did a workout because your watch told you to do so, not because you wanted to? GUILTY. How many times have you felt poorly about yourself when you don’t workout and you feel your smart device staring at you? GUILTY.

My Oura Ring had me in a chokehold.

I went everywhere with that thing. I made sure it was always charged and always on my finger. I felt naked without it on, even if I wasn’t doing something active. I needed it. I didn’t realize how much I relied on it until one morning I randomly decided it didn’t go with my outfit, I took it off. I left my house feeling like every physical thing I did wouldn’t count anymore since my ring is sitting at home… NOT tracking my calories.

My heart dropped because initially I received this ring to track my sleep and recovery and over time I fell back into a calorie mindset. I felt like I was in a good spot with my ED but I realized my ring was centered around the thing I was running from for so long. Calorie counting. I then decided to stop wearing a smart device.

What happened when I took it off for good?

Guilt. I won’t lie to you. I felt like something was always missing. My workouts felt pointless. I felt myself fidgeting and looking for the missing ring that normally sat on my finger. It was like I was removing myself from an addiction… This told me everything I needed to know about my relationship with my body and food.

It’s gotten so much better and I feel free. I want to really make this clear, these devices are not the enemy, my ED created this situation. I hope one day I can feel confident enough to wear a smart device without slowly wanting to count my calories again.

This was recent.

I hate to admit that because I do feel like I am moving forward with my ED treatment but there are ways your ED sneaks back in and sets up camp. It can take something so harmless and make it into something harmful.

For me, it was better to walk away. FOR ME I decided to do this. Why did I put that in CAPS? Because this is MY story, this is not yours. You do not need to follow my lead but if you can relate I do hope you can evaluate the situation and decide if your smart device is adding positivity to your day to day life or if it’s a form of control. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I share so you can learn from me, in whatever way that may be.

Be kind to your mind and your body. Thanks for reading.