I’ve never been one to do a lot of exercising which is why the TomTom Touch was pretty perfect for me. I don’t like to sweat. I don’t like to be out of breath. I really hate to be both of those things at once. However, I recognize the importance as I’ve been on an attempted (and at least partially successful) weight loss journey.
Let me preface all of this with: I had been using a Pebble that I loved. She was shiny and notified me of all sorts of friend happenings. Unfortunately, she was not the best for tracking my activity level. See, I’m a knitter. Wait—before you start questioning why this is relevant to the TomTom Touch, keep in mind that often step trackers track your steps based on hand movements. So, when I’m knitting, I find that my Pebble adds extra steps. I came to the conclusion that for every knit stitch, I got three extra steps. Back in the early days of health tracking, when I was nothing more than a gigantic couch lump, this was fine. In fact, I entertained myself by incorporating knitting as part of my health routine.
However, when I started getting myself into a health routine (hello, we’re all surprised I haven’t turned into a gigantic salad or green pepper yet!), I suddenly got annoyed looking at these extra steps. I hated taking my watch off to knit because I’m a person who needstoknowthetimeallthetimeohmiblob. So, I stopped knitting. I started walking. I did, in fact, start to lose weight.
Then the TomTom Touch arrived. She changed my life. Looking like a super fancy FitBit in shape and wrist real estate, I put her on my right hand and left the Pebble on my left. The first thing I noticed?
I know. That doesn’t seem like a big deal. First of all, don’t underestimate the power of the knitting community. You chuckle, I can see you doing it in my head, but we are large and close knit. This was a big deal for a lot of my friends. Second, it meant that you can’t just cheat. The built in GPS gives greater accuracy for the steps. In fact, the TomTom Touch outperformed my Pebble in terms of actual distance walked. (Note: It’s totally possible to walk 6-8 miles at an amusement park with a 7 year old leading you around.)
Recently, I replaced the Pebble with an iWatch for various non-health tracking reasons. In theory, one would think that this would eliminate the need for the TomTom Touch. The one thing that even the Series 2 iWatch can’t do to outperform the TomTom Touch is the body fat percentage tracking. I’m a Big Girl. I started my recent journey weighing in at 205 pounds. I was a solid size 16. Do you see the past tense going on there? Yup. That. When I got the TomTom Touch back in early October, the Friday before NYCC to be exact, I tracked my body fat composition. I was 34% fat body fat and 36% muscle on October 2. Yup. 34%. That seemed like a lot. I kept walking. I spent more time thinking about the kinds of food I was eating. I walked a lot with my dog. I went to the pool and did my “water aerobics” a lot. When I checked my body fat percentage on November 6, my body fat was 27% and my muscle was 41.5%.
My weight loss program was feeling pretty disappointing. I’d lost a few pants sizes, but I was only down about 5-10 pounds at the most. However, as we all know, weight is only one indicator of health. In fact, I’d rather weigh more and be more muscular than weigh less with little muscle tone. Knowing I had better muscle composition made me feel better about my exercise regimen.
In the end, the TomTom Touch outperforms both my Pebble and my iWatch in various ways. For someone truly trying to become healthier, the TomTom Touch can either overtake or supplement a person’s current wearable fitness tracker regimen.
Thanks for the article! I’m going to look into this watch. One thing, it’s an Apple Watch not an iWatch. But I’ve been using my pebble for a while too and looking for something new.