Find Your Middle Ground

As an older yoga teacher I consider myself to be in overall good health. I am not an athlete or completely sedentary. I don’t want to spend time working out at a gym, weightlifting, swimming or running three miles every day. What I DO want it to stay fit and healthy and be able to set my own overall goals and keep on track. My intention is to keep moving and tuning in to what my body is telling me.

This is where Fitbit and its Google Health app has been very disappointing. Let me share the whole story and I’ll let you decide what would work best for you and your needs.

Three years ago I bought a Garmin Vivosmart 4. I was thrilled to be able to track my activities without being tied to a cellphone to gather the data and to show me results. It was all there on my wristband, with additional information on the Garmin App on my phone.

I am a visual person and love the graphs and visual displays on Garmin Connect. The scoring is a percentage of the specific goals that I set myself. I enjoy tracking my body battery levels and adjusting my activities. For example, taking a walk when the level is high, in order to gain some steps, or resting when the level is low.

I found that I could actually track my relaxation as I practiced slower, diaphragmatic breathing. The body battery score starts to go up after a few minutes. It’s very reassuring and empowering!

At the end of 2025 the strap on my Vivosmart broke, and couldn’t be replaced. I would have to buy a new one. That is when I found out that Vivosmart 4 was discontinued. So I glued the strap back and I decided to shop around.

Before I had decided on an alternative, I got a notice saying that Apple wouldn’t be supporting Vivosmart 4 anymore. I had no choice but to change.

I bought a FitBit Inspire 3 as it was quite a bit less than the next Garmin. The way the metrics were shown was more analytical and geared towards time spent on workouts, running, biking, swimming, weightlifting, cardio, heart health, as well as sleep and key wellness indicators such as oxygen level.

I ignored most of the data as I do gentle energy yoga, light weights and walking to stay healthy.

In May 2026 Fitbit transitioned to the Google Health app. It grouped the metrics and came up with scores like “poor” “fair””good” and I believe there’s an “excellent”, which I was never able to achieve.

Google gathers the data from other people of the same age and gender and creates metrics based on that. I can’t set my own goals and have to use what they have already collated.

From a personal level, I have been dealing with chronic pain and back issues and am not able to work out at the so called best rate. No running, cycling, heavy weights or even cardio most days. My sleep is often disrupted and I’m ok with that … until the app tells me the sleep is poor and will need to rest during the day… and plan for a better night the next.

I do wonder how most women my age apparently only wake up once for a bathroom break during the night. Two wake ups is a fair and three is poor, and a sure fail.

The bottom line is that the Google app makes me feel like a loser. Every goal has to be met or I am graded accordingly. Like a kid falling behind at school when there is something outside of their control going on.

Two days ago I decided to go back to Garmin, but before purchasing a Vivosmart 5 (which doesn’t track stairs and is bulkier) I dug out my old Vivosmart 4 and charged her up. I asked AI if Apple still wasn’t supporting Garmin and it assured me that the Garmin app was all I needed and it would work from that.

My Vivismart4 is up and running again with its sleek design and easy interface. I am in charge of my health and will decide how my own sleep was and not have it compared with others. I will enjoy running up and down stairs, which most trackers no longer measure as they don’t have barometric altimeters. And I will get out of bed with a bounce in my step and a smile when I have a %100 battery for the day ahead!

Even better, I am not giving away my personal health data to a multi trillion dollar technology conglomerate who keeps trying to to sell me more products.

At the end of the day, if you want to become healthier and set meaningful goals for yourself, then make a choice where you are in charge, can set your own standards and have the tools that help you achieve what you want.

I’ll keep you posted on how things evolve. It’s so important in this world where we are expected to be a certain way and feel judged if we not, to find our own path.

Be true to you … always.

Namaste