The Turning Point

I was in college at my highest weight ever: 220lbs on a 5′6″ frame. I was unhappy and decided to make a drastic change in my lifestyle and little over a year, I was able to lose more than 70lbs of fat.

Now for the pictures.

Before:

After:

How Did I Lose All That Weight?

When I first began working out regularly, my workout routine wasn’t by any means perfect and a bit brute-forced at times — lacking any data-driven approach. Doing a full body routine four times a week with gym sessions lasting over 2 hours each — I was pushing my body like I had never done before.

I’d do some variation of the following routine:

• Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps
• Crunches: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Triceps Pushdowns: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps
• T-Bar Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Cable Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Alternate Dumbbell Curls: 3 sets of 20 reps
• Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Cardio: 30 minutes

A well-balanced and nutritional diet was very important and probably the hardest part for me. I constantly monitored my macronutrients; keeping note of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in every meal with trying to keep daily caloric intake to less than 1800 Calories.

Importance of Biometrics

The two metrics that I tracked were Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Blood Oxygen Saturation (SP02).

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

To keep things short, HRV is time-interval between heartbeats. Contrary to intuition, you don’t want to have a constant heartbeat interval. Your body is at its most capable when your heart rate is fluctuating with your respiratory system, meaning there is greater variability, and thus, a higher HRV.

I was surprised to see that, after a particularly strenuous workout, my body’s HRV levels would remain low for days. In the past, I would maybe take a rest day, knowing that my body needed to recover, but never had I thought that leg day on Thursday would have any effect on my physical performance on Saturday.

When your body is recovering, your heartbeat will more closely resemble a metronome, steadily beating with little change in the time between beats. My body was telling me that I was in need of serious recovery.

While tracking progress of HRV, I found each of my workouts to be far more productive, plus I would feel noticeably better before and after workouts. I had achieved greater volume in my lifts, and my recovery rate shot up.

Blood Oxygen Saturation (SpO2)

Oxygen Saturation level is the percentage of hemoglobin, a protein found inside of red blood cells, which are carrying oxygen through your arteries and capillaries. While normal levels vary on elevation, a standard blood oxygen saturation is around 96-97% percent—a few percentage points lower and your body will be performing far less than peak ability.

Trying to balance my crazy workout schedule and everything else in my life had left my oxygen saturation at a measly 91%. This was a huge wake-up call. It took just a few simple changes to get my oxygen saturation levels back up.

For starters, I began caring about the quality of my sleep more. Poor breathing—especially if it’s from sleep apnea—is a strong contributor to low oxygen saturation levels, as improper ventilation bottlenecks the flow of oxygen from the lungs to the blood stream.

Aside from getting better sleep, I improved my breathing habits during lifts as well as breathing more deeply before bed.

Within weeks my blood saturation level was up above 95%, and I could see substantial improvements in my stamina and endurance.

Where I am Now

Now that I’ve been monitoring and adjusting my workout routines based on biometric data, I find myself working more efficiently than ever before. Staying attuned to the physiological signs of my body’s well-being has allowed me to workout less and actual maintain a reasonable schedule and life balance.

My intertwining passions of fitness and tech have even grown from the gym. My most recent endeavor has been founding Biostrap, which is a consumer wearable company that gives users all the health insights of clinical grade medical technology.